Black Lives Matter at PCC

Read the resolution (PDF)

Campus community,

In solidarity and following the leadership of our sister Dr. Gena Lopez the executive board of The Association of Black Employees (TABE) of the Pasadena City College District we support and seek to broaden the dialogue. Higher education IS the location for this dialogue to occur and creating space(s) at the College for students to engage and grow and become is central to our mission. Our students are impacted by the events of the globe, the nation, the state and the local and providing them the critical thinking skills to navigate this complexity is what has made and makes Pasadena City College a unique community.

As colleagues we ask you to take the energy of the moment and begin to reflect and listen to voices of Black colleagues on the campus regarding the lives of OUR students at Pasadena City College. TABE members are often the front line of response for Black students on the campus and a respectful request for dialogue with your TABE colleagues one on one is a step in the direction of healing.

We are educators and our own learning will help to create an environment of informed discourse, consider this site as a location to begin FACT based research that provides you context and a beginning point on what has occurred and to hear voices of the African Diaspora.

Standing together as a community matters and TABE supports the resolution (attached) crafted by Dr Lopez and Vice President of TABE Armia Walker and inspired by the voices of our students. We ask that this move swiftly to support by the college and disseminated as a statement of this college community regarding the events of the moment.

Finally, we ask the campus community to take the energy of this moment and translate it into short term and long term policies, procedures with the right sized fiscal and administrative support for Black students at Pasadena City College. Let us take this moment to innovate as a community, embrace OUR students and create spaces of dialogue and healing.

TABE Executive Board

We thank and respect our Black/African American faculty colleagues who have written Resolution 20.5, and acknowledge the importance of making space to authentically listen to our colleagues and our students who experience racial trauma and anti-Blackness specifically firsthand.

MA not only stands in solidarity behind this resolution, but we also plan on having further discussions, like you are having today, at our next MA meeting about how we can support our managers of color and continue to work as a campus community on the needed actions that come with supporting this resolution.

Read the statement

Read the statement (PDF)  

Read the statement (PDF)

The Classified Senate stands in support of Academic Senate Resolution 20.5 denouncing the killing of unarmed Black/African American citizens due to racial profiling and racist ideologies that promote trauma and affirm PACCD’s commitment to the health, well-being, inclusion and progress of Black/African Americans students on our campus and in the greater community.

We commit to working with our colleagues to have the necessary conversations to create change, create spaces to listen to our Black/African American students and colleagues, and educate ourselves to be better.

We stand with our students, staff, and faculty, and echo the sentiments of the Faculty Association, and Academic Senate.

Read the statement (PDF)

Read the statement (PDF)

Overarching Themes:

1. Need to make students feel more welcome; Acknowledgement from Campus
2. More resources for Black students, more space not a hidden office and make resources more known and visible on campus (i.e., Larger/more visible Black Student Success Center)
3. More participation from staff and faculty at our events and outside event engagement
4. More allies to speak up for us when we are – and not – around
5. Recognize our trauma and take our pain seriously
6. Don’t wait until another tragic event before helping Black students. Action vs Reaction. Make the change ongoing
7. Hire more Black faculty and staff
8. More Funding for Black programs (A2mend, Ujima, Blackademia)
9. More courses reflecting our lived experience and not just during Black History month and more current examples of successful historical figures
10. Hire more equity-minded Faculty and Staff
11. Require Microaggression and Equity training for Currently tenured, soon to be tenured, and newly hired Faculty
12. Don’t make us an afterthought. Make helping Black students intentional like any other students

Dear Lancer Family:

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the raw emotions and bitter truths that were shared during the campus-wide listening session yesterday, sponsored by Ujima and Blackademia. I want to express my deep thanks to the African American and Black students, faculty, and staff who showed such vulnerability and authenticity as they relayed their personal experiences for the college to hear. I especially want to thank Dr. Gena Lopez and Dean Rebecca Cobb for organizing and hosting such an impactful event.

