So we would just shoot out some stuff and I go, ‘I remember saying something about, in the church they have a breakfast, something. We got to collaborate.’ Chana was bringing a whole bunch of ideas as well because she’s very creative and she’s also very ambitious and determined. JAMIE MCGEE: I was always constantly saying, ‘You know, we got to coalesce. Do a protest, do something.” So, students at the time said, ‘You know, we need to do that.’ So, what they did, they did a little protest in the courtyard. And they said, “Well, you guys need to do something about that, you know, let your voices be heard, you know. They were, you know, wanting to vent there. I’ve sat on some hiring committees, quite a few of them as a matter of fact, but I’m not the final decision maker with that. This kept being brought up, and they would, you know, it’s kind of just complained to me. Why isn’t there somebody in the classroom that looks like us that we can identify with? There’s nobody here. Why doesn’t the university have at least one person in the classroom that looks like us? We’ve got Black men here, Black young men who are in school. There were a few Black women, but there were no Black, full-time faculty members. And they felt that there were African American women teaching - they had Deirdre Raynor they had Carolyn West. LISA RANKIN FAIRCLOTH: The students had a great concern that - and I’m going to be very blunt - that they had a white professor teaching African American Studies, who was Mike Honey. The Black students on the campus have regularly submitted proposals or requests for more representation on our campus. LINDA HURLEY ISHEM: I do know that, throughout the UW Tacoma history, that the Black students in the form of the BSU have advocated for more representation, you know, more faculty representation that looked like them and more staff member who looked like them, who had some sensitivities to some of what their experiences might be, and they could role model and mentor, role model for and mentor them in their own academic pursuits. In this episode, Ishem, Rankin Faircloth, McGee and Lawson talk about the history of UW Tacoma’s BSU.Įxcerpts have been edited for length and clarity. Joan Hua took the interviews of these four and created an audio story that we have turned into an episode of Paw’d Defiance, the UW Tacoma podcast. Staff at the library collected “first-hand accounts and perspectives of individuals who played significant roles in the shaping of the campus community and identity.”ĭozens of people contributed including Linda Ishem, Lisa Rankin Faircloth, Jamie McGee and Chana Lawson. The result is the UW Tacoma Oral History: Founding Stories project. Access and inclusion are at the heart of UW Tacoma’s mission as an urban-serving university, a mission informed by many different stakeholders, including the Black Student Union.Ī few years ago, the UW Tacoma library set out on a mission to document the university’s early years. The history of UW Tacoma’s BSU is also a history of the campus. Over the past 30 years, students in this organization have hosted events and meetings but they have also advocated for change including better representation when it comes to faculty of color.
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In fact, UW Tacoma’s BSU has the distinction of being the first student organization at UW Tacoma. The Black Student Union at UW Tacoma is almost as old as the campus. Closer to home, UW developed the Special Education Program to recruit students of color. It’s worth noting that many of the programs and practices implemented by universities in the wake of student protests were already widely used by historically black colleges and universities. The University of Wisconsin created the Department of Afro-American Studies. Not long after the strikes ended, SFSU established the College of Ethnic Studies. Members of these organizations arranged sit-ins and strikes at campuses across the United States. Activism, including a push for diversity both in the classroom and in the curriculum, is at the core of many BSUs. However, BSUs were designed to be more than a safe space to meet people.
![sfsu bsu email sfsu bsu email](https://africana.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/images/danny.jpg)
Student clubs geared toward Black college students existed before the development of Black Student Unions.
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![sfsu bsu email sfsu bsu email](http://blackvoicesu.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bsu-860x280.jpg)
Honoring our History, Heralding our Future Classical African Studies-Principles, ParadigmĪnd Modern Interest Critical Analysis of Team Teaching Area and Ethnic Studies Ethnic Studies Beyond the Academy-Theory and Action at the Grassroots Financial Literacy equals Access to Capital Moving Beyond Self-validation - Institutional and Pedagogical Strategies for Avoiding Cooptation Interview with Dr.Left to right top to bottom: Linda Hurley Ishem, Lisa Rankin Faircloth, Jamie McGee, Chana Lawson.