Author: etsukaha

November 2, 2021 1:43 PM

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

In July 2020 I announced the creation of the Call to Action Research Program to Address Racism and Social Injustice, a $2 million annual commitment by our university to respond to the critical need for universities across our nation to prioritize research focused on systemic racial inequities and injustices, as well as the expansion of community-based knowledge that advances the understanding of systemic racism and generationally embedded racial disparity.

Today, I am pleased to announce the recipients for this first year of Call to Action funding. To read the list of this year’s projects is to begin to appreciate the full array of talent, creativity and commitment to use the power of research to transform lives and create an equitable and just world. A full list of projects and descriptions are available on the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion website.

From the arts and public engagement to work on data equity, perinatal, youth and family programs, college access and success, racial equity in the legal system and language justice, the awarded proposals each have the potential to make immediate change in our community and represent the heart of our land-grant mission and the very best of who we are as a university.

In total, 22 projects were funded from the 91 pre-proposals submitted in three research focus areas: systemic racism and social justice; law enforcement and criminal justice reform; disparities in health and health care. These projects represent eight colleges and 17 departments and administrative units, with 70 percent of funded proposals collaborating with almost 20 different organizations in our communities. Awards this year range from $10,000 to $100,000 and span the breadth of our research enterprise.

Congratulations to each project leader and community partner. The research groups will share their work with the campus community at a research symposium in Fall 2022.

Even though much of the world’s attention has been necessarily turned to the continuing devastation of the current pandemic, there is no diminishing of the urgency for the solutions our university is uniquely positioned to deliver around systemic racism and embedded racial disparity in our society. I encourage you to explore these first Call to Action projects.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

Yossi Klein Halevi and Mohammad Darawshe, two internationally-recognized thinkers on navigating the deeply-held divisions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will visit the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, October 7–9, 2021.

Highlighting their visit will be a public conversation, Thursday, October 7 at 4:30 pm in the Illini Union, Rooms A & B, moderated by Sean C. Garrick, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Now on campus following their virtual conversation with Chancellor Jones this spring, Mr. Halevi and Mr. Darawshe will delve more deeply into the impact of current conflicts and how we can remain in dialogue with one another through numerous challenges and crises. A livestream will be available the day of the event at go.illinois.edu/InDialogue.

In addition to their public conversation with Vice Chancellor Garrick, Mr. Halevi and Mr. Darawshe will meet with students, faculty, senior campus leadership and community faith leaders. They will also participate in an interfaith dinner.

Yossi Klein Halevi is the New York Times bestselling author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. Mohammad Darawshe is a leading political analyst who has spent more than three decades advocating for Israel’s Arab sector.

Event Information

Remaining In Dialogue:
Yossi Klein Halevi and Mohammad Darawshe on Israel, Palestine, and Bridging Deeply-Held Divisions

Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 4:30 pm
Illini Union Rooms A & B (first floor)
or watch the livestream at go.illinois.edu/InDialogue.

Sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Program in Jewish Culture & Society.

Co-sponsored by Illini Hillel, Illini Chabad/Chabad Center for Jewish Life, the Israel Studies Project (Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago/JUF), the Initiative for Holocaust, Genocide & Memory Studies, Center for South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, European Union Center, School of Literatures, Culture & Linguistics, and the Program in Comparative & World Literature.

To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please email access@illinois.edu. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

Speakers

Yossi Klein Halevi is the New York Times bestselling author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, his evocative attempt to untangle the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the feelings that confront him. He is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Together with Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University, he co-directs the Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), which teaches emerging young Muslim American leaders about Judaism, Jewish identity and Israel.

Mohammad  Darawshe is a leading political analyst who has spent more than three decades advocating for Israel’s Arab sector. The Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva, Israel’s oldest organization promoting cohesion and understanding between its Jewish and Arab citizens, Darawshe is an Arab with an Israeli passport—a Muslim, Palestinian citizen of the State of Israel. Like 20 percent of Israel’s population, he is—in his words—a child of both identities.

