College Leadership Letter

June 12, 2020

Subject: Doing More to End Anti-Blackness and Structural Racism in NatSci

Dear College of Natural Science (NatSci) Senior Leaders and Chairs and Directors,

As faculty, staff, and students are calling for changes to address racial inequity, we are asking you to pause and reflect on some important issues. We appreciate those who have expressed their support and willingness to work toward justice; however, we are concerned about the negative impact that well-intended, yet uninformed action can cause to Black faculty, staff, and students. For example, a “sense of urgency” around taking action can result in harm without our awareness (K. Jones and T. Okun, The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, 2001).

As the NatSci community cares deeply about improving the climate and culture at Michigan State University (MSU), we ask that you, as NatSci leaders, take the following actions to eliminate anti-Blackness and structural racism.

Begin with a commitment to a life-long journey of self-education on racism. Each of us must take responsibility for our own self-education and recognize that, if you are White, making time to self-educate is, in and of itself, a privilege. We challenge and invite each of you, as key leaders in our community, to learn about systemic racism and sexism in academia, how power and privilege are maintained in systems, the educational impact of diversity, and how anti-Blackness and systemic racism are perpetuated at MSU. A shared understanding of these issues will allow us to work together to dismantle systemic oppression. As you go through your journey of self-education, pause frequently to reflect and ask yourself: how am I personally addressing anti-Blackness and dismantling structural racism within my unit? And, how am I listening?

A powerful place to start is with understanding racism, and other forms of oppression, as systems that operate on four levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural. To bring about lasting transformation, we must broaden our efforts beyond the individual and interpersonal levels and invest in changing the racist systems and structures that are embedded within higher education, as in all American institutions. This enables us to recognize and address the current and historical institutional practices and policies within the United States and at MSU that have created barriers and led to inequitable access and harm for Black faculty, staff, and students.

Translate your self-education into actions that improve inclusion and diversity within your unit. To diversify our faculty, staff, and students, we must not only recruit the very best but also invest in making sure that everyone here at MSU can truly belong and thrive. This requires changing our policies and practices to recognize the invisible labors provided by Black and Brown faculty, staff, and students and the harms they must frequently navigate. It is essential to ask and truly listen to former and current Black and Brown faculty, staff, and students about their experiences within our college and within the larger MSU community. It is not just or equitable to bring new people to MSU without working to dismantle the systems that create trauma, psychological damage, and harsh environments that our Black and Brown faculty members, staff, students, and alumni endure every day—environments that most people are not even aware exist or that they are perpetuating. As Sudip Parikh, AAAS CEO, recently emphasized, “Systemic change begins with everyone feeling safe and respected.”

All of us in NatSci must continue to take action, beginning first with self-reflection and self-education. Let us be intentional in setting goals, taking actions, and assessing outcomes within units, allowing sufficient time, clear guidelines, and appropriate representation and accountability at all levels. Without addressing racism on all four levels, we are maintaining the status quo. It will take continued time, investment, and resources to dismantle the anti-Blackness and systemic racism embedded in our policies and practices.

A number of resources are provided below. Kendra Pyle, Cheryl Sisk, Diana Bello-DeOcampo, Chrysoula Vasileiou, and NatSci DEI Facilitation Team are here to assist and work with you in this ongoing process.

Sincerely,

Kendra Pyle, NatSci Coordinator for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Cheryl Sisk, NatSci Associate Dean for Faculty Development

Diana Bello-DeOcampo, Associate Professor and NatSci DEIAC Co-Chair

Chrysoula Vasileiou, NatSci DEIAC Co-Chair

Jerry Caldwell, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Danielle Flores Lopez, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Jonglim Han, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Sheba Onchiri, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Daniel Pfau, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Ariel Robbins, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Lori Seischab, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Devin Silvia, NatSci DEI Facilitator; Director of Undergraduate Studies, CMSE

Claire Vieille, Associate Professor, NatSci DEI Facilitator

Kenna Lehmann, PhD Candidate, outgoing EEBB Representative to the NatSci DEIAC

Erynn L. Green, NatSci Alumna, BS

Sandra Suarez Hammer, Postdoc Representative NatSci DEIAC

Kendall Mahn, Assistant Professor

Cynthia Jordan, Professor and NatSci Faculty Excellence Advocate

Pawel Danielewicz, Professor

Kristin Parent, Associate Professor

Carolyn M. Malmstrom, Associate Professor

Cori Fata-Hartley, Nat Sci Assistant Dean for Curriculum Coordination

Saul Beceiro-Novo, Assistant Professor

Alex Wright, PhD Candidate, outgoing Graduate School Leadership Fellow serving NatSci

Carolyn Sekedat, NatSci Administrative Assistant

Michaela TerAvest, Assistant Professor

Heidi Purdy, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Andrea Rafferty, BLD Curriculum Assistant

Val Osowski, NatSci Communications Director

Nkrumah Grant, PhD Candidate, MMG representative to the NatSci DEIAC

Sarathi Wijetilleke, Research Assistant Professor

Eleri Thomas, NEU representative to the NatSci DEIAC

Kirsten Tollefson, Associate Professor

Barret Baxter, Communications Manager, Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Program

Michelle Russell, Graduate Coordinator and Academic Advisor, Biomedical Laboratory

Diagnostics Program

Susan McQuiston, BLD Instructor/Academic Advisor

John A. Gerlach, Ph.D. Professor and Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Program Director

Danny Caballero, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, CMSE

Remco Zegers, Professor, Physics & Astronomy/FRIB/NSCL

Jay Zarnetske, Assistant Professor, Co-Chair EES DEIJ, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Brian O’Shea, Professor of CMSE, Physics & Astronomy, FRIB/NSCL.  Director of ICER.

Lily Johnson-Ulrich, PhD. Alumni Department of Integrative Biology

Luis Enrique Martinetti, PhD student, representative to the NatSci DEIAC

Tyce DeYoung, Professor

Reid Blanchett, PhD candidate, representative to the NatSci DEIAC

Sean Crosson, Professor

Chris Waters, Professor

Huey-Wen Lin, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy and CMSE

Yann Dufour, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Susannah Dorfman, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dirk Colbry, Curriculum Specialist, CMSE

Sean Couch, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, CMSE, FRIB/NSCL

Linda S. Mansfield, University Distinguished Professor, LCS/MMG

Arjun Krishnan, Assistant Professor, CMSE, BMB

Jose Perea, Assistant Professor, CMSE, MTH

Norma Cecilia Martinez-Gomez, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Susan Conrad, Professor, MMG

