Research Affairs: EDI Newsletter | | |
Interviews, Opinions & More |
|
|
By Devon Tolliver
The Research Affairs Equity, Diversity (EDI) and Inclusion Committee continues to meet quarterly to discuss issues and solutions that will help create a more equitable and inclusive culture. Recently, the committee and working group launched the database for having an EDI representative on hiring panels. The database consists of Research Affairs employees who have taken a series of implicit bias trainings and will be available to serve on hiring panels to provide feedback through an EDI lens. If hiring managers would like to request a representative on their hiring or interview panels, they can fill out the request form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfrczeTxIs3WOCgzQIqtjsstrsOs_axNFh_Hvq50KAi1BSx_A/viewform?usp=sf_link
| | |
|
Did you know about the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest?
By Mady Paley
Every year, the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest is held at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. The first World Championship Hoop Dance Contest was held in 1991 at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque. Seeking a venue where the event could stand alone, the championship moved to the Heard Museum the following year and has been held there ever since. The museum provides a venue and logistical support, but it’s the community of hoop dancers who organize and run the event.
The art of hoop dance honors cultural traditions shared by multiple Indigenous communities. With roots in healing ceremonies, traditions and practices, today hoop dance is shared as an artistic expression to celebrate and honor Indigenous traditions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each dancer presents their own choreography, weaving in aspects of tradition and culture. Traditional hoops were made from the wood of a willow tree. Modern-day hoops are often made from reed and plastic hose because of the durability of the material when traveling. The hoops are decorated with tape and paint to symbolize the changing colors of each season. Dancers are judged on a slate of five skills: precision, timing/rhythm, showmanship, creativity and speed.
The 2023 World Championship Hoop Dance Contest was held in Phoenix on February 18 and 19. More than 5,000 spectators attended the Contest. The over 100 contestants from Indigenous communities throughout the U.S. and Canada competed in one of five divisions: Tiny Tots (age 5 and younger), Youth (6-12), Teen (13-17), Adult (18-39) and Senior (40 and older). Cash prizes totaling $25,000 were awarded to winners in each division, and victors in each division claimed the honor of being the World Champion. To see recordings of the 2023 Contest, visit the Heard Museum website.
The Heard Museum is the preeminent museum for the presentation, interpretation and advancement of American Indian art, emphasizing its intersection with broader artistic and cultural themes. The Heard Museum uses its collections and first-person voice to tell the stories of American Indian cultures while at the same time celebrates the diverse achievements of today’s artists. For more information about current and upcoming exhibitions and art collections, visit the Heard Museum.
The UC San Diego 12th Annual Powwow was held on Saturday, May 20, 2023. The UC San Diego Powwow serves the UC San Diego campus and the San Diego community by bringing Native American culture to the campus. The annual powwow promotes access to higher education to Native American youth, as well as a means to ensure the retention of current Native American students. The powwow also helps to educate the UC San Diego community about Native American cultures, while simultaneously creating a space on campus where Native American students can express and experience their unique cultures. Visit the Intertribal Resource Center website for more information.
| |
|
A Social Justice Icon is Part of UC San Diego History
By Kent Osborn
Walking the campus, perhaps you have meandered (or jogged or bussed) past the Che Café on the Revelle campus and noticed the variety of portraits on the mural walls, and wondered who the woman is among the subjects that also include Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Che Guevara and others. Her name is Angela Davis, and 50+ years after she worked on her philosophy PhD here on UC San Diego’s campus, she is still actively advocating for underrepresented people throughout the world, particularly here in the United States.
Angela Davis is an icon, while continuing to work, write and speak on the front lines of advocacy. The subtitle for the fabulous and informative 2020 article, “Angela Davis Still Believes America Can Change” by Nelson George of the New York Times T Magazine gives evidence to this: “Before the world knew what intersectionality was, the scholar, writer and activist was living it, arguing not just for Black liberation, but for the rights of women and queer and transgender people as well.”
Even as she is internationally known and respected, and only having been at UC San Diego for one year while working as a 25 year old towards her PhD, Davis’s presence in the Che mural reflects her contribution to UC San Diego as well, even during that short period of time. Savana Munoz’ May 2019 article in Triton Magazine (https://tritonmag.com/who-was-angela-davis/) provides evidence for this:
“Yet when she arrived, she found few Black students and professors on campus. ‘When I first came to UC San Diego, it was weeks before I even saw another Black person,’ she recalls. The movements that she had heard so much about hadn’t yet formed on campus. Out of this isolation, Davis cultivated her skill for community building. She was instrumental in organizing the first Black Student Council and planted the seeds for people interested in activism to find each other.