CNN Political Analyst Ana Navarro, known for her candor and quick wit, will visit the University of Illinois as the 2021 Hispanic Heritage Month Featured Speaker. Navarro will speak at 4:00 pm Tuesday, September 28 in the Illini Union, Room A. This event is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Co-sponsored by La Casa Cultural Latina.

Navarro will share her insights on the political landscape in the U.S. as well as her story of being a Latina immigrant, republican strategist, and the challenges that she has faced in her political career. To register for this event visit go.illinois.edu/AnaNavarro.

In addition to her appearances on CNN, Navarro also provides political analysis for CNN En Español, Telemundo, and frequently appears on Meet the Press, Bill Maher’s Real Time, and is a continuing Friday co-host of The View.

Navarro was born in Nicaragua, and in 1980, as a result of the Sandinista revolution, she and her family immigrated to the United States.

Event Information

Hispanic Heritage Month Featured Speaker
Ana Navarro: Life and Politics
Political Analyst for CNN, Telemundo, and co-host of ABC’s The View.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021
4:00–5:30 pm
Illini Union Room A
Register at go.illinois.edu/AnaNavarro

To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please email access@illinois.edu. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

Statement Regarding September 28th, 2021 Event

Register for a Session

• Friday, September 24, 2 pm (Virtual)
• Monday, September 27, 6 pm (In Person)

Past Sessions

• September 13, 8:30 am (Virtual)

About Campus Belonging Resources

Campus Belonging Resources is designed to focus on behaviors that negatively affect the climate of inclusion and belonging on campus and continue to invest in our education, support and response efforts for individuals impacted by those behaviors. Campus community members – including students, staff, faculty, and community members – are invited to submit any reports of behavior that negatively affect their own or other’s sense of belonging and inclusion on campus. Learn more about this process at go.illinois.edu/CampusBelonging.

September 7, 2021 1:01 PM

Dear Members of the University Community, 

At the beginning of every academic year, I write to you to reaffirm our university’s commitment to equal opportunity, affirmative action and equal access. This commitment to create and maintain an equitable and just campus community is essential to upholding the most fundamental principles of academic freedom, equity and human dignity, which are core to the mission of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Our university is committed to creating a campus community in which each person knows that their talents, perspectives, life experiences and faith traditions are respected and valued. We are also committed to using our intellectual and scholarly power to address structural and systemic biases and social disparities in our community, nation and world.  

University policies prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, disability, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, age, order of protection status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, arrest record status, unfavorable discharge from the military and status as a protected veteran. These protections extend to all members of the campus community during any stage of the employment process, including but not limited to, recruitment, selection, promotion, transfer, merit increases, salary, training and development, demotion and separation. Similarly, the university prohibits discrimination in admissions, enrollment, and provision of services, programs, and activities. 

As a part of our affirmative action plan, consistent with state and federal laws, we undertake good faith efforts to increase the representation of women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans among our faculty and staff. An affirmative action plan is essential to furthering equal employment opportunity and diversity on our campus and to fulfilling our affirmative action obligations. 

The Office for Access & Equity is available to assist any employees who have concerns about discrimination, harassment or retaliation. You can submit a discrimination or harassment claim through the university’s online reporting portal (accessible claim form). To learn more about OAE’s broader services related to equity, affirmative action and disability-related matters, please see the Office for Access & Equity website. You can also review the nondiscrimination policy and sexual misconduct policy and procedures for addressing Title IX sexual harassment complaints online. Retaliation against any person for exercising their rights under these policies is strictly prohibited.  

The ADA Division of the Office for Access and Equity facilitates disability, religious and pregnancy/parenting accommodations for all faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate student employees, as well as job applicants. The ADA Division engages in an interactive process to determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation for each person. The division also provides advice, consultation and educational programming to increase awareness and inclusion of individuals with disabilities. To request a reasonable accommodation, employees can complete the online employee accommodation request form.

Students can learn more about the student academic supports and accommodations services that may be available to them by contacting the Division of Disability Resources & Educational Services. Students also have the right to request accommodations for religious observances and can learn more from the Office of the Dean of Students.

