People of Color Collective Letter

Dear President Varlotta, Members of Cabinet, Convocators, and Board of Regents:

A representative group of the employees of color (BIPOC) at California Lutheran University, including faculty and staff, have worked together to develop the following list of action items to address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We write this as members of the community that are deeply committed to our mission, but have often been forgotten, ignored or told policies do not exist when major equity issues and racist behaviors occur.

We are grateful for the work that Dr. Shaun Harper has engaged us to continue the conversation about racism and racist behaviors on our campus that began with the hiring of Dr. Estela Bensimon and the USC Center for Urban Education Team in 2015-2016. Despite the work of these offices, there are many challenges still prevalent on our campus. Racism has detrimental effects on the BIPOC students and employees who were recruited to this community to contribute their talents.

Even though racist actions are not permissible as detailed in the student, employee and faculty handbooks, procedures, resolution, or measures to prevent these incidents are not clear or lack follow through. Many BIPOC students, faculty, and employees have reported instances of racism through the proper means -- Human Resources, Ombuds Office, website portal, faculty advisor, department chair, deans, Cabinet representatives, yet, never receive satisfactory resolution. The message this has sent to the BIPOC community is that Cal Lutheran University's leadership is not invested in justice-based action and is not committed to cultural transformation in our campus community.

In addition, this lack of accountability puts the University in jeopardy of failing to maintain a genuine pursuit of its mission and core values. Our mission states, “The mission of the University is to educate leaders for a global society who are strong in character and judgment, confident in their identity and vocation, and committed to service and justice.” Lack of action regarding reports of racist instances directly affects our BIPOC community and our ability to function confidently in our identity and vocation. The third core value outlined on our website, requires Cal Lutheran leadership to raise the bar, and be transparent and accountable to our community members. It reads, “As a community, we embrace people of all faiths, value diversity and inclusiveness, practice tolerance and acceptance, and treat one another with respect, civility, and compassion.”

At this moment in time, we call all University leadership to create effective and immediate action-driven change. We seek just measures that address racist, discriminatory, and harassing behaviors towards the BIPOC community at Cal Lutheran. There are specific opportunities for change that can be addressed by our leadership that can dramatically change and positively impact the experiences of the BIPOC community on campus. We propose changes to the student, faculty, and staff handbooks that detail how incidences of racism and bias will be assessed and handled as time-sensitive matters at the University level to be implemented no later than October 2020; not having clear direction and accountability for the opening of this school year has already caused harm to students, staff, and faculty. Specifically, we ask for language change that includes ways in which hate speech and microaggressions will be addressed.

Since we begin with the understanding that racism is a structure, not an event, we would like to take a look at the organizational structure of our institution. With diversity and inclusion having no named place in the university structure, no one [with diversity and inclusion as their title] has a seat at any table to discuss, decide, and incorporate institutional policy and practice nor is there any sustainable structure for accountability on these issues. We understand that the appointment of an individual as VP of Inclusion (or the like), given our current status as an institution, will hinder the success of said person. Currently, there are task forces and grassroots efforts to advocate for remedying this situation which should have some impact on campus climate, but nothing that is meant to be deep-rooted in all levels of institutional culture. Our ask is for a permanent and integrated structural change that will be sustained and upheld by a position and voice on the Cabinet, the Board of Regents, and the Convocation. We request that our leadership develop an Office of Equity, Access, and Inclusion with dedicated individuals that have a background in leading transformational change at racially white institutions that can lead us through these difficult conversations within the next academic year (2020-2021).

While this position is developed and filled, we ask that representatives of the Black Employee Association, the POC Collective, and Anti-Racist White-Presenting group, Latinx F/S and Asian/Pacific Islander groups report directly to the Board of Regents and Convocation, starting October 2020. Also, we request the Board of Regents send a report of their progress on DEI work to the Equity Leadership Council at each of the quarterly meetings of the Board of Regents.

We need the University to actively move towards the removal of the Gallegly Center as a racist space that goes against our University mission; it does not uphold Cal Lutheran’s mission and core values nor does it represent our community. The ideology and anti-immigration/anti-LGBTQ+ voting record of Elton Gallegly is in direct conflict with Cal Lutheran’s designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and further serves to reinforce the oppression of marginalized voices on our campus. Faculty unanimously voted to stop the funding and building of the Gallegly Center. Students, staff, and faculty all signed petitions asking to stop the process and reevaluate the installation of the Gallegly name in the Pearson Library. Students, faculty, and staff all asked for clarity and transparency regarding the funds used to support the Gallegly Center. These efforts and requests were actively ignored. It is time for the University administration to provide transparency on the funds and use of the Gallegly Center thus far. It is also time for the Gallegly name to be removed from the Cal Lutheran campus and replaced with one that represents Cal Lutheran’s mission, core values, HSI designation, and community as a whole.

Cal Lutheran’s current strategic plan (2017-2022) has three pillars: Investment, Innovation and Inclusion. As we develop a new strategic plan, it is the expectation of this group, that our leaders will invest financially and academically in inclusive practices such as the funding of and participation in anti-bias and anti-racist training, consistent/annual evaluation of all employees in regard to growth and learning in these areas, and investment in retention of faculty, students and staff of color. We expect that these changes will be implemented starting the 2020-2021 year with investment in fully funded anti-racism and anti-bias training for students, staff, and faculty. We also expect that these will be central to the strategic plan that will be developed starting spring 2021. In order to move this work forward, we ask that an anti-racism team with representatives of the Black Employee Association, the POC Collective, and Anti-Racist White-Presenting group, the Latinx F/S group, and the Asian/Pacific Islander groups and their corresponding student groups be developed to inform the 2022 strategic plan.

We are asking for solutions for what we have endured in sharing our truth and living through racialized experiences on this campus.

Please review the above outlined actions and respond by October 23, 2020. We welcome dialogue to help Cal Lutheran move forward, with the knowledge that the work of anti-racism has to be done by those that serve at the highest levels of leadership at our institution.

In Solidarity,

The POC Collective

Below the signature form, you will find signatures collected starting 9/12/20 in support of this document and its messaging. Signatures will be updated at least once every 24 hours. If you support us, please continue to add your signatures. We will continue to collect names of support until this letter is responded to by the addressed parties.

EDIT: NAMES WERE REMOVED ON 9/23/20 TO PROTECT THOSE THAT SIGNED. WHILE SIGNATURES ARE NOT PRESENTED HERE, THERE ARE OVER 400 PEOPLE THAT HAVE SIGNED AND CONTINUE TO SIGN.