CCV United Faculty
The union for faculty at the Community College of Vermont
RSS
  • News
  • About Your Union
    • CCVUF Antiracism Working Group
    • 2021 Contract Negotiations
    • Committee Work
  • Documents
    • Current Contract
    • CCVUF Bylaws
    • VSCFF Constitution
    • Bulletin Board
    • NECHE Self Study
  • Contact

Anti-Racism Working Group Letter to the Academic Council

Alec October 13, 2020 News

CCV United Faculty, Anti-Racism Working Group

September 11, 2020

Re: Recommendations for Curriculum Changes

To the Academic Council:

These past few months have been extraordinary. We are living at a historical moment when communities, institutions, and citizens across the country are at last initiating long overdue conversations on the ongoing systemic racism in this country. We know that CCV President Joyce Judy has formed a task force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with these objectives. CCV’s faculty union has formed its own Antiracism Working Group and has been holding regular biweekly meetings since July 9, 2020 to examine the ways in which racism and white supremacy exist in our college and the changes that are needed to address this. We hope to contribute to the efforts of the task force in making CCV a more inclusive and rigorous institution that will help to build a more equitable society.

We acknowledge that the educational system in our country has failed to teach the history of racism and anti-racism in this country, has failed to adequately teach the perspectives and cultural achievements of minorities, and has therefore contributed to the persistence of the white supremacy upon which this nation was founded. 

Therefore, our Working Group is dedicated to defining clear commitments towards dismantling racism by examining our curricula, hiring policies, and persistent bias as expressed by members of our community. 

We believe that CCV must undertake curriculum reviews to ensure that curricula are not centered around whiteness, and reflect a diversity of perspectives and experience. The Faculty United Anti-Racism Working Group has drafted the following recommendations for curriculum changes at CCV:
 
1. More Course Offerings: Too few courses are presently offered at CCV that are not centered around whiteness. We notice, for instance, CCV has offered African American literature as well as World Literature in the past but both these courses are archived. There is not a single English class on the great diversity of postcolonial literature, the literature of the civil rights movement, African literature or world literature in translation. Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison is not taught at CCV. Instead, CCV offers a full semester three-credit course dedicated to a single white male author.
 
There are a variety of American History courses offered at CCV including two American History surveys, Women in US History, History of the American West, and Native American History and Culture, and Vermont History. Individual instructors work to include the African American experience into these courses, but none of them mandate highlighting the African American experience or specifically addressing American slavery. The only class to directly address the African American experience, African American History, was archived years ago. 
 
In Environmental Science, environmental racism is included by some instructors but this is not built into the Essential Objectives. There is no course specifically on Environmental Racism. There is no course offered on Public Health and Race Disparities. There is no course on racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Most troubling, there is not a single EO in any of the criminal justice courses that mentions “race,”  “racial disparity,” or “inequity,” or mention of the origins of policing in slave patrols.  
 
We understand that CCV is a two- year college that cannot offer a great diversity of courses. We do think however that CCV should examine its priorities, and that changes in graduation requirements could make students more likely to sign up for classes that would meet a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion General Requirement.
 
2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion General Requirement: Many colleges and universities require students to complete Diversity credits in order to graduate.

Brandeis University, for instance, requires students to take courses in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies that will “prepare students to engage with dynamics, developments, divisions and inequalities within U.S. society, and to explore the historical and contemporary experiences, interests, and perspectives of groups and institutions that have shaped life in the United States.”

The University of Vermont requires all students to take courses in Diversity (Categories One, Race and Racism in the United States; and Two, the Diversity of Human Experience). UVM’s diversity requirement is “intended to provide undergraduate students with the awareness, knowledge, and skills necessary to function productively in a complex global society, by fostering an understanding of and respect for differences among individuals and groups of people.” 

We recommend that CCV adopt similar graduation requirements.

All degree students would be required to take two three-credit classes that qualify for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion credits. These courses may include classes already offered at CCV, such as Native American History. Courses that have been archived because of low enrollments would be more likely to fill if they fulfilled a graduation requirement.

A list of courses that could be included in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusions category (some of which are already in the CCV catalog):

African American Literature; World Literature; Literature of Civil Rights Movements; Native American History; Abenaki Studies; African American History; Women in US History; Environmental Racism; American Holocaust; Race and Gender studies; The African American Struggle for Equality; Inequities in Public Health; and Inequities in the Criminal Justice System.

3. Include Essential Objectives in all courses that address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to ensure that all courses are inclusive. These objectives would include the words “race” “gender” “class” “diversity” and or “equity”. 

All classes should include one Essential Objective that will demonstrate that listening and engaging in discussion with openness and respect to diverse perspectives are essential requirements for participation in civil society and are therefore requirements in all degree programs and in all professional fields:

  • Discuss topics of race, gender, class and their intersections with a diverse group with respectful listening and engagement with diverse perspectives.