We recently shared an update regarding Title IX and our commitment to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct. Please visit the We Care website to learn more about confidential and non-confidential resources, university policies, disciplinary procedures, rights and options and additional information related to the prevention, reporting, and response to sexual misconduct. Questions regarding Title IX may also be sent to the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.  

Creating an inclusive and equitable campus requires that we annually reaffirm our individual and collective commitments. Only together can we build a university community that is truly diverse, welcoming and inclusive of students, scholars and staff. 

Sincerely, 

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

September 7, 2021 10:01 AM

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

As we begin a new academic year, I write to share with you information about the offices, policies and resources available on our campus to help prevent and respond to sexual harassment and misconduct. The University of Illinois believes that each member of our university community should expect to learn and work in a community that prioritizes care, dignity and mutual respect. This expectation includes our responsibility to create a campus community that is free of harassment and discrimination based on sex, including gender discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and sexual violence. University policy prohibits discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, consistent with the Department of Education’s interpretation of discrimination based on sex.

Danielle Morrison, our university’s Title IX Coordinator, provides oversight and support for the university’s comprehensive Title IX programs and initiatives. Dr. Morrison can be reached at titleixcoordinator@illinois.edu or (844) 616-7978. You may also visit the Title IX Office for more information about ways the office can assist.

A full description of the Sexual Misconduct policy, process and information about reporting obligations, as well as the provision of confidential advisors under Title IX, is maintained centrally on the We Care: Sexual Misconduct Support, Response, and Prevention website. All students, faculty and staff are asked to review the University of Illinois System Statement on Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Other Sexual Misconduct, which is also located on the We Care site. The Sexual Misconduct Policy in the Campus Administrative Manual and Student Code includes other prohibited sexual misconduct in addition to Title IX Sexual Harassment.

If you experience sexual misconduct – including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other forms of sexual violence – know that you are not alone and support is available. On our campus, there are several confidential resources, including the Counseling Center, McKinley Health Center and the Women’s Resources Center (WRC). The WRC has Confidential Advisors, who are staff members specifically trained to provide support and advocacy. The We Care site has additional information about campus resources and answers to frequently asked questions about reporting options.

Sexual misconduct in any form violates our institutional values. It is the responsibility of each one of us to stand up against harmful behavior in our community. I encourage you to take a few moments to learn more about these campus resources, so that together we can continue to create a university that supports and values the success and well-being of all.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

August 18, 2021 2:02 PM

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As part of our university’s work to acknowledge our responsibility to the Native Nations for whom Illinois is their ancestral home and establish meaningful reciprocal relationships with these Nations, I am pleased to announce that Jacki Thompson Rand will become the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs and Senior Adviser to the Chancellor on Native Affairs Issues. As a member of the senior leadership of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Dr. Rand will serve as the university’s Tribal Liaison to help the campus establish and maintain respectful relationships with Native American Nations and help our university adopt standards and strategies appropriate for Native tribal and Indigenous community engagement. In this role, Dr. Rand also will collaborate with the NAGPRA Office in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, which is responsible for upholding our university’s commitment to the repatriation of our Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian collections in consultation with tribal communities and lineal descendants.

An enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Dr. Rand brings an expertise in public and community-facing research that ideally positions her to serve in this new role. Prior to Illinois, Dr. Rand served as faculty in the Department of History at the University of Iowa for more than two decades, and at Illinois, she will join the faculty of the American Indian Studies Program. Working at the intersections of American Indian Studies, History, and Gender and Women’s Studies, she utilizes the methodologies and ethics of public and digital humanities, archival and oral history research, and community engagement to account for Native American experiences within and across the 19th and 20th centuries. At Iowa, she also participated in the Iowa First Nations Program, which hosts high school students from Nations that occupied the state of Iowa and surrounding region, and was the co-coordinator of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program.

