Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Abstract
This paper focuses specifically on three of the demands as outlined by the Black Student Union
demands committee at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) which call for the
hiring of Black admissions staff members, Black psychologists, and improvements in the Getting
into Graduate School mentorship program. Institutions such as UC Berkeley with a reputation of
prestige are more likely to have a national/international platform and thus greater influence
within higher education (Marginson, 2006). As such, the racial climate at this university
provides an interesting lens through which to analyze issues of race in the broader scope of
higher education. An analysis of these demands as well as our recommendations to address the
demands requires an exploration of literature that explores campus race relations, campus
climates, and inclusion efforts specifically as they relate to Black student experiences. Eckel and
Kezar (2016) note the importance of the contributions made by students and staff, but note that
with respect to formal governance structure, the three most consistently influential leadership
groups are the trustees, presidents, and faculty. Because UC Berkeley is a part of the University
of California system, the Regents of the University of California is the highest point of authority
and our target audience. Like Boards of Trustees at other institutions, the Regents of the
University of California have fiduciary responsibilities as the steward of public trust with regards
to University financial, reputational, and physical assets (Eckel & Kezar, 2016).
First Demand
WE DEMAND the hiring of two permanent full-time Black admissions staff members and a
series of enhanced recruitment strategies, with a budget of $300,371, to recruit Black students to
UC Berkeley. We maintain that this funding comes from the Chancellors office and not from the
Division of Student Affairs. These funds will be managed through the office of Admissions &
Enrollment. This funding will be used to bolster efforts in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions
and bridges Multicultural Resource Center. The recruitment of additional Black students is
imperative to create a student body that is representative of the California population. A critical
mass of Black students will surely help to alleviate the incredibly hostile campus climate Black
students have had to endure for decades as consistently evidenced by campus climate surveys
(Ayers, 2015).
The demand for Black admissions staff and funding for targeted recruitment events to
seek increased enrollment of Black students is not unique to UC Berkeley (Ayers, 2005). This is
not surprising considering the history of restricted access to higher education for marginalized
populations, especially students of color. Higher education in the United States began in 1636,
with Harvard receiving its charter (Geiger, 2016). However, it was not until after the 1954
Brown v. Board of Education, and then the 1964 Civil Rights Act, did higher education begin to
comply with desegregation orders, making higher education more accessible than ever before for
Black students (Geiger, 2016). It is no surprise then that as a result of the approximately 330
years between the first institutions of higher education opening to the general widespread
acceptance of Black students, that the numbers of Black students enrolled in institutions across
the country remain small in comparison. Blaming the significantly decreased enrollment of
Black students entirely on the hundreds of years head-start White students, especially White
THE DEMANDS 3
males, received oversimplifies the systemic issues at hand but the history nevertheless provides
context.
The history of UC Berkeley's student activism also provides context for the influence and
the student movement of the late 1960s (p. 27). The student uprising was a result of unfulfilled
expectations from the academic revolution that Geiger (2016) characterizes as occurring between
the years of 1945-1975. While the momentum of the student movement may have crystallized
at Berkeley, students at campuses across the country were disrupted by student mobilization in
opposition to war in Vietnam and racial injustice. The power and visibility of student activism
across the country, profoundly altered the relationship between institution and student. It shifted
and then settled for several years, it foreshadowed the student activism on campus today (Geiger,
2016, p. 27).
activism is important for the Regents of the University of California system to remember as they
consider the demands. Manning (2013) explains that Boards of Trustees, or in this case the UC
Regents operate from a political framework, when addressing institutional governance. If they
were to remain governing from a political framework, we would emphasize the importance of
Critical Race Theory (CRT) as the lens through which they apply the political framework. CRT
considers the educational setting through political, economic, and philosophical contexts
(Manning, 2013).