Suggested Essential Objectives: 

  • Intro to Psychology: Explore the contributions from traditionally underrepresented groups within the field of psychology; examine the impact of ethnocentrism in psychological research.
  • English Composition: Read and discuss literary works by minority authors; demonstrate an understanding of their contribution to literature and society, and to increased empathy and understanding of minority perspectives.
  • Current Environmental Issues: Discuss the socio-cultural and ethical influences that shape our understanding of environmental issues, including racial inequities.
  • Moving toward Sustainability: Consider ways to respond to current inequities across the globe, including racism and inequitable distribution of resources, that would move us closer to ecological, social and economic sustainability.
  • American History to 1865: Explore the development of slavery in America and   analyze its impact on American society, politics, and culture.
  • American History since 1865: Analyze the impact of segregation on American society and culture; discuss racial civil rights movements from Reconstruction to the present.
  • World History II: Address the Post-Colonial Freedom Movements and their impact on global politics and society.
  • For World History I and II: Discuss the impact of slavery on society and culture.
  • Global Issues in the Media: Discuss the media blind spots that ignore coverage of African and other countries with minority nonwhite populations; discuss the impact of the American and European Empires and their economic and military interventions in the Global South, climate change as environmental racism, and their roots in White Supremacy.
  • Vermont History: Learn the history of African Americans, Native Americans, and ethnic groups in Vermont; analyze the history of racism, white supremacy, and Eugenics, in Vermont. 
  • Intro to Criminal Justice: Identify racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and discuss police killings of African Americans; demonstrate familiarity with current debates on police and criminal justice reform, the major authors contributing to this discussion, and the cases that have sparked nationwide calls for police reform and defunding.

 
The CCV United Anti-Racism Working Group will continue to meet to discuss these issues. We recognize that faculty will need resources and support in order to make these changes, and we will continue to reach out to faculty for their feedback on these proposals. We hope that our Working Group can work with Curriculum Committees and the Academic Council towards making these necessary changes at CCV.
 
Thank you,
 
CCV Faculty United Anti-Racism Working Group
 
Cynthia Bittinger
Emily Casey
Roger Cranse
Miki Dash
Heather Fitzgerald
Laura Gannon-Murakami
Zoe Griffing
Linda Gustafson
Fred Kosnitsky
Nina Kunimoto
Alexis Lathem
Elisabeth Lehr
Elizabeth McHale
Kathleen Moore
Stephen Pite

CCV Appeals Faculty Unemployment What has our union accomplished? What’s next?

Related Posts

News

Anti-Racism Working Group Update

Over the summer of 2020 the CCV faculty union formed an Anti-Racism Working Group that has been holding regular meetings to examine the ways in which racism and white supremacy exist in our college and the changes that are needed to address this. We recognized the need to address the lack of diversity in our […]

2021 Contract Negotiations, News

CCVUF Bargaining Platform

1. Parity, Equity, Fairness We are part-time faculty in the Vermont State Colleges System. We do the same work, often with the same students, as other VSC PT faculty. Our compensation and benefits should recognize that. 2. Policies that support job security Respectful and predictable policies support faculty in their work leading to better student […]

2021 Contract Negotiations, News

Member Priorities for our Next Contract

Here are what our members see as priorities for our next contract, based on our Member Survey (CCVUF Bargaining Survey Priorities — 145 responses). Contract priorities this year: More Pay Grades for experienced faculty 57.9% 84 Payment for required training 55.9% 81 Sabbatical or Leave of Absence up to one year without loss of Bargaining […]

Are you a member?

CCV faculty: Have you filled out your membership form yet?

Membership Form Here

Your Union

As early as spring of 2014 CCV faculty were discussing the work of forming a faculty union. The process of connecting with each other and organizing a group of committed faculty to form a union took some time, but by the Spring of 2017 we were confident that the majority of CCV faculty wanted a union to represent our interests. In October of 2017, 81% of the eligible CCV faculty voted and the results revealed a strong majority in favor of union representation by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union.

Our Original Mission Statement

The adjunct faculty of the Community College of Vermont are committed to a fair and progressive agenda that supports faculty in providing quality instruction built on strong academic standards, that promotes faculty support of students and that works for college affordability.

As professionals in our fields, we seek to formalize our faculty voice in curriculum and program development, course assignments and compensation. We seek to strengthen faculty evaluation and grievance procedures and to create an organized voice for faculty, both at the Vermont statehouse and nationwide.

A CCV faculty union will be a powerful voice for a collaborative educational atmosphere, fair and just working conditions and accessible, high-quality education for all.

© CCV United Faculty 2023
Powered by WordPress • Themify WordPress Themes