Though outspoken on many issues of the time, including feminism and war resistance, Davis found purpose in the creation of an academic home for students and faculty of color. With a third college on the horizon, Davis saw an opportunity to address the shortcomings in diversity and the representation of minorities, on campus and in curriculum.
But the cause could not move forward without a strong team. Davis led a multiracial coalition between the Black Student Council, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), and working-class white students. Together they proposed a vision for Third College focused on equal representation and multicultural perspectives. The proposed name would pay homage to African revolutionary Patrice Lumumba and Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.
Though the name did not go through, Third College was ultimately founded with core elements of this effort. Social justice became its ethos, and the required class Dimensions of Culture (DOC) addressed issues through various cultural lenses. Eventually named for Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, the college’s crest of three hands harkens to those emblazoned on protest signs, and represents the alliance of all backgrounds in the commitment to shape the future.”
Since Angela Davis is a recognized foundational contributor to the concept of intersectionalism, following is a brief break to explain that field of thought and action: For many of us, the concept of “intersectionality” is new, and even unknown. Arica L. Coleman’s article , “What is Intersectionality – Let These Scholars Explain the Theories and its History,” Time Magazine, March 28-29 2019” (https://time.com/5560575/intersectionality-theory/) includes an interview with three women scholars, one of whom is Angela Davis. Today’s article won’t go further into intersectionality, except to include the following quotes from the article:
“All of us live complex lives that require a great deal of juggling for survival. What that means is that we are actually living at the intersections of overlapping systems of privilege and oppression.”
Referring to feminism as it grew during the middle 20th century, the awareness that became apparent included: “But that feminism was also in dire need of diversity, as it was based on the cultural and historical experiences of middle- and upper-class heterosexual white women. Consequently, issues of race, class, sexuality and ableism were ignored. (Also ignored were issues of immigration…)”
Angela Davis is a living, still contributing icon for social justice on many fronts. Any time any of us pass by the Che, we can look at her portrait on the Che wall mural and feel appreciation and joy for her time at UC San Diego and beyond. Following are excerpts from the George, Nelson article “Angela Davis Still Believes American Can Change” (part of a series “The Greats”). The New York Times - T Magazine, Oct. 19, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/19/t-magazine/angela-davis.html
“Davis published Women, Race & Class in 1981, inspired both by her time in jail and Little’s case, as well as by her work championing the cases of other unfairly incarcerated Black women and men. ‘That book represents a number of positions of people who had a broader, more — the term we use now is ‘intersectional’ — analysis of what it means to struggle for gender equality,’ she says. ‘At the time that I wrote it, I was interested in pointing out that gender did not have to be seen in competition with race. That women’s issues did not belong to middle-class white women. In many ways, that research was about uncovering the contributions of women who were completely marginalized by histories of the women’s movement, especially Black women, but also Latino women and working-class women.’
‘We didn’t include gender issues in [earlier] struggles,’ she says. ‘There would have been no way to imagine that trans movements would effectively demonstrate to people that it is possible to effectively challenge what counts as normal in so many different areas of our lives.' She smiles. ‘A part of me is glad that we didn’t win the revolution we were fighting for back then, because there would still be male supremacy. There would still be hetero-patriarchy. There would be all of these things that we had not yet come to consciousness about.’
‘When we do this work of organizing against racism, hetero-patriarchy, capitalism — organizing to change the world — there are no guarantees, to use Stuart Hall’s phrase, that our work will have an immediate effect,’ she says. ‘But we have to do it as if it were possible.’”
Angela Davis is currently a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz. She maintains connections with UC San Diego, having visited and talked on the UCSD campus and other San Diego educational institutions multiple times, including the last few years - May 2014, March 2017 (Southwest College), November 2020. Besides her Che mural portrait, Dr. Davis has a well-earned place as one of the subjects of the Price Center’s “Black Legacy” mural. A person of passion and courage, we can truly appreciate and be inspired by her continued commitment and optimism for our ability to shape and change how we treat each other as we all work to make positive change in our world.
https://ucsdguardian.org/2020/11/08/from-generation-to-generation-as-hosts-racial-justice-panel-with-angela-davis-and-salih-muhammed/
https://timesofsandiego.com/education/2017/03/15/angela-davis-rocks-southwestern-college-with-radical-riffs-on-trump-education-incarceration/
https://sdvoice.info/scholar-and-activist-angela-davis-gives-inspiring-speech-ayt-ucsd-black-history-month-fundraiser/
https://sites.sandiego.edu/blackhistoryatusd/2019/05/07/activist-academic-author-and-icon-the-history-of-angela-davis-in-san-diego/
| |
|
Water Rights and Native American Rights
By: Devon Tolliver
Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced that 15 Native American tribes will get a total of $580 million in federal money in 2023 for water rights settlements. The funding comes over a hundred years after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1908 the rights tribes have to water. The money will help to create infrastructure, including building canals, pumping stations, and pipelines to deliver water to reservations.
