As society continues to face fatigue and collective trauma due to the global pandemic, inclement weather patterns and climate change, and a national civil rights uprising and political transition, people everywhere are still expected to participate in and fulfill their everyday responsibilities. In this case, the TCU community is still expected and required to operate as business as usual as possible. While many accommodations and modifications have been made to adapt, address, and account for our global and national circumstances, there remains a predictable ongoing fight for justice in ways both new and old.
While not many positive or details updates have been shared with the public about the Jane Doe lawsuits, which now include a handful of Black women, other mishaps have arisen within the TCU community. For example, TCU's Board of Trustees came under fire for a member's (Roger Williams) vocal and political encouragement and participation in the terrorist attack on our Capitol and 2020 Presidential election. Many called for his immediate removal; however, the process required to do so is less immediate than petitioners may be aware and the university is able to perform. Due to a lack of shared governance, these petitions can inform the Board, but not have immediate or guaranteed impact on the group's separate bureaucratic processes that would allow the Board to make its own decisions based on its own rights and procedures. This is a lockdown situation similar to our own Student Government Association that has a little more general accessibility for checks and balance purposes. Likewise, students have also raised concerns about novel inequities that have arisen due to virtual learning. As students navigate instruction from remote locations, time zones, network connections, shelter, and language have greater intrusive impacts on the learning experiences of already fatigued students. Fortunately, this issue was able to be processed and is on its way to resolution through collaboration with the SGA DEI Chair and Committee, Provost, and Faculty Senate. Nonetheless, the presence of the issue alone shows just how important it is to have an equity consciousness group and individuals in the decision-making processes alongside student voices to ensure that these issues can be avoided as much as possible before they even have the chance to impact students and require their own labor for advocacy and correction. You're probably wondering where has CUJE been in the midst of these events and many others. Well, the short answer is we have been there. Being that CUJE is a faceless organization, this means that members who all share equal ownership of CUJE have been present across campus, petitions, town halls, and meetings working behind the scenes on behalf of CUJE's ultimate mission. The long answer is that the global and national circumstances coupled with graduations has structurally impacted CUJE and required that we take an organizational sabbatical to regroup and reimagine our place in today's fight for justice on our campus. However, the fight has not ended and we have not picked up the white flag. We are still here and ready more than ever to resume our work in the more traditional, recognizable, and active ways despite the delays caused by the pandemic that have benefitted the adversary.
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#WeDidntForget
#BlackLivesMatter #WeStandWithJaneDoe Dear Horned Frog Community and Fort Worth Community: This long, uphill battle has been a wave of passion-filled, adrenaline-filled activism and indescribable fatigue and disappointment. The toll that oppression takes on an individual is only exacerbated when that person is not only made responsible to carry the burden of activism, but also to resolve the myriad of systemic issues for the oppressive structures and individuals that contribute to their marginalization. Even in the coalition’s absence, the university has still failed to act on their own behalf in good faith for the genuine goodwill of its student body and surrounding community. The university has been a host for and contributor to violence against its Black community members, its Latinx community members, its Asian community members, its Indigenous community members, its LGBTQIA community members, its international community members, its Middle Eastern community members, and many other historically marginalized communities. They have NOT been apologetic. They have NOT been urgent. They have NOT been accountable reconcilers. To hide behind a faceless, thoughtless post simply hashtagging Black Lives Matter, yet NOT explicitly investing in the Black Lives within your university--- the Black Lives you will quickly use for good publicity, for recruitment, and for athletics--- speaks much LOUDER than and more SUBSTANTIVELY than every single disingenuous tweet you have posted and every single private and vague email you have sent. One would assume that after YEARS of hearing students speak to this disingenuousness, the university would actually listen to their free criticism and employ more competent tactics or people; however, that would also require good faith. The performative “activism” of this university lacks actual leadership who will not explicitly and personally attach themselves and their constituents to actual statements and restorative work. With a hundred-million-dollar budget, a ten-plus million-dollar