1. Anti-Racism Education in California Community Colleges. Position Paper. Adopted Fall 2020
- Author
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Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
- Abstract
Racism exists within communities and within colleges. It is ever-present in the structures that professionals in the California Community Colleges system work within and that students of color must navigate. Striving to achieve equity is not enough and is not possible within the current community college system. Policies, processes, and other systemic structures built on a history of racism must first be dismantled and then rebuilt with a focus on equity and inclusion. Dismantling racist structures requires a review of the history that created those structures. It requires understanding the history of the construct of race as a culture, the white supremacy ideology, the centuries of laws intended to maintain positions of power for whites, and the ways in which the equity and diversity efforts within California's community colleges have fallen short. Constructing anti-racist structures and developing anti-racist campus cultures require an understanding of the tenets of antiracism education and principles for professional development. This paper provides foundational information for California community college practitioners to better understand the origins of today's racial conflict and reasons why gaps in achieving equitable educational outcomes for students, particularly for students of color, cannot be closed within current systems. The paper is intended to engage college practitioners in self-reflection and critical consciousness as they develop and deliver the strategic anti-racism education and professional development needed to reconstruct campus cultures and learning environments built on principles of equity and inclusion. It concludes with recommendations for individual growth, for local academic senates, for colleges and districts, and for the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. [Title varies: "Anti-Racism Education in the California Community Colleges: Acknowledging Historical Context and Assessing and Advancing Effective Anti-Racism Practices for Faculty Professional Development."]
- Published
- 2020