Since their establishment, tribal reservation members have fought for access to essential water; a fight that still continues today. Earlier this month, the Research Affairs EDI Committee hosted the event, “Native American Water Rights: Supporting Our San Diego Regional Tribes,” where we watched the documentary "Once we had a River" and discussed the struggle that our local tribes have faced since 1895 when a diversion dam was built on the La Jolla Indian Reservation without their consent. The dam diverted all of the water for the five reservations to the city of Escondido.
During the event, Geneva Lofton-Fitzsimmons (Luiseño / La Jolla) discussed the impact of the dam and the decades-long legal battle between the city and the tribe that was recently settled. Geneva spoke about the importance of water and access and how we can all learn from the struggle that tribes across the country have had around water rights. “Water is life,” she said, “and the next big war will be over water.” As the climate changes, Geneva reminded us that we often take for granted the availability of clean water in our lives, but as she indicated, we can support our local tribes and communities by doing our part to conserve water through little, daily habit changes. The event helped shine light on the local fight for water and helped educate the UCSD Research Affairs community about our local Native American communities.
| |
Interviews, Opinions & More | |
|
Dotstash's Efforts Towards Destigmatizing Menstruation: A Conversation with Founder/CEO Mona Powell
By: Shane Moise
In October 2021, Governor Newsom signed AB367 which enacted the Menstrual Equity for All Act, setting the wheels in motion to require all grade 6 - 12 schools, colleges, and universities to provide free menstrual products on campuses by 2022-23 school year. Former UC San Diego staff member and Founder/CEO of Dotstash, Mona Powell, was part of the earliest conversations and saw a huge opportunity to improve the lives of young people across the state of California. As we near the end of the 2023 school year - we wanted to check in with Mona about how AB367 has gone and what the year was like for Dotstash since we last spoke in May 2022.
What is Dotstash and who are they?
Dotstash believes in a world where menstruators feel supported, starting with making high-quality, organic, biodegradable menstrual products accessible in public spaces. We strive to destigmatize the menstruation experience through innovative and engaging product experiences.
You previously worked for UC San Diego - What key factors drove your decision to make the jump to Dotstash and leave the campus?
In early 2022, Dotstash started to become more than just a night and weekend endeavor. It was honestly the only thing I really wanted to work on, everything else just started to feel like a distraction. So once we got our first paying customer and we were getting more interest from other schools and organizations, I made the choice to submit my resignation.
Making the jump to full-time entrepreneur was scary for me, but from the moment I started Dotstash I knew that this would eventually become my full-time job. I graduated in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, which I think conditioned me to make more financially secure career decisions. I am also considered a fully-fledged “adult” with a mortgage and health issues😬, so I had to prepare financially and mentally for over a year. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in meditation to manage the anxiety that I felt about entering a phase of my life that was going to be filled with uncertainty.
It’s been a year since we chatted last - What are some highlights? Are there new challenges that you’ve encountered and can UC San Diego still support your efforts in any way?
It's been truly exciting to witness the momentum that has been building in the menstrual equity movement. Following California's lead, more than 20 states have introduced or passed menstrual equity bills. Being actively involved in this transformative process has been a rewarding experience, especially seeing how students have become the driving force behind this movement. We are now actively collaborating with school administrators and students beyond California, further expanding our reach and impact.
Raising funds has proven to be quite a challenge. Many fellow founders have candidly shared with me that fundraising is the worst part of being a startup founder. After dedicating countless hours to crafting the perfect pitch deck, practicing my presentations, reaching out for warm introductions, and receiving both helpful and not-so-helpful feedback without any actual funding, I wholeheartedly agree with their sentiments. It can be an incredibly draining and disheartening process. I feel like each 30-minute pitch meeting requires a confidence-rebuilding exercise afterward. That's why I've made the decision to take a step back from fundraising for now and redirect my focus toward enhancing our product and services. I'm constantly brainstorming innovative ways to sustain the company independently, not because I'm opposed to external investment, but due to the stark reality of the situation. Let's face it: only a mere 2% of VC funding in the U.S. is given to women founders, and considering recent bank collapses, many investors are hesitant to write those much-needed checks. Nevertheless, Dotstash keeps going and will continue to make strides towards progress.
