Veronica Smith asks a question at the Paul Robeson Leadership Institute luncheon
The School of Arts and Sciences Advising Center stands together with our students, faculty, and leadership, to say unequivocally that Black Lives Matter.
The SAS Advising Centers and staff are committed to ensuring that the spaces we cultivate and inhabit are free of micro-aggressions and systems of oppression, and acknowledge the experiences and excellence of all of our students, faculty and staff.
We pledge to hold space for our Black colleagues and students as our nation once again confronts our shameful history of slavery and the racism that persists in our midst that results in violence against Black lives, exemplified in the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Riah Milton, Dominique Fells, Tony McDade and too many other lives taken, made invisible and irrevocably altered in the name of the hate that is racism. We will not stand for it.
We will not be silent!
We STAND UP! As Advisors, we accept responsibility for identifying and dismantling the systemic barriers that exist in academe for Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). We stand in support of the worldwide protests against police brutality and white supremacy. We condemn any and all acts of violence against Black communities.
We STEP UP! We commit to recruiting and retaining staff that reflect the identities and experiences of our diverse student body; we will foster and maintain safe spaces where our BIPOC students, staff, and faculty can be unapologetically self-expressed, thrive and continue to enrich and strengthen our community.
We SPEAK UP! We commit to listen, hear and give voice to Black experiences at Rutgers, especially when those experiences bring critique and opportunity to grow in our anti-racism. Our collective community depends on our shared responsibility for reporting any bias incident that we experience or witness.
We recognize that this statement is but a first step toward securing those spaces and commit ourselves to the cause of being better allies and better anti-racists for the common good of our shared destiny toward racial equality.
In Solidarity…
Black lives matter.
Black trans lives matter.
Black queer lives matter.
Black voices matter.
Black experiences matter.
Black students matter.
Black staff matter.
Black faculty matter.
Black research projects matter.
Black histories matter.
Black LIVES MATTER.
In this time of moral reckoning with the country’s history of racism, we encourage all students to engage with these issues. For courses offered this fall that address the black experience in America, please visit the listing of Africana Studies courses featured here; and do a keyword search in the Schedule of Classes using keywords such as “race,” “black,” “African,” and “Afro.”
Resources for students:
Asian American Cultural Center
Email: aacc@echo.rutgers.edu
Center for Latino Arts and Culture
Email: clac.info@rutgers.edu
Center for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities
Email: sje@echo.rutgers.edu
Paul Robeson Cultural Center
Email: rrobeson@rci.rutgers.edu
Letter From President and Chancellors: Affirming Our Asian Community
Other department/programs of study:
- Asian American Studies Initiative
https://amerstudies.rutgers.edu/academics/undergraduate/asian-american-studies - Department of Latino And Caribbean Studies
https://latcar.rutgers.edu/academics/undergraduate - Critical Sexuality Studies and Social Justice minors
https://womens-studies.rutgers.edu/academics/undergraduate/minors