endowment, and a $1B fundraising goal, there is NO reason that the university has not invested funds in our demands, the Black Lives Matter movement, victims of police brutality, some of whom come from its own community, or bail funds for its community’s protesters. We know you do NOT believe Black Lives Matter because: You refuse to provide justice for Jane Doe 1, 2, and 3. You refused to terminate to Jane Does’ perpetrators due to “lack of precedent” and allowed them to remain on campus to enact power and fear until they could make their own graceful exits on their terms. You refuse to atone for the 1921 lynching of Fred Rouse committed by your own faculty and students. You refuse to restructure the Title IX office. You refuse to dissolve on-campus conduits of systemic racism and corruption such as the John V. Roach Honors College and Residence Hall. You refuse to remove statues that glorify Confederate soldiers. You refuse to acknowledge the truth behind our founders. You refuse to publicly commit to building a cross-cultural center with pre-written requirements and structures yet attempted to “substitute” this necessity with a single floor of classrooms used like a time share between all students. You refuse to amplify and qualify the voices of marginalized students due to fear of “excluding white students”. You refuse to implement harsh zero-tolerance sanctioning against hate speech and propaganda after a plethora of ignored reports of the use of slurs and unresolved cases of white supremacist propaganda posted around campus. You refuse to invest in the needs of LGBTQIA students that have repeatedly been brought to your attention after being a haven for homophobic organizations, cancelling a trans-centered event for the community, and outing LGBTQIA students for good publicity while silently exposing them to a hateful community you refuse to hold accountable. You refuse to amplify the spaces that actually validate marginalized students and further contribute to their existence as enclaves. You refuse to act with urgency to increase and diversify financial opportunity for marginalized students and lower and middle-class students. You refuse to act with urgency and fervor to enact shared governance between the student body and the Board of Trustees. You refuse to hold your student-ran government systems and organizations accountable to proclaimed commitments of DEI. You refuse to explicitly denounce visitors and their behaviors that violate your supposed values for DEI. You refuse to make personal statements on behalf of specific DEI resolutions, values, and current events. You refuse to offer resolution to the many grievances of historically marginalized students yet invite them to share their stories. You refuse to expand the hire for competent leaders for equity and justice on campus. You refuse to financially compensate and explicitly praise students for their labor to make DEI an actual reality on campus. You refused to publicly acknowledge and sign our demands 479 days ago. Coalition for University Justice & Equity (CUJE) The following story is from a fellow TCU student who experienced negligence from a faculty member during her first and only Frogs First. This story is intended not only to reflect the various ways in which TCU is unsuccessful at giving serious consideration and support to students who experience struggles with their mental health, but also to shed light on the countless ways that TCU fails to protect its students and make them feel safe on a campus they are supposed to consider “home”:
Saturday, February 8, 2020, a student journalist published an article in TCU360 about campus investigation of flyers posted by a white supremacist group. According to the article, this was the second spotting of the semester and the third spotting of this academic year. However, there has not been a single report of these instances over the last 6 months though TCU police routinely sends out community alerts. It is shameful this responsibility fell on a student. Based on the interview with Assistant Chief of Police, Robert Rangel, the university seems to be more concerned with not offending white supremacist groups than the safety and wellbeing of their students. Instances such as these should be shared with the community as they affect the entire campus, especially marginalized students. This particular group has had a reoccurring presence on this campus, yet it seems that little has been done to minimize this issue. Rangel stated that there is concern surrounding these groups because they have potential to incite violence. Because their presence has been on this campus for so long, it is no longer a question of if there will be another incident, but rather when and how the next incident will occur. This is even more reason why the TCU community deserves to be notified by the university. TCU police have admitted that it is difficult to prevent and stop these incidents and have called on “the community” to work together as the department’s eyes and ears without giving explicit detail on their own plans to protect their community and complete a successful investigation. While soliciting help from the community might increase the chances of intercepting these instances, lack of communication makes it difficult for the entire community to be aware and follow through with these expectations. |
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