I realize that it is an effect of my privilege that I can’t know how it feels to go through what Black people in our community go through. I know the facts of systemic racism and prejudice and I see the outrage experienced in the face of this injustice, but this talk helped me hear the pain and despair that suffuses your daily lives. Hearing your stories filled me with so many emotions -- sorrow for your pain, anger at your treatment at the hands of systems and individuals who are unworthy, and awe at the strength you've shown. And this I know: enough is enough. The pernicious bigotry and outright racism you described has to stop, and it has to stop now, and it will stop here.

I listened carefully to the criticisms you shared regarding the college’s treatment of Black people and other minorities. I offer my heartfelt apologies for any role that I have played in not understanding the depth of the pain. I cannot describe for you how deeply this troubles me. When I came to PCC seventeen months ago, I was drawn to a community that truly valued equity for all of its students, faculty, and staff. I so firmly believed that we are in the best position of any other college to deliver on the promise to eliminate equity gaps that I committed last Fall to being the first community college in California to close 100% of equity achievement gaps by 2027. Your points yesterday demonstrate how far we have to go, and I want to restate that commitment today: PCC will close all equity achievement gaps by 2027.

I know some of you are probably wondering how I am going to make this commitment come to life and be more than just words. Truthfully, I don’t have all of the answers at this point in time, but I have ideas, including an immediate step. In April, in response to the Chancellor’s Office cutting our 2019-2020 budget midyear, the onset of the pandemic, and the current uncertainty about our 2020-2021 budget, I paused recruitment for all open positions. In light of what was shared yesterday, and holding the memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others whose lives have been taken unjustly, I am opening one critically important search immediately: a Chief Diversity Officer. Now more than ever, the college, particularly at the executive level, must drive change for our students and our community.

The conversation yesterday had moments of discomfort. To me, that feeling is a sign that I am learning and I still have much learning to do. As the fight for justice continues, you will find me standing beside you, lending all that I can to help bring about the change that is so long overdue.

I bristle when people insist that "all lives matter." All lives can't matter unless and until Black Lives Matter. I state unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. As long as Black lives are in peril, we must not deflect, we must not dilute, we must not look away, and we must not rest.

In solidarity,
Erika

Read the statement (PDF)

Read the statement

Read the statement (PDF)

 

The death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement has emphasized the lack of equity in our minority communities, particularly the nation’s African American citizens, in the areas of education, health care, employment, housing and justice. The mission of the Pasadena City College Foundation is to develop funding and community support for the enhancement of teaching and learning at Pasadena City College. The Foundation has a strong commitment to our college, our students and to the values of equity and racial justice that underlie our mission.

Our students, and especially our students of color, have challenges beyond the classroom that affect their academic success including: food and housing insecurities and access to technology. In response, the PCC Foundation has restructured our financial support for students to include these areas of need on an ongoing basis, in addition to our continuing support for scholarships. Because the funding for these needs is endowed, this support will remain in perpetuity. Financial support without supporting dialogue is insufficient.

We believe that important issues such as equity and racial justice can only be adequately addressed by social engagement and a thoughtful exchange of ideas that lead to real, permanent solutions. Therefore, we have made a commitment to focus on how the issues of racial justice and equity have impacted our community, and how we create equitable life experiences for the whole of our community that makes it a better place to learn and live.

As we live through one of the most unprecedented times in history, the Pasadena City College Foundation will seize this moment to ensure we are a Foundation that works for equity for our students and our community. We will do so with urgent commitment.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Pasadena City College Foundation

Read the resolution (PDF)

Read the order (PDF)

Dear PCC Community,

The Robert G. Freeman Center For Career And Completion stands in solidarity with Black/African American students, alumni, faculty and staff, just as the college stated, “shoulder to shoulder because Black Lives Matter”.

As a team, we wholeheartedly share and echo the stance expressed by our Superintendent- President and the Chancellor’s Office “Call to Action” webinar and “Vision for Success” reform. The Freeman Center staff has listened to our students as they courageously shared their difficult experiences as Black/African-American students, watched as faculty and staff responded to injustices occurring in our society, and have grieved with and for our friends that have suffered through these tragic events.

As we plan for a successful 2020-2021 academic year and beyond, we believe that our response and actions we take will demonstrate the Freeman Center’s commitment to providing students a career development experience that further prepares them for a diverse, inclusive, and globally competitive world of work.

