September 28, 2021
September 27, 2021
To the UConn Community:
This week we learned of multiple incidents on the Storrs campus that targeted LGBTQIA+, Hindu, and Muslim members of our community.
We take this matter seriously and reject, denounce, and condemn these acts. Members of all of these communities contribute to the rich diversity that makes the University of Connecticut stronger as an institution. ODI values members of all of these communities and stands with them in the face of these heinous acts.
ODI is working with campus partners to address impacted communities and these incidents are being investigated by the university. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.
To the members of our community who are impacted by this senseless hatred, please know that the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, including our central office and cultural centers/programs, stands with you. Please visit ODI’s website , the Rainbow Center, the Asian American Cultural Center, the African American Cultural Center, Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center, the Women’s Center, the Islamic Center at UConn, the Dean of Students staff and Student Health and Wellness for resources and support.
Sincerely,
The Office for Diversity and Inclusion
September 23, 2021
To the UConn Community:
This week we learned of multiple incidents on the Storrs campus that targeted LGBTQIA+, Hindu, and Muslim members of our community.
We take this matter seriously and reject, denounce, and condemn these acts. Members of all of these communities contribute to the rich diversity that makes the University of Connecticut stronger as an institution. ODI values members of all of these communities and stands with them in the face of these heinous acts.
ODI is working with campus partners to address impacted communities and these incidents are being investigated by the university. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.
To the members of our community who are impacted by this senseless hatred, please know that the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, including our central office and cultural centers/programs, stands with you. Please visit ODI’s website , the Rainbow Center, the Asian American Cultural Center, the African American Cultural Center, Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center, the Women’s Center, the Islamic Center at UConn, the Dean of Students staff and Student Health and Wellness for resources and support.
Sincerely,
The Office for Diversity and Inclusion
August 25, 2021
The African American Cultural Center (AACC) and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion would like to express our concern and support for the people of Haiti who are experiencing the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tropical storm in Haiti. We stand in solidarity with members of the UConn community and their families who have been adversely impacted by these recent tragedies.
Please know that you are not alone, the destruction of life and property is not unobserved, and that your pleas for help are not unheard. To the rest of the UConn Community, we encourage you to get involved by learning more about the humanitarian crises facing Haitians and, if able, to get involved in relief efforts.
The African American Cultural Center (AACC) and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion would like to express our concern and support for the people of Haiti who are experiencing the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tropical storm in Haiti. We stand in solidarity with members of the UConn community and their families who have been adversely impacted by these recent tragedies.
Please know that you are not alone, the destruction of life and property is not unobserved, and that your pleas for help are not unheard. To the rest of the UConn Community, we encourage you to get involved by learning more about the humanitarian crises facing Haitians and, if able, to get involved in relief efforts.
July 15, 2021
June 24, 2021
UConn’s Department of Geosciences unanimously joins the rest of the university community in proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. We stand in solidarity with this community against both systemic racism and ongoing police brutality. We reach out to support the family, friends, and communities of Black people who have been harmed by racism and police violence, and join them in their civil protests against this injustice. Additionally, we recognize that the communities of Black, Latinx, and Native Americans are also burdened beyond normal by the COVID-19 pandemic as a legacy of racism.
Geosciences as a discipline is a field that lacks racial diversity, both historically and at the present time for conventional reasons inherited through history, and for reasons specific to the field. We dedicate ourselves to creating a welcoming and supportive environment for those committed to confronting racism, discrimination, and injustice at all levels of society, including within our discipline. We also pledge to help UConn students work towards a just future.
We support these national geoscience organizations committed to greater diversity and inclusion within our community:
American Geophysical Union’s Bridge Program
National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists
On to the Future
Within UConn, we endorse and support these statements from its Institutes and Centers:
Statement from Centers, Institutes and Programs on Racial Justice
Public Statement on Anti-Black Violence from Africana Studies Institute
Joint Statement from the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and Human Rights Institute
UConn’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion
Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut
June 21, 2021
To the UConn Community:
On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, Union military authorities reached Galveston, Texas, and enforced the executive order to free all people enslaved in Confederate territories. All people held as slaves in Texas were finally free.
On Thursday, June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday is effective immediately. This designation of Juneteenth Independence Day is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.
According to Dr. Matt Delmont, a professor of African American history and the history of Civil Rights at Dartmouth College, Juneteenth is about addressing the issues that continue to face the Black community. Issues such as healthcare and healthcare disparities, racialized violence, systemic racism and the ban on teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in classrooms. Dr. Carolyn Calloway, chair of African American and African Diaspora studies at Indiana University states that “Juneteenth is a way of calling attention to some of America’s sins, while acknowledging the beautiful possibilities for redemption.” The national holiday is also, “a reminder of our collective struggle for freedom and a commitment to protect all that it entails, including voting rights and equity in justice,” says Dr. Jeffrey Ogbar, professor of history at UConn.
As a community, we must pledge to continue to raise our voices in support of the abolition of hate and racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, ageism and oppression. Let us commit to being the light!
Let us commit to being activists in the spirit of Miss Opal Lee, a 94-year-old Black activist and retired educator who is known as the grandmother of Juneteenth. Miss Lee has devoted much of her life to a campaign for making Juneteenth a national holiday. In 2016, at the age of 89, Miss Lee walked 1,400 miles from her home in Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, DC in an effort to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Happy Juneteenth National Independence Day!
May love fulfill you, may peace enfold you, may hope envelope you!
Dr. Frank Tuitt
Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer
Office for Diversity and Inclusion
Dr. Willena Kimpson Price
Director – H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center
Affiliate Faculty, Africana Studies Institute