The graduate student government unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday calling for UCLA to improve its racial campus climate by implementing certain policy changes and including more student input in administrative decisions.
The resolution calls for the university to institute a diversity-related general education requirement and diversity training for teaching assistants, among other demands.
The Graduate Students Association created the resolution in response to a series of high-profile incidents relating to racial discrimination at UCLA.
The Graduate Students Association’s diversity committee, which drafted the resolution, formed in January to survey how graduate students felt about racial discrimination on campus, with the intent of bringing forth the resolution to address their concerns.
“I think (this resolution) is exactly what we need,” said Thabisile Griffin, a graduate student in Afro-American studies. “It sounds like its intention is for graduate students and graduate students of color to have a voice in their education.”
The resolution mentions a recent report that found UCLA policies and procedures to be unsatisfactory for handling racial and ethnic discrimination and bias among faculty. An investigative committee headed by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno conducted the report.
The resolution also cites recent anti-discrimination demonstrations held at UCLA as indicative that administrators should implement changes to improve campus climate.
Specifically, the resolution references a protest held by UCLA law students in February against microaggressions experienced by students of color, and a sit-in staged by graduate students from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies in November.
The resolution also mentions an Asian Pacific Coalition rally held in February in which students mobilized in response to a sexist and racist flier sent to the Asian American Studies Center.
Laura Terrance, a graduate student in gender studies, said that while she agrees the university needs to remedy the school’s campus climate, she’s unsure if administrators will implement any changes after reading the resolution.
“Institutions have a way of saying ‘Yes we hear you,’ and then that’s the end,” Terrance said. “I don’t want to be told that I’m being heard – that doesn’t actually (do) anything.”
The resolution calls for the UCLA Academic Senate to create a referendum on establishing a diversity-related general education requirement.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called on faculty in an e-mail statement in February to implement a diversity-related general education requirement at the university by the end of 2014.
“Ours is the only UC campus that does not have one. We have no excuses,” Block said in the statement. “We owe it to our students to effect curricular changes that add to the understanding and appreciation of our nation’s diversity.”
Trung Nguyen, a graduate student in Asian American studies, said he supports the creation of a diversity-related GE requirement because he thinks it’s important for students to discuss the significance of issues such as racism, sexism and homophobia.
“To have that opportunity in a classroom space and to ask students to open their minds a little bit and take that risk – I don’t think that’s a big thing to ask,” Nguyen said.
The resolution also asks for university administrators to include graduate students in the selection process for UCLA’s new Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
In response to the Moreno report, the university made plans to appoint the new vice chancellor along with a discrimination officer to ensure that racial and ethnic discrimination claims are effectively and seriously handled.
Griffin said she thinks administrators should take student input into consideration because graduate students of color may provide UCLA officials with a better understanding of discrimination on campus based on their own personal experiences.
Additionally, the resolution states that the UCLA Office of Instructional Development should require a session during its annual teaching assistant conference to train graduate students on how to foster a racially tolerant environment within the classroom. The resolution also suggests that “all academic departments and hiring units follow suit.”
Joanne Valli-Meredith, the director of evaluation and educational assessment in the Office of Instructional Development, said the teaching assistant program advocates for a safe space inclusive of all voices, though the annual teaching assistant conference does not have specific sessions addressing racial or ethnic concerns within the classroom.
The Office of Instructional Development views the sessions at the conference as too short to adequately discuss racial and ethnic issues, Valli-Meredith said. She added that the sessions are often oversubscribed.
However, the Office of Instructional Development tries to address these issues throughout the academic year, partly by supporting specific departments’ needs, she added.
Kumiko Hass, the director of instructional improvement programs at the Office of Instructional Development and the director of the teaching assistant training program, could not be reached for comment about the trainings.
Terrance said she agrees with the TA training requirement because arguments sometimes arise between students from different racial or socioeconomic backgrounds when discussing issues about race or class.
She added that she thinks TAs should be able to mediate these conversations in a way in which students don’t feel disrespected by one another.
Edwin Everhart, the president of the GSA Social Sciences Council and who helped draft and present the resolution, said he plans to continue pushing for the resolution’s goals by reaching out to the Office of Instructional Development in the future.
He added that he is considering reaching out to different academic departments on campus about the resolution, among other possible actions.