At the state and national level, Dr. Rand has served on the American Indian Council for the Office of the State Archeologist where she advised on issues related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and has extensive experience with museums, including 11 years in various roles at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., where she conceptualized and planned community consultations in Indian Country throughout the United States. Dr. Rand is the author of Kiowa Humanity and the Invasion of the State (University of Nebraska Press, 2008) and an ongoing digital humanities project on the Indigenous Midwest. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Oklahoma.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Jacki Thompson Rand on assuming this important role for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and help welcome her to our community.

Sincerely,

Sean C. Garrick
Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

August 18, 2021 10:01 AM

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is committed to the most fundamental principles of academic freedom, equality of opportunity and human dignity. In order to enable all members of the campus community to fully and freely participate in their educational, research and workplace experiences, we must identify and address behaviors that negatively affect the climate of inclusion and belonging on our campus. More than ever, it is critical that our university prioritizes building a campus environment that allows people of all backgrounds to participate in the constructive exchange of ideas based in respect and true inclusion. Acts of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other negative behaviors do not have a place at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and must not be allowed to impact our commitment to create a campus community that values the full range of talents, perspectives, cultures, faith traditions and life experiences that the nearly 60,000 members of the university community bring to our campus each year.

The Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART) has been an important and visible mechanism to help students, faculty and staff to inform the university when they encounter behaviors that negatively impact their campus experience. As we begin this new academic year, we are taking some important steps and making new investments to enhance this critical service. Additionally, the program will transition into the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (VCDEI) from its previous home in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (VCSA). This service is strongly aligned with the VCDEI’s mission, and this decision comes at the joint recommendation of both offices following an extensive evaluation over the last year.

During this transition between offices, members of our campus community will see no disruption or interruption of this critical support service.

The transition will include new processes designed to:

• Offer a mechanism for students, staff and faculty to inform the university if they experience behaviors that negatively affect their experience on campus.
• Leverage new investments of resources and personnel to maximize the accessibility, responsiveness and effectiveness of the process for members of our community.
• Educate the campus community on relevant issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, access, free speech and academic freedom.
• Consistently affirm our institutional commitment to a campus environment that values diverse perspectives and constructive dialogue.

As has always been the case, the process is not part of the University’s disciplinary systems and participation is not mandatory by any member of the campus community.

We will continue to respond to reports submitted by members of the campus community about negative behaviors that impact experiences of inclusion and belonging in a prompt and equitable manner. Beginning August 23, reports can be submitted at go.illinois.edu/campusbelonging, and will be received by VCDEI staff, who will coordinate response to the reports. The current BART site will also automatically forward to the new reporting portal.

Our transition plan includes a commitment to hire additional professional full-time staff members, which will allow us to continue to improve our responsiveness and educational efforts. The campus community will also have an opportunity to provide comment on the design of the new process. We will share more information with the campus community during the fall semester about opportunities to provide feedback and next steps in the development of the new initiative. Based on campus feedback and assessment, additional refinements will be made to the new process in spring 2022.

I would like to thank Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Danita Brown Young, the BART co-chairs, January Boten and Debra Imel, and all members of our community who have volunteered their time to serve on the BART committee.

I hope that you will share your perspectives as we build this new resource to strengthen the sense of campus belonging throughout our university community.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

Juneteenth – also called Emancipation Day or Jubilee– celebrates the emancipation of African Americans in the United States from slavery. Although, the Emancipation Proclamation – President Lincoln’s order declaring that enslaved peoples in the seceding states “are, and henceforward shall be free” – went to effect in 1863, it was not until two years later in 1865 – and two months after the end of the Civil War – that enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas learned about it.

Since then, Juneteenth (a combination of June and Nineteenth) has been commemorated to mark the end of slavery in the United States. Like many communities, there are events throughout Champaign-Urbana celebrating Juneteenth.

2021 Juneteenth Events in Champaign-Urbana

Below is a list of some of the events sponsored many different local organizations this year around our community. Please see event pages for more information and sponsoring organizations.