This is the Freeman Center’s commitment to the Black/ African American community:

• Engage in on-going professional development as a team to build on inclusive and equitable practices.
• Amplify student voices by assessing and supporting their career development needs.
• Create and engage in career discussions focused on equitable access for students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the community.
• Establish diverse partnerships with organizations and professionals that reflect our underserved student population for access to networking, mentorship, internship and employment opportunities.

We recognize that we cannot meet our commitments alone. The Freeman Center will be looking to our PCC students, alumni, faculty, and staff in order to help us achieve these objectives in the days and months ahead.

Sincerely,
Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion

The members of the Counseling and Career Services Division at Pasadena City College stand in solidarity with all of our students and colleagues fighting for social justice and equality. We recognize the frustration and pain that our Black/African-American communities have been facing for centuries throughout our country. In light of the recent attacks against countless Black/African-American people, we as a Division, condemn the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and the countless others who have been subject to racism, systems of oppression, white supremacy, and abuse of power. Although this is not new, we feel it necessary as Counselors to be intentional in our stance against anything that may cause harm or vicarious trauma to our Black/African-American students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

As the Counseling and Career Services Division of Pasadena City College, we are committed to ensuring support, respect, and acceptance for our Black/African-American students and colleagues. We will stand up and speak out against racism, systems of oppression, white supremacy, and abuse of power. We are committed to advocating for a more welcoming, inclusive, and equitable environment for our Black/African-American students and colleagues. As trained Counselors with a multicultural and equity lens, we will stand by our intentions to support our Black/African-American students’ socio-emotional, career, and academic development. We will do so by acting on the following:

• We will not tolerate under any circumstances injustice, hate speech, and acts of violence against our Black/African-American students and colleagues.
• We will continue to confront our own anti-Black biases regardless of the discomfort we may feel.
• We will commit to “checking” ourselves and our unfounded racist beliefs about Black/African-American people.
• We will commit to calling out and reporting racist behavior as described by our Black/African-American students and/or colleagues.
• We will create welcoming and inclusive spaces specifically for our Black/African-American students and colleagues.
• We will ensure that our Counseling curriculum reflects the lived experiences of the Black/African-American community.
• We will ensure equitable policies and procedures in Counseling which do not disproportionately impact Black/African-American students.
• We will continue to be innovative in our approaches and planning in regards to providing programming and academic and career counseling services that are unique to our Black/African-American campus community.

Our goal as Academic and Career Counselors is to ensure that students feel welcomed, cared for, and heard in a non-judgmental atmosphere. We will serve as allies who will advocate unconditionally on their behalf as they continue to build cultural wealth towards social, emotional, career, and academic development and success.

Sincerely,
Counseling & Career Services

Read the statement

Dear PCC Community,

We want to thank Dr. Gena Lopez, Armia Walker, and Ujima/Blackademia for authoring and presenting Academic Senate Resolution 20.5. At PCC Library, we strive to “provide a comfortable, safe and accessible learning environment for all library users” in accordance with our stated mission and outcomes. However, we recognize that equitable service for our Black students, faculty, and staff is perennially threatened by systemic racism that has been present in our institutions since the colonization of this land. We at PCC Library stand with and for Black Lives. We stand in solidarity with our Black community members in steadfastly affirming that Black Lives Matter.

PCC Library faculty and staff are making it a priority to not only raise awareness of Black voices, but also to provide a learning environment that promotes social justice. To ensure that our work can be held to account, we will begin examining our services and practices to meet the clearly stated demands of Black students, faculty, and staff throughout our campus. Our goal is to provide access to an environment and resources that support Black empowerment, anti-racist action, and campus-wide allyship at PCC and in the greater community.

We exist to support the PCC community and strive to meet the information needs of all PCC students. However, we cannot be inclusive for all students, staff, and faculty until Black Lives and experiences at PCC and in the greater community are valued and Black voices are heard. For this reason, we are not neutral when it comes to racism.

We are listening and, in turn, we are acting.

In solidarity, PCC Library