Category Archives: In the News

Name Change Coming…

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Over the summer, we will transition the name of our work group from Cultural and Linguistic Diversity to Social and Environmental (In)Justice.  We’ll still be focused on CLD issues in education, but we’re expanding to explicitly include environmental issues in education.  We see this as a way to further expand partnerships on campus and in our community.  We also see a connection in skill sets for influencing change, advocacy, building systems of resilience, etc.

In the spirit of this name change, I recommend reading “Don’t Worry about that Collapsing Ice Shelf – Just Book Your Beach Week in Arizona,” which quotes an Oregon State University study about the Antarctic ice shelf.  This Grist article is very tongue-in-cheek, but the science demands our attention and does imply future environmentally-driven immigration and land-/water-rights issues that certainly have social justice ramifications.

Brown v. Board Anniversary

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With the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling this month, several informative stories have come up out about the re-segregation of American schools.

Secretary Duncan wrote a U.S. Department of Education blog: Progress and Challenges 60 Years After Brown v. Board.  I found it particularly interesting in juxtaposition to their March Civil Rights Data Snapshot showing racial bias in school discipline.  The very first statistic of that snapshot is a startling one: “Black children represent 18% of preschool enrollment, but 48% of preschool children receiving more than one out-of-school suspension.”  [Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) aired a short piece about Oregon suspension rates following the national trend.]

The latest NEA Today magazine’s cover article, Still Separate, Still Unequal?, also includes several video clips online that are worth a look.

Perhaps the most provocative story is Alexandra Pelosi and Dorian Warren’s discussion of how public schools have become re-segregated since the 1980s in their The Re-Segregation of America’s Schools online video, taken from a Now with Alex Wagner segment on MSNBC.

Responding to Racism

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As reported in the Barometer, racist graffiti appeared on campus last week.  Since then, students have started an I, Too, Am OSU campaign.  This Wednesday, March 12 at 1 PM, Oregon Students United (OSU) will lead a Solidarity March to honor our campus diversity and support each other. The purpose of this event is to promote student voice responding to the two reported incidents of racism on our campus. The route will start at the Pride Center, then flow to Snell Hall, the Women’s Center, Asian Pacific Cultural Center, and finally end the event at the Native American Longhouse at 2 p.m. for the Student Led Round Table Discussion. Pizza and drinks will be provided.