Medicine, Slavery, and the Making of Race: A Historical Perspective

Presentation by Dr. Rana Hogarth, Associate Professor of History

Tuesday, June 15^th at 1pm
Medicine, Slavery, and the Making of Race Event Description

University Y Community Conversation: Remembering Juneteenth & Exploring the Afrofuture

Presentation by Dr. Stacey Robinson, Assistant Professor in Graphic Design and Award Winning artist
Wednesday, June 16^th from 6-7:30 p.m.
University Y Community Conversation Event Page

Stargazers: An Exhibition of Poetry and Graphic Illustration in Honor of Juneteenth
Exhibit by The Robinson Art Collective

Urbana Free Library (210 W. Green St., Urbana)
Art & Poetry Drop In Celebration, Saturday, June 19^th from 1-3 p.m.
Exhibit Open Friday, June 18^th (9 a.m.-5 p.m.), Saturday, June 19^th (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) and Sunday, June 20^th (1-4 p.m.)

Art Science & Democracy Festival
Hosted by Unity in Action Magazine

Events hosted virtually and live across Urbana-Champaign Friday, June 18^th through Sunday, June 20th
Art Science & Democracy Festival Event Page or Visit Unity in Action for Event Lineup

Champaign Park District Virtual Juneteenth Celebration

Saturday, June 19^th from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Champaign Park District Celebration Event on Facebook

HV Neighborhood Transformation Juneteenth Celebration at Westside Park

400 W. University Ave., Champaign
Saturday, June 19^th from 12 p.m.-8 p.m.
HV Neighborhood Transformation Event on Facebook

Rantoul Juneteenth at Wabash Park

520 E. Wabash, Rantoul
Saturday, June 19^th from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Rantoul Juneteenth Event on Facebook

“Back to the 90s” Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration at King Park

915 Wascher Dr., Urbana
Saturday, June 19^th from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

April 20, 2021 4:32 PM

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

We hope today’s jury decision gives Mr. Floyd’s family some small sense of closure and a measure of justice. But no court can reverse his senseless death. And no verdict will erase their grief, anger and loss. Our thoughts are with his family and friends today.

Our collective compassion for those who are in pain must be equally matched by an urgent, firm, sustained public commitment to take action. As a university, as a community, as a nation and as individuals of conscience, we must fully and permanently dismantle the conditions of systemic racism and social injustice that play out so disastrously and disproportionately for too many families of people of color on a daily basis in our country.

While George Floyd’s death has catalyzed the necessary and urgent national reckoning on racial inequity, policing and the fundamental fairness of our justice system, our nation has seen other moments of reckoning that we have yet to heed, including the police killing of Eric Garner who uttered the words “I can’t breathe” nearly seven years ago. The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo and too many others this past year alone are the unacceptable consequence of our current system of policing and criminal justice. Their deaths cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents or individual acts – they are clear and painful evidence that we are facing an embedded, societal crisis that we must directly and fundamentally address. Change will not happen without unrelenting effort.

As a part of our university’s Call to Action to Address Racism and Social Injustice launched in the wake of this year’s racialized violence, we are engaged in an active review of the role our own university has played in creating these systems, the histories that we have failed to address and the public safety processes and policies we have in place. Today we state unequivocally that we are ready to invest the resources, the time and the necessary effort to repair this damage and to reimagine and rebuild these systems. We are committed to making the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign a community where our research, engagement, equity, inclusion and leadership practices actively work to dismantle systems that utilize power, privilege and violence to disenfranchise and diminish, so that we can recognize the full humanity and lives of Black and Brown students, faculty and staff. This summer we will begin to bring the working group recommendations to the broader university community. These listening sessions will help us discuss the paths forward that we together will choose to prioritize through a collaborative process. We will provide more information about these sessions in the coming months, which will continue into the fall to allow all students who wish to participate an opportunity to share their perspectives.

This year, we have learned the names of too many, like George Floyd, who were taken in senseless ways. It is important that we remember them by committing to take actions that put an end to the systemic and embedded conditions that cost so many lives and bring such profound harm to the families and communities who are left behind. It is long past time.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

Barry D. Benson
Vice Chancellor for Advancement

Andreas C. Cangellaris
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost

Sean C. Garrick
Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Susan A. Martinis
Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Danita M. B. Young
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs