Solidarity Statements

• Black Lives
• Dreamers
• Asian and Pacific Islander

In Solidarity with Black Lives

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Tony McDade are only the latest in a historical legacy of anti-Black violence and murder. Their deaths at the hands of white supremacy and police brutality compel University Advising to reaffirm our commitment to social and racial justice. To our Black and brown communities directly impacted by the ongoing violence and injustice in our country: We see you, we hear you and we hurt with you. Across advising, our heavy hearts go out to all who are despaired and demoralized by these intolerable actions.

We stand against all forms of oppression and, now more than ever, we recommit to supporting all actions necessary to create a more just and equitable Cal Poly and world. Beginning now and through an Inclusive Excellence Action Plan we commit to:

• Continue to critically examine ourselves to develop a deeper and critical awareness of personal biases, beliefs, or historical roots that may influence or contribute to any forms of educational oppression instigated by our daily practice.
• Participate in lifelong learning and unlearning so that we can be the best advisors and members of our Cal Poly community. This includes but is not limited to cultural humility, how to be an anti-racist, and dialogues about the importance of intersectionality and not getting stuck in the mindset of a single story.
• Provide a safer, more empathic and more supportive space and to listen to your stories and experiences so that we can use our positions to amplify your voices and advocate for racial and social justice change.
• Speak up and challenge institutional barriers, such as culturally biased and classist policies and practices that unfairly affect our students of color.
• Disrupt patterns of an inequitable educational system by leveraging retention practices to eliminate the graduation gap for our Black students and all students of color.
• Activate university-wide advising environments and practices that are inclusive, equitable and embedded in social justice.

To others who wish to join in these efforts, we invite you to engage with the following resources in order to: recognize the historical legacy of anti-black violence in the United States; examine how white supremacy has impacted your own life; validate the lived experiences of Black folx in your community; and support or join activist organizations that fight for racial justice.

Starting out and Continuing learning

• Why Teaching Black Lives Matters
• A Decade of Watching Black People Die
• Interview with Dr. Bettina Love, author of “We want to do More than Survive”
• https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/
• Affirming Black Lives Without Inducing Trauma (Teaching Tolerance)
• Anti-Racist Resources for White Folk
• White Friends Desiring to be Allies
• Anti-Racist Reading List
• Cal Poly Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology resources

Why should I care?

• Why it’s not all lives matter
• Violence Never Works? Really?
• 7 Riots, Rallies, and Protests that Propelled Queer Liberation

Self-Work

• How to Be a Good Ally - Identity, Privilege, Resistance, Ahsante the Artist
• White Privilege Toolkit

Building Community and Healing

• Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM)
• Cal Poly Counseling Center
• Cal Poly Cross Cultural Centers
• Cal Poly’s Student Care resources

Get Involved

• Bias Reporting
• Ombuds: This office at Cal Poly offers a safe place to go for assistance in resolving any university related issue, concern, conflict, or complaint. All communications with the office are strictly confidential, informal, impartial, and independent.
• 26 ways to be in the struggle beyond the streets
• NAACP SLO Chapter
• RACE Matters SLO
• Donate

Instagram accounts of amazing anti-racism educators/resources

• @laylafsaad
• @rachel.cargle
• @consciouskid
• @readlikearockstar

In solidarity and with respect. BLACK LIVES MATTER

University Advising

In Solidarity with Dreamers

We, in University Advising, support and are in solidarity with our undocumented students, staff, and faculty during this uncertain time.

There are many challenges we are collectively facing as we navigate our new realities. We want to express continued support of our students, faculty, and staff who have the additional burden of navigating this reality as undocumented and DACAmented individuals.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama-era program that protects eligible undocumented people from deportation and grants work authorization for two-year periods. Nearly 200,000 DACA recipients live in California alone. Some DACA recipients are Cal Poly students and employees. In September 2017, the current administration sought to end the DACA program, which resulted in multiple lawsuits challenging the program’s termination. In November 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments to determine whether the current administration provided adequate explanation for ending the DACA program.

The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court states that Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end DACA was “arbitrary and capricious”. We are currently waiting on legal analysis of the decision and will have more information about what this means exactly for DACA recipients and the future of the DACA program as soon as possible. The decision is a judicial win, but it is not a permanent answer for DACA or undocumented people. In other words, the fight is not over.

We recognize this has been and continues to be a tumultuous time for many of us and that this decision and future decisions weigh especially heavily on our DACAmented students and employees, other undocumented students, students from mixed-status families, and their allies. We see you, and we are committed to ensuring your success at Cal Poly despite these challenges.

University Advising is working in conjunction with university-wide efforts to ensure the campus is prepared to continue supporting our undocumented and DACAmented community.

Please visit the Dream Center website for updated information and resources as this situation develops. Currently, direct immigration legal services are available free of charge to CSU students and employees. Attorneys are available to assist with general consultations, DACA renewals, and more (see below). The Dream center will also continue working to provide increased paid fellowship and research opportunities for students in an effort continue working towards creating an inclusive campus for our undocumented community.

Counseling services are available virtually for Cal Poly students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 805-756-2511. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides confidential counseling services to all Cal Poly employees and their families. Please call their 24-hour support hotline at 800-367-7474.

University Advising is here to support you. Please reach out to Retention@calpoly.edu or an ally via https://dreamcenter.calpoly.edu/Team.

[[Hashtags]]

• #HomeIsHere
• #HereToStay
• #UndocuAlly
• #OurDreamsUniteUs
• #DreamsWithoutBorders

Cal Poly Legal Clinic Times

Appointments are available to students, staff, faculty and family members of the Cal Poly community. More about Legal Services.

Asian and Pacific Islander Solidarity

We, University Advising at Cal Poly, are appalled at the recent and historical racism and violence towards our Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities and strongly condemn such actions. We stand in solidarity with the API community and are writing explicitly to support and affirm our commitment to combat these acts. Furthermore, we denounce all forms of racism and will work deliberately and diligently to stamp out all traces from our community as well as to educate and elicit the help of the greater community to collaborate with us in making this a reality.

The United States is no stranger to racism towards the API community. It is important that we recognize, remember and learn from these historical events to help us move forward with making positive change. This is an exhaustive list and we are only highlighting a few of the MANY discriminative historical events. These events include:

• The exploitation of Asian immigrants during the Gold Rush and construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, which led to senseless violence and murder.
• The history of racist and exclusionary laws put in place against the API community including:
• The Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882
• The Immigration Act of 1917
• The Takao Ozawa v. United States ruling of 1922
• The United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind ruling of 1923
• The Immigration Act of 1924
• Executive Order 9066, which forced people of Japanese descent into Internment Camps during WW2. The first camp was Manzanar, located in our state of California.

These are just a few of many historical events that have contributed to racism, discrimination, violence and oppression of the API community. More recent events have continued to contribute to racism and violence towards the API communities. These incidents include:

• The disgusting and racist Zoom bombing of the Cal Poly Chinese Student Association club meeting in March.
• The U.S. president’s racist and continued referral to the Coronavirus as the “Chinese Flu” and “Kung Flu, which directly or indirectly contributed to over 832 reported incidents of discrimination and harassment in California within the first 3 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Be aware these are just reported incidents in California. You can find more information at STOP AAPI HATE.
• The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s proposed policy change that would have prevented International Students from entering or remaining in the U.S. if they were enrolled in fully online courses at their respective U.S. college.

Although there are still many steps needed to be taken to ensure equity and inclusion, recently there have been some local and nationwide steps in a positive direction. These include:

Locally

San Luis Obispo City Council have been urging Public Health officials to declare racism as a public health emergency, which could potentially allocate additional funds and resources to address racial inequities and last month, San Luis Obispo City Council passed a resolution affirming racism as a public health crisis. This is still a work in progress but is a positive step forward.

Statewide

The push for Assembly Bill 1460, which would require all CSU students to take an ethnic studies or social justice course as a graduation requirement. Ethnic studies are an interdisciplinary and comparative study of race and ethnicity with special focus on four historically defined racialized core groups: Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinx Americans. The bill has been presented to Governor Newsom, who will be making the decision whether or not to sign the bill in the next couple of weeks. If signed, the graduation requirement would start for students entering the CSU system in 2021-2022.

Nationally

Due to federal lawsuits and pressure from Universities nationwide, the White House rescinded ICE’s proposed policy that would have prevented International Students from entering or remaining in the U.S. if they were enrolled in fully online courses at their respective U.S. college. This is a great example that collective voices and action can make change.

University Advising at Cal Poly is committed and dedicated to supporting and providing a safe and inclusive environment for our API students. University Advising is taking active steps to:

• Develop, implement and maintain policies and practices that ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded in every aspect of our programs and services. This includes, but is not limited to hiring, training, program development, communications and student interactions.
• Develop proactive and on-going connections with culturally based, student organizations to maximize opportunities for engagement and to ensure University Advising is aware of and addressing advising and retention needs of students across cultures and identities.
• Review and implement changes to ensure spaces and resources are inclusive for individuals from various cultures and identities.
• Display Inclusive Excellence statements prominently on our marketing materials, website, job postings, posters, and other pertinent materials.
• Continue to critically examine and educate ourselves to develop a deeper critical awareness of our personal biases, beliefs, or historical roots that may influence or contribute to any forms of educational oppression instigated by our daily practice.

Within University Advising we recognize that US history, our history, is incomplete without acknowledging these facts. We are committed to unlearning, learning, growing and moving forward in action. Our ultimate goal is to create a welcoming environment for our Cal Poly students, staff and faculty. Please join us as we continue to learn and grow.

Cal Poly resources on reporting, learning and coping with racial injustice

• Cal Poly Bias Response Team
• Cal Poly Cross Cultural Center Virtual Resources
• Cal Poly OUDI’s Covid-19 Resources
• Cal Poly Counseling Services

Want to Learn More?

• Dr. Ellen Wu’s CPX Distinguished Speaker Series: How Asians Became America’s “Model Minority”+ Why That Matters
• PBS Series “Asian-Americans”, which highlights the history of identity, contributions and challenges experienced by Asian-Americans.
• Model Minority Myth and How it’s Destructive

Books

• Minor Feelings: An Asian-American Reckoning By Cathy Park Hong
• The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority By Ellen Wu
• The Making of Asian America By Erika Lee
• American History Unbound: Asians and Pacific Islanders By Gary Y. Okihiro
• We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Futureby Deepa Iyer