College of Arts & Humanities EDI Committee Statement in Solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement
Posted 23 June
We, the EDI Committee of the College of Arts and Humanities, express our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter campaigns in America, Ireland and across the world. We unequivocally condemn the violence and structural racism faced by black people in the US and Ireland. In particular, we as a committee condemn the oppressive system of Direct Provision and express our support for activists seeking to end this inhumane system.
We are concerned about the emotional welfare of black students and colleagues, and other students and colleagues of colour, particularly but not exclusively at this difficult time, and we are concerned at the lack of opportunities at UCD for black scholars and scholars of colour, regardless of their national origin or current citizenship. Equality, diversity and inclusion are only meaningful if they are considered as one, and we commit to dismantling structural inequalities on campus that prevent these goals from being achieved.
We are grateful for the work that is being done here at UCD and further afield to challenge the implicit racism of our disciplines and the whiteness of our curricula within the College. We add our voices to the calls to decolonise the university, even if, for some of us, it means relinquishing our own privileges. We acknowledge that creating a space for equality, diversity and inclusion means accepting where and when our expertise is irrelevant. We understand that a willingness to displace ourselves is necessary for the implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion. We commit to better educating ourselves and those around us by centering the voices of black people and people of colour, so that we can put the values of equality, diversity and inclusion fully into practice.
Signed:
Laura Anderson
Martin Brady
Annette Clancy
Grace Delaney-Henson
Niall Dennehy
Philip de Souza
Mary Farrelly
Sarah Feehan
Tasneem Filaih
Kelly Fitzgerald
Kathleen James-Chakraborty
Francesco Lucioli
Cormac O’Brien
Emma Penney
Maria Stuart
Joseph Twist
UCD’s central EDI statement can be found here: https://www.ucd.ie/equality/information/race/