Do The Right Thing

In Erick’s column in the December 2019 CODI Newsletter, he challenged all of us to “Do the Right Thing” – referring to Spike Lee’s 1989 film by the same name. Erick noted that we all have to ask ourselves every day, 

“What do I stand for, what is important to me, how will my decisions and actions impact others, am I doing this because of what others may think or do I really care?” Each of us has “an opportunity and responsibility to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and safe. Change is uncomfortable, it challenges and threatens people, and comes at a cost financially, emotionally, and structurally. Is that cost worth it to you, and can you afford it?” 

In this February 2020 CODI Newsletter, I would like to respond to Erick’s charge with an opportunity for us at EMU to consider what it means for us to Do the Right Thing. Take a moment and reflect on the following questions:

• What do you stand for? What is important to you? 

• How do your decisions and actions impact others? 

• Do we really care about what happens to others and to the culture at EMU or are we primarily motivated by what others think about us? 

• What can we do at EMU to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and safe? 

For the last question, I initially created a list of things that EMU should do – it was a big list and included things like: creating a VP position at EMU that strategically focuses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in order to advocate and promote decisions on behalf of marginalized students, staff, and faculty; developing more just policies around campus events, housing, and financial aid; and providing more scholarships for students representing marginalized communities, including people who are indigenous to the land currently named Virginia.

But I decided instead to think more from a personal level – what are the things that you and I can do, every day, to promote a stronger sense of belonging for all students. I bet with a little thought, you can easily list 10 things that could contribute to such a school environment. 

Here’s my list:

1. Doing the right thing means that as a professor, I work to create safe and inclusive learning environments for all of my students, which might include screening textbooks and other resources for cultural bias; inviting students to share their gender pronouns and discussing why that’s important; or setting aside time for developing, discussing, and practicing shared expectations for our class. 

2. Doing the right thing means that as a professor, I show up for athletic events, and other student-led events (BSA, LSA, ISO, Safe Space, etc.), to demonstrate care and attention to the non-academic things that our students are involved in.

3. Doing the right thing means encouraging EMU to provide more dedicated student-centered spaces –spaces that are familiar and comfortable for more students, particularly underrepresented students.

4. Doing the right thing means working with EMU search committees and hiring practices to hire more faculty and staff who represent marginalized communities.

5. Doing the right thing means attending anti-bias training, listening well to those impacted by marginalization and discrimination, and reflecting deeply on my own assumptions about others. It means reading books written by authors who represent marginalized communities – black authors, queer authors, indigenous authors and following their leadership in the work of anti-oppression.  

6. Doing the right thing means that as a member of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, I work to review and challenge current policies and propose policies that promote more justice and equity on campus. 

7. Doing the right thing means that as a white person, I resist serving on committees, being a part of advisory groups, or serving in any other type of leadership role where there are no people of color represented at the table and that I work to ensure that marginalized groups are represented in the rooms where decisions are being made. 

8. Doing the right thing means that when I witness incidents of bias, discrimination, harm, or bullying, I don’t sit comfortably by, but that I find my “Green Dot” and do something about what I’m seeing. It means that I push myself into uncomfortable places by actively confronting injustice. 

9. Doing the right thing means consistently showing up for conversations – sometimes uncomfortable conversations – about race, sexuality, gender, and other discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion and that I don’t let fear silence me from engaging. 

Erick reminded us that change can be super uncomfortable and many times, it comes at a cost. What are some of the costs we might pay financially, emotionally, and structurally if we were to go all in on our commitment to diversity and inclusion? Is it worth it? Will we do the right thing? Because it is the right thing? 

CODI is really interested in your “10 Things list.” If you’d like to share your ideas with us, feel free to email us at codi@emu.edu.

Thanks!

Kathy Evans

On behalf of CODI

Raising Our Collective Consciousness

Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates as "go back and get it," but this translation does not do justice to the concept. Sankofa includes the hope that whatever may have been taken from us, or lost, or forgotten, is not irretrievable. By practicing Sankofa, we reclaim the past in service of the future, as symbolized by the bird whose feet face forward while its head is turned back and in its beak or on its back is an egg (symbolizing the future). 

Sankofa expresses the conviction that moving forward without looking back is a way of willed forgetting that leaves us unmoored and unhealthy. No person is, without community. Bringing broken pieces of life and history (re-membering) is inseparable from our healing as communities. What remembering looks like depends on one's community, and during Black History Month we remember the African diaspora created by enslavement and the past of today's vibrant African American communities.