As we celebrate International Women’s Day this week, which also falls in National Women’s History Month, it’s a pleasure to reflect on the extraordinary women who blazed the trails we walk today, as well as those carving new paths and changing the world right now. And it’s a moment to ask how we can support and encourage the women who are just beginning to build their legacies, who will inherit and transform the future.
Category: Race & Equity
DACA program remains in limbo, UW is committed to Dreamers
Today marks six months since the executive order to end the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was issued, which, at the time, was the deadline for the program to end. Despite popular support for protecting the Dreamers, there has been no legislative action yet from Congress to create a fix. However, the program continues to be in effect, based on the rulings of two U.S. district courts and last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to fast-track cases related to DACA. This means the DACA-related cases will continue to work their way through the courts and for now, the program will remain in limbo.
A difficult Saturday
Saturday was a very difficult day for our campus. Many in our University community, including me, were saddened and frustrated by the precautionary cancellation of events due to safety concerns related to the Patriot Prayer rally, including events related to Black History Month. I understand why it would appear to some that these events were sacrificed to host a group that many associate with racist views that stand counter to our university values. I am writing today to explain the logic of my decision making.
Through service, we honor Martin Luther King’s legacy
This week, join your colleagues on our campuses in Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma as we come together to remember how King served our nation and our world and honor his sacrifice by answering his call to service. This Monday, I hope you will seek a way, whether donating your time and talent or simply in a moment of quiet reflection, to keep working toward the just and loving world that King dreamed of.
Remembering the humanity at the heart of DACA
Since the decision last fall to end protections for the recipients of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – the Dreamers – the lives of the more than 800,000 young people affected by the program have been thrown into uncertainty and fear. The Dreamers are young people who were brought to this country as children. The United States is their home; they have grown up here, and it is short-sighted to exclude these hard-working contributors from our society.
Committed to our DACA Dreamers
Today we learned that the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will come to an end in six months unless there is legislative action to protect it. This decision could have extremely serious consequences for students on all three of our campuses who are an integral part of our community. I want to reassure every affected person that if DACA comes to an end, the University of Washington will do everything within its power to minimize the disruption to your lives and education.
Reflections on the tragedy of Charlottesville
This weekend was a difficult and painful one for all of us committed to a more equitable and inclusive society — to those of us who believe in justice and equity. There should be no question whatsoever that those white supremacists who marched across the University of Virginia campus and gathered across Charlottesville hold views that are anathema to our values, and that their actions were beneath contempt.
Community gathering space
Monday, Aug. 14
10 a.m.–noon
Mary Gates Hall,
Room 224
Resources for:
Bothell students
Seattle students
Tacoma students
Faculty & Staff
The pain, and yes anger, evoked by what happened is intensified for those of us who live, work or study on college campuses. It is no coincidence that they chose a campus for their march, for they know that universities are diverse, vibrant communities, which are striving to become even more inclusive and are committed to building a better world for all humanity.
My own reactions are impossible to fully describe, for they are very personal. The images of the Klan, Nazis and neo-Nazis brought me back to the horror of almost 40 years ago to another Saturday morning when people from these same groups murdered my own brother, Cesar, then 25. My heart aches at the loss of the young woman, Heather Heyer, who was killed and the two state police offers, H. Jay Cullen and Berke M.M. Bates, who died in the line of duty, as well as for their families and loved ones and the many who were injured. This will be with them forever and I can only hope that together with the pain, they find strength and inspiration.
I recall a late night conversation with my brother, in which he talked about “the struggle.” He did not view justice as an endpoint, or a goal with a clear finish line. Justice, he said, was a constant work-in-progress. You pushed the boulder up the hill, it would slide back, and you would have to push again. You needed to stay vigilant.
We are at a time in our country’s history where we must put our shoulder to that boulder, for it is sliding back down with a momentum many of us thought was impossible in this day and age. We must recommit to equity and inclusion — for all. But even in our grief and anger, it is important to remember the words of Martin Luther King, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
I do not have a road map forward, but I do know that we must find that way together. When our hearts are heavy, we find comfort in the collective embrace of community.
Inclusion and non-discrimination are now and will always be core to the UW
LGBTQ rights are human rights. The Justice Department’s brief – even as it is being downplayed by some – has the potential to expose more people to workplace discrimination and signals broadly that discrimination against gays and lesbians is acceptable. This is a dangerous and destructive precedent that will have real consequences in people’s lives.
Supporting our international scholars and students (updated)
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision allowing the travel ban imposed by Executive Order to go into partial effect. Under this partial implementation, individuals from the six countries listed in the Order who have a bona fide, documented relationship with the University (such as admitted students, faculty and staff members, and invited lecturers) are generally not subject to the ban imposed by the Order
Transgender rights are human rights
Yesterday, the US Departments of Education and Justice rescinded protections for transgender and non-binary students under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools. The University of Washington and our state laws unequivocally recognize that transgender people deserve to be free from discrimination on the basis of gender expression and identity, and we will stand by these bedrock principles of equity and inclusion.