Black students need more support financially and emotionally, members of the UBC Black Student Caucus (BSC) told the Board of Governors Learning & Research Committee on February 4, 2021.
BSC members Adeerya Johnson, Binta Sesay, Dinah Holliday and Rebecca Nguinambaye presented to the committee on the experiences of Black students and on how UBC can work towards an anti-racist future.
“UBC and you, as its leaders, have a responsibility to work with the intent of creating an inclusive anti-racist future for Black lives at UBC,” Sesay said to the committee.
The students specifically asked for the creation of academic and social spaces for Black students, an increase in the number of Black students and faculty and regular anti-Black racism training for staff and students.
Additionally, they asked for the creation of annual scholarships and research grants for Black students along with a new African and Black studies major in the bachelor of arts or masters of arts programs.
The lack of scholarships for Black students “shows that UBC does not understand the financial and economic burden that Black students have to deal with,” Johnson said.
At the meeting, President Santa Ono said that fundraising is underway for scholarships targeted to Black students and that the deans and provosts at both campuses are making strategic efforts to hire more BIPOC faculty.
According to UBC’s anti-racism commitments, fundraising for “awards to increase recruitment and support the success of Black students'' is forthcoming.
These requests exist in the backdrop of the Black experience at UBC. Johnson said that many Black students feel “exhausted,” “neglected” and “invisible.”
“The majority of Black students find that UBC practices institutional racism … due to the policies, practices, rules and procedures that fail to support, respect and validate Black student living and learning experiences,” Johnson said.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, VP Students Ainsley Carry and UBCO Provost Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, the president’s executive leads on anti-racism, wrote that the “administration is aware of concerns raised by students of colour about their campus experience.”
“Through listening sessions and town halls we heard painful stories of student experiences in classrooms, in living spaces, and on campus. It is clear more focused work is needed.”
In response to the presentation, Ono said anti-racism work “has to be a priority moving forward, but called the university’s approach on anti-racism “ambitious but aggressive.” Last June, Ono reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to inclusion and called for the acceleration of efforts to build a more inclusive campus.
“On behalf of the institution, I apologize for the microaggressions that occur, I apologize for how you feel and we ... are fully committed to address this.”
Holliday said that the group is “grateful” that some reform has already been initiated, like the creation of an anti-racism task force, for which the selection process is currently underway.
“However, we want to be clear that the work has not gone far enough,” said Holliday.
Chair of the Learning & Research committee Mark MacLean said in an interview with The Ubyssey that he thought it was an “excellent” presentation and expects to see concrete solutions from the university in the near future.
“We need to recognize that there is a certain urgency to this work,” he added.
One of the main messages that he took from the presentation is that the students are engaging with a topic that is difficult and deeply personal to them.
“When they engage in this work it's a place with high risk for them and we need to make sure we create a safe and supportive space for them to engage in. I heard them say that if we are going to ask people to make great effort in helping us to understand … then we also need to compensate them for that.”