Most relevant to this specific demand is that CRT acknowledges that racism is normal
and endemic to U.S. society [and therefore expects] to see expressions of racism and
THE DEMANDS 4
oppression throughout the institutions, including education, which make up U.S. society
(Manning, 2013, p. 76). Addressing the demand for two Black admissions officers and funding
for recruitment initiatives from a CRT perspective, would first require an acknowledgement of
and valuing the counter narratives shared by students of color and other oppressed groups on
campus, about their experiences, which consistently expose the aspects of higher education
where inequalities and oppression exist (Manning, 2013, p. 77). Once acknowledging the lack
begin to address the inequalities by hiring additional staff members and earmarking funding for
targeted recruitment events. Finally, with increased emphasis on admission of Black students, it
is critical that they consider fulfilling many of the other demands listed, especially those that
Second Demand
maintain that the funding for this (which includes recruitment expenses) come from the office of
the Chancellor. We as Black students need psychologists who share similar experiences in terms
of racial discrimination and in dealing with the racially hostile campus climate at this university
(Ayers, 2015).
After reviewing the relevant literature, it is clear that a large body of research data
relative to racial identity attitudes, acculturation, and gender exists. Researchers are examining
how these identities relate to Black mental health functioning and how this data relates
THE DEMANDS 5
institutions. Focusing specifically on this demand to hire two permanent full-time Black
psychologists at UC-Berkeley, the research supports the needs for such positions to adequately
address the mental health needs of students who must contend with a racially hostile campus
In the United States, researchers have postulated that race be viewed from the
sociopolitical historical paradigm rather than from the biological perspective because
students at predominantly White academic institutions have experiences that are unique
It is vital that Black students see themselves reflected in the campus population, from the
administrative to the faculty to the student level. The research also shows that while racial and
ethnic minority participation in the field has increased and Asian Americans are well placed in
the academic profession, Black and Latino populations remain underrepresented (Altbach, 2016).
This reality underscores the importance of increasing Black representation in student support
services, and the prioritization of the implementation of these two positions by the UC Regents
would represent a positive step forward in combating these issues and making the voices of the
Black student population on campus feel heard. Of the approximately 36,000 students enrolled
at Berkeley in the 2014-2015 academic year, slightly more than 3 percent identified as
Black. Chancellor Nick Dirks has stated that he is interested in developing a major campus
THE DEMANDS 6
initiative to ensure that the critical mass of Black students, faculty, and senior staff is increased
on campus to ensure that the students feel supported and respected (Asimov, 2015).
The Board of Trustees at most universities operate through the lens of the political
and members of the Board of Trustees (p. 89). To properly address the hiring of two full time
Black psychologists, the UC Regents should involve senior members of the universitys Black
Student Union in the process of both the creation of the positions as well as in the discussions of
the position funding, ensuring the students of the validity of their feedback. As BSU board
member Niyatt Mengis stated, Black students are only seen as tokens of diversity at UC
Berkeley. All the supposedly anti-racist work that happens here is being done without black
considering the complexities of the lived experiences of Black students, this framework would
allow for all organizational members [to] play a role in shaping culture and the construction of
meaning from individual and collective experiences (Manning, 2013, p. 91). The author
acknowledges that one potential weakness of this approach that it may seem unnecessary or
extraneous to the institutional priorities, and this is a key concept of which to be mindful when
presenting this approach to the UC Regents. This weakness can be combated by emphasizing the
organizational life on campus (Manning, 2013, p. 91) and how these cultural connections are
Third Demand
WE DEMAND the current budget for the Getting into Graduate School (GiGS) mentorship
program be doubled in order to expand and strengthen the program. We believe this program
creates a pipeline for Black students and other underrepresented students to get into graduate
school, an area where Black students are severely underrepresented. We believe this program can
be one of the many ways by which the campus can attempt to increase the abysmally low
number of Black graduate students at UC Berkeley and other universities across the country,
(Ayers, 2015).
The research shows that Black mentorship is pertinent to the recruitment, survival, and
success of Black students on college campuses and continuing studies. There is almost no
institution nor environment in which mentoring is not discussed as a critical tool for personal,
professional, and career development, (Thomas, Willis, & Davis, 2007, p. 178). Specifically
when looking at the GiGS, they echo these sentiments. The purpose of the GiGS mentorship
program engages staff and graduate students with undergraduates as mentors (Getting into
Graduate School, 2017). As it was explained previously, it is important for Black and other
underrepresented populations of students to see fellow students who look like them in their
aspired spaces. This mentorship program is one means to reach this goal.
Another outcome of mentorship is that, Graduate students benefit from the exposure a
mentor can provide. Through this exposure the student gains ability to develop meaningful
relationships with future colleagues in their respective profession, (Thomas, et al., 2007, p.
180). Students in the GiGS program would similarly develop these meaningful interpersonal
relationship with the hopes of transforming into a professional relationship once they apply,
enroll, and attend graduate school. The GiGS website further captures this spirit and states that
THE DEMANDS 8
through mentorship, undergraduates leave the mentoring program with a better understanding of
what the process entails and are inspired to pursue academic careers and create change in the
future. These are noble goals supported by research and should be adhered to by the UC
Regents.
By increasing the current budget of the GiGS program, UC Berkeley can demonstrate its
commitment to embrace open and equitable access to opportunities for learning and
Community. Additionally, increasing the budget will also aid in attempting to increase the
number of and better prepare Black graduate students at UC Berkeley and nationally. This
demand will also help Chancellor Nick Dirks initiative to increase Black students on campus as
mentioned in the previous demand. Additionally, Bastedo (2016) mentions how institutions
monitor their peer institutions success with fundraising. This was certainly true when UC
Berkeley had great success during their last capital campaign in 2014. If UC Berkeley were to
fundraise for this specific initiative, they could set an example to their peer institutions and
hopefully inspire other universities to do the same (Bastedo, 2016). It is for these reasons the
UC Regents should look at the wide girth of literature relating to mentorship and
underrepresented groups and allocate more support in the form of funds to the GiGS. By
supporting the Get into Graduate School initiative, the benefits will outweigh the costs of funds.
described earlier, but to understand all the multiple structures involved in The Demands. The
organizational structure of the UC Regents must work with the GiGS structure in order to meet
these demands effectively. The GiGS is sponsored by the Graduate Diversity Program
(GDP). The GDP possess various Diversity Development Professionals. The professionals vary
THE DEMANDS 9
in positional power from Program Coordinators to Associate Deans. As outlined on the GiGS
website, the various professionals are tasked with cultivating a campus environment that will
value and actively seek to promote diversity (Getting into Graduate School, 2017). The GDP
structure mimics the political structure that exists within the UC Berkeley Regents. By
recognizing the moving parts of any interaction between organizational structures, it will better
allow each organization to understand the viewpoint of the other. Luckily, moving forward a
strength of the political structure is that it draws connections among coalitions, interest groups,
and power elites, (Manning, 2013, p. 68). Structures will better collaborate, particularly when
campus.
Although addressing issues within higher education from a CRT perspective is only just
emerging, we believe that by taking such an approach UC Berkeley could be a leader within the
field with regards to addressing institutional issues through the application of CRT. But
regardless of the approach taken, it will be important that in their implementation of any of The
Demands, that the UC Regents take care with regards to which demands they opt to fulfil and
how they opt to do so. As a predominantly White institution, history demonstrates that UC
Berkeley and the UC Regents will be more likely to take action in ways that perpetuate racial
capitalism, which occurs when predominantly white institutions derive social or economic value
from associating with individuals with non-white racial identities (Chang, 2016, p. 18). The UC
Regents must be focused on actually improving the Black student experience, by challenging
systemic inequalities, and not doing so simply to improve UC Berkeleys White students, at the
expense of their students of color (Ahmed, 2012). Given the University of California,
THE DEMANDS 10
Berkeleys long history with activism, the institution should meet these demands to better the
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