Matthew Hirn, Assistant Professor, CMSE, Mathematics

John Fyfe, Associate Professor. MMG/SCS

Hyokyoung G. Hong, Associate Professor, STT

Kayla Johnson, PhD candidate, BMB, CMSE

Jessica Neal, Instructor, MMG

Melinda Meiring, PhD student

Ashley Shade, Assistant Professor MMG

Adam Hafner, Student, Student Advisory Committee DEIAC Representative

Leslie Thompson, Academic Specialist-Advisor

Richard Schwartz, Professor and Associate Dean, MMG, CNS

Dennis Arvidson, Assistant Professor, MMG, COM, CHM

Antonio White, Graduate Student Neuroscience PhD program

Krishna Yelleswarapu, DO/PhD Neuroscience Graduate Student

Leonel Mendoza Professor MMG/BLD/COM

Michelle Mazei-Robison, Associate Professor, PSL

Wolfgang Kerzendorf, Assistant Professor, Astronomy and CMSE

Ming Yan, Assistant Professor, CMSE and MTH

Katie Hinko, Assistant Professor, Physics and Lyman Briggs

Shari Stockmeyer, Office Manager, Neuroscience Program

Laura Symonds, Associate Professor, Physiology Department and Neuroscience

Rachel L Morris, Academic Specialist, BLD

Sonya Lawrence, Academic Specialist/Instructor, NatSci DEIAC member, Biological 

      Sciences Program

Kirstin Parkin, Assistant Professor, MMG, CHM

Vincent Melfi, Associate Professor, Statistics and Probability and PRIME

Wilmarie Morales-Soto, Ph.D. Candidate, Neuroscience Program

Heather Eisthen, Professor, Integrative Biology

Janani Ravi, Sr Research Associate, Pathobiology & Diagnostic Investigations

Jason Gallant, Assistant Professor, Integrative Biol

Geoffroy Laumet, PhD, Assistant Professor, Physiology

Yuying Xie, Assistant Professor, CMSE/STT

Zachary Fernandez, Graduate Student, Neuroscience

Ellen Rzepka, Adm. Business Professional, Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Program

Casey Henley, Assistant Professor, Neuroscience, Physiology

Thomas Harpstead, Staff, BioSci

AJ Robison, PhD, Associate Professor, Physiology

Neal Hammer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Microbiology & Molecular Biology

Amy Ralston, Associate Professor, BMB

Dohun Pyeon, Associate Professor, MMG

Burdens and Invisible Labor of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Faculty and Students

• Cognitive Reserve and Racial Privilege in STEM, Mélise Edwards, Blog, May 10, 2020

• What Is Faculty Diversity Worth to a University? - The “invisible labor” done by professors of color is not usually rewarded with tenure and promotion, P. Matthew, The Atlantic, Nov. 23, 2016

• The Invisible Labor of Minority Professors, A. W. June, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 13, 2015 (must be logged into MSU Library account before accessing)

• Black women create #BlackInTheIvory and #PublishingPaidMe to reveal inequity in academia and publishing, Gwen Aviles, NBC News, June 8, 2020

• An open letter of love to black students: #BlackLivesMatter [Blog post] – from MSU faculty to students, blackspaceblog, Dec. 8 2014).

Dismantling Whiteness to Increase Faculty Retention

• White Academia: Do Better, J. Roberts, The Faculty, June 8, 2020

• Please Focus More on Inclusion so that Diversity Recruitment Efforts Can Work", Small Pond Science 2018

• Dismantling Whiteness in Academe - watered-down academic diversity is a reminder of how whiteness structures our interactions in higher education, S. Vidal-Ortiz, Inside Higher Education, November 10, 2017

• Dismantling Whiteness in Academe: Part 2,  how to begin to dismantle the workings of whiteness and redistribute power dynamics in academe, S. Vidal-Ortiz, Inside Higher Education, April 13, 2018

• Higher Ed’s Toothless Response to the Killing of George Floyd - commentary and advice from Black men faculty on university official statements, J. England and R. Purcell, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 8, 2020 (must be logged into MSU Library account before accessing)

Hiring Practices

• “We Are All for Diversity, but...”: How Faculty Hiring Committees Reproduce Whiteness and Practical Suggestions for How They Can Change; O. Sensoy, R. Diangelo, Harvard Educational Review 2017.  

Anti-racism Resources for Self-Education

• Racial Equity Tools - offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large

• Scaffolded Anti-Racism Resources list (created by A. Stamborski, N. Zimmermann, and B. Gregory). Links some of the Anti-Racism Resources (created by S. S. Flicker and A. Klein) with Janet E. Helms’ stages of white identity development

• Critical Racial and Social Justice Education from Robin DiAngelo

• Unlearning Racism/Learning Antiracism Book List

• Culturally Responsive Leadership

• The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, K. Jones and T. Okun, 2001

• Robin DiAngelo: How 'white fragility' supports racism and how whites can stop it, S. LaMotte, CNN Health, June 7, 2020

• Book recommendation: Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, by Layla Saad