Last year, you shared advice you would give to a UC San Diego community member thinking about starting a company. “Find people who are just as excited to build cool stuff with you and do it! Pay attention to your customer, everything should add value to their experience. Utilize the resources you have at UC San Diego, there are a lot and most people want to help you if you ask.” Has that advice changed since 2022 and if so, how? Or is it more true than ever?
It’s been one year since I decided to work on Dotstash full-time, something I learned in this last year was the importance of taking a step back to avoid giving up. I was reminded that resiliency is a practice, it’s not just about the ability to bounce back but also about restoring what is needed to start again. Touching on what I said a year ago about paying attention to your customers, I make a point to schedule time with Dotstash student ambassadors to not only ensure that we are on track but also to refuel my motivation, it reminds me why I embarked on this journey in the first place.
The support provided by UCSD's OIC (Office of Innovation and Commercialization) has been truly invaluable, particularly during challenging moments in my entrepreneurial path. Being part of a community of supportive individuals gives me the assurance that I can always turn to them during difficult times in entrepreneurship.
Connect with Mona and Dotstash if you are interested in Dotstash and making menstrual products accessible at your organization, please submit an inquiry form on dotstash.co website. Since the reveal of the first Dotstash Period Positive School, Dotstash has received interest from all over California as well as several organizations out of state! If you are interested in helping Dotstash expand to more schools and public spaces, please contact Mona Powell, mona@dotstash.co.
| |
|
Keeping Culture: A Film Review
By: Phillip Howard
Mat Hames 2017 documentary "What Was Ours" is an insightful documentary that illuminates the challenges of Native American repatriation of cultural items that are the essence of their cultural identity. The film takes place in Wyoming at the Wind River reservation, and showcases the journey of a young indigenous journalist (Jordan Dresser) and a high school indigenous powwow princess Mikala — both of the Arapaho tribe. Jordan gets a job at a casino after college and learns that the casino is interested in setting up a museum that tells the story of the Arapaho tribe. However, the artifacts were moved a hundred miles away to a Catholic church. Additionally, a collection of their artifacts were conserved and stored in Chicago's Field Museums hundreds of years ago, far away from the tribes of this generation. Both Jordan and Mikala team up with a Shoshone elder, Philbert, to travel to the Chicago Field Museum in hopes of having the artifacts returned back to them. They also negotiate with the church to have their items returned back to their tribe. The film displays the struggle of negotiation, as well as the preconceived notion and biased concept from the Museum/church owners that Native people wouldn’t be able to responsibly take care of this collection– a collection that was designated to them by their ancestors.
The film underscores the strength and resilience, and self-realization of the current Native American generation, as they feel the obligation to sustain their cultural identity in order to educate and empower their generations of the future. Artifacts and articles of symbolically designed attire are instrumental in understanding the history of their ancestral experience. The need for Native American tribes to repossess these items is made clear, and their admirable mission to start up their own museum with these cultural items to tell their own story best inspired me as I watched it. I highly recommend everyone to see this documentary. You can stream it on Amazon (included with prime membership or $2.99 rental for non-members).
| |
|
Cookbook Recipe: Frybread with Strawberries
Submitted by Mayra Estrada
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
Shortening (This various from person to person)
¼ cup warm milk
Warm water
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl along with baking powder. Stir to combine. Add milk and mix together with your fingers. Add enough warm water to make a soft dough – it should pull away from the sides of the bowl but still be sticky on your hands. Knead in the bowl for a minute or two to make sure everything is well combined. Allow for it to rest.
Heat oil in a deep fryer. Unroll the dough and place it in the fryer for a few minutes on each side. Take it out and add strawberries.
Enjoy!
| |
Events, Trainings, and Resources | |
UC Learning E-courses:
Equitable access to professional development and training is a priority for the RA EDI Committee. To access these courses, log into UC Learning Center and select the “Find a Course” icon and search for one of the following:
- UC Policy on Gender Recognition and Lived Name
- Gender Recognition: a Focus on Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex Awareness
| |
|
If you have a question or would like to share a story, event or cultural
celebration, please contact us at vcr-edi@ucsd.edu or submit anonymously via the feedback form on our website.
| | | | |
