The Chronicle of Higher Education posted an interesting piece today on "Racial Disparities in Higher Education," of course pegged to the events this week at The University of Missouri where two top university officials resigned following criticism of their lack of response to several incidents involving race at the Columbia campus.
While there's not a lot of NEW information in the charts and graphs in today's article, the
Chronicle illustrates the role we play in the media in contextualizing these incidents and starting the conversation. How well are we preparing students in our JMC classrooms to open up these conversations?
Here's a link to the web piece
http://chronicle.com/article/Racial-Disparities-in-Higher/234129?cid=trend_right_aI've also downloaded and pasted the article and tables into a Word file, in case you have trouble viewing it. See attached..
The article includes a link to a second Chronicle story from last March on the events at The University of Oklahoma where video surfaced of Sigma Alpha Epsilon members participating in a racist chant. OU President David Boren's swift public response to the national media attention contrasts sharply with the way MU officials in Columbia initially handled the more recent incidents that became national news after the football team got involved. Here's a link to the story on OU's campus climate. It's also attached.
http://chronicle.com/article/Stunned-by-a-Video-U-of/228611Since our AEJMC Midwinter Conference (February 26-27, 2016) will be at The University of Oklahoma, within two weeks of the one-year anniversary of the controversy involving Sigma Alpha Epsilon there in Norman, I would like to convene a panel of faculty, mostly from TWIs (Traditionally White Institutions) who might share some strategies you're using in your classes to "OPEN UP" the discussion about race. I know here at University of Alabama, I've used Justin Simien's recent film, "Dear White People" (and the companion book) as a launch point for talking about microaggressions, micro-assaults and campus climate.
If there is an "upside" to these unfortunate recent incidents or "flare-ups" on our campuses, they remind us of the importance of our role as faculty members.
As the MAC Midwinter Coordinator, I hope I can persuade some of you to commit to joining us in Norman for the 2016 AEJMC Midwinter Conference. We know our former MAC head and Listserv manager Meta Carstarphen and her Gaylord colleagues always put on a great conference in their magnificent facility called Gaylord Hall.
I'm also re-sending the Call for Abstracts for the Midwinter Conference. It's the third attachment on this e-mail.
Please let us know of your ideas/suggestions for this event. Abstracts and Panel proposals for this conference are due December 1. Perhaps we could open it up and invite others from across the OU campus--an excellent opportunity to fulfill AEJMC's Teaching and PF&R core missions.