Standing Against Racism and Injustice

 

De Anza College is reaffirming its longstanding commitment to equity by taking a stand – and taking action – against racism and injustice.

On this webpage, you'll find information about upcoming events and activities, resources for learning and discussion, statements in solidarity and other important topical updates.

Click these links or scroll down to learn more.

hands raised and clasped in unity


Upcoming Events

Momentum Series

Momentum is a series of online talks focusing on equity, inclusiveness and social justice, hosted by Elvin T. Ramos, dean of Social Sciences and Humanities. For a list of upcoming talks, visit the Momentum website.

Previous Events 

De Anza trustees at anti-racism rally


CAN/DID Inclusion Series

The CAN/DID multimedia project examines equity and social justice issues by drawing on the knowledge and experiences of our own community members. A series of videos and social media posts last year explored such topics as the Black Lives Matter movement, countering anti-Asian racism, and De Anza's unique Intercultural Studies program.

The series will continue in 2021-2022 by focusing on topics of importance to the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities, among others.

CAN/DID is produced by the Office of Communications in consultation with the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education.

Watch the series at deanza.edu/candid


Resources and Organizations

Feeling Stressed? Want to Talk?

College Resources

Academic Programs

College Organizations

Information and Support

Learning Communities

 

Community Resources

Here are some (mostly) local organizations that offer information, training and advocacy for racial equity and social justice.

Stop AAPI Hate logo

iHollaback bystander tips

Report Hate Crimes

Learn Intervention Strategies

Find More Resources


Taking Action Against Anti-Asian Racism

College and elected leaders holding signs against racismIn a February 2021 email to students, faculty members and classified professionals, President Lloyd A. Holmes outlined plans for a collegewide response to the surge in racist attacks on people of Asian descent. This response included opportunities for the college community to share knowledge and solidarity against racism, through online events held on March 23 and April 6, and others. 

De Anza Joins April 10 Rally Against Anti-Asian Racism

Representatives from De Anza College and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District joined the Stop Asian Hate Rally held outside Cupertino City Hall on Saturday, April 10. 

Resources and Statements on Anti-Asian Racism

You'll find more information and resources on this issue by visiting the Asian American and Asian Studies Department's COVID-19 Resources webpage.

Message From President Holmes

Feb. 11, 2021

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Particularly as we enter the Lunar New Year, it deeply saddens me to learn of continuing violence, threats and racism against the Asian and Asian American community. As we have seen, there has been a rise in violence against members of that community in our region and beyond, yet it continues to be underreported by mainstream media.

My heart goes out to those subjected to these attacks – most often the elderly – and to our students and colleagues who are emotionally affected by this undercurrent of threat, which surged at the time of the pandemic last year. I'm told that an ongoing survey by the Asian American and Asian Studies Department (ASAM) and the Asian Pacific American Staff Association (APASA) shows that two-thirds of respondents have personally experienced, witnessed, or been told by someone they know of an incident of anti-Asian hostility, even before the recent spate of violence. Please know that Psychological Services can provide services for students, and the Employee Assistance Program can assist our faculty and staff.

President Joe Biden showed great leadership within the first week of his term by signing an executive order directing federal agencies to combat xenophobia against the Asian American Pacific Islander community. The Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees in May of last year approved a resolution denouncing xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment. I was proud – shortly thereafter – to join this community of such care.

De Anza College condemns these acts of violence against our community members. And we must not only condemn, but take action as part of the equity work in which the college has long been engaged.

Early in the pandemic, ASAM chair Mae Lee developed website resources on the topic of addressing scapegoating of the community. This page was featured on key college websites during the early part of the pandemic, and is now linked from websites including the CAN/DID Inclusion Series page.

I hope you have been viewing the installments of the college's CAN/DID series, produced by the Office of Communications in consultation with the Office of Equity and others collegewide. Today there is a powerful new trailer on upcoming segments on anti-Asian racism and scapegoating.

WATCH THE TRAILER 

Look for a new video in the series next week, featuring Mae and DASB President Katelyn Pan, with more installments to come. The Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education will collaborate in planning a Community Conversation around an upcoming CAN/DID video on anti-Asian racism, with details to come soon on this and other important events.

Dean of Equity and Engagement Alicia Cortez has proposed an event specifically for our students, led by culturally responsive faculty – including counselors – and classified professionals, to hear student concerns and provide resources.

Significantly, Dean Edmundo Norte has announced that the Intercultural/International Studies Division will be developing a multiracial panel for an event to build support across all affinity groups – a step toward collective understanding, building alliances, and dismantling structural racism.

This is a crucial action, and Edmundo made an invaluable point in an email on which I was copied: "We cannot ignore the deadly impacts of silence as erasure in our AAPI and Native American communities any more than we can ignore the impacts of the demonization and targeting of Black and Brown bodies by police. We need to understand amongst each other how we are being both uniquely and collectively impacted."

I support this wholeheartedly, and look forward to these important events bringing our communities together. It must be noted, with great sadness, that this spate of violence against the AAPI community comes as we celebrate Black History Month, honoring the many accomplishments of Black men and women subjected to gross violence, historically and currently.

In this most challenging of times, I wish those in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities a Happy Lunar New Year, with the hope that the Year of the Ox will be a good year for all in the De Anza College community. Please enjoy your long weekend.

With appreciation,
Lloyd A. Holmes
President, De Anza College

Statement in Solidarity From the BFSA

BFSA logo

Statement of Solidarity

We the Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Network (BFSA) denounce the current rise of overt anti-Asian racism throughout our country and communities: To our API students, colleagues and friends, we see you, we hear you and we stand with you.

As African-Americans who have experienced and continue to experience anti-Black racism, discrimination and racially motivated violence over the past 400 years, we understand the fear, pain and anger such treatment creates. In light of recent events, we the members of the BFSA Network will not stand as silent witnesses to the violence and racial prejudice committed against our Asian brothers and sisters. In such precarious times, we must stand up for each other now more than ever.

The members of the BFSA Network will use our voices to speak out against xenophobic ideologies, hate crimes and physical violence that target the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

  • We stand in solidarity with our APASA and API colleagues, students, friends and community members at De Anza College to combat racist attacks.
  • We understand that the system designed to pit Black and the API communities against each other originates from the white supremacy, and is the same racist system that impacts every facet of life for people of color.
  • We will use our voices to speak against and seek an end to systemic racism, discrimination and racially motivated violence.
  • We will encourage members of the BFSA and Black community to engage in dialogue and education to learn how to become effective allies to API communities.
 

We stand with Asian and Pacific Islander communities in solidarity,

Melinda Hughes, President, BFSA; Co-Chair, Equity Action Council; Faculty Assistant Director, EOPS

Derrick E. Felton, Vice President, BFSA; Adjunct Professor

Leah Smith, Secretary, BFSA Secretary; Coordinator, EOPS

Chrissy Parker, Treasurer, BFSA; Administrative Assistant II

Michele LeBleu-Burns, Member, BFSA; Dean, Student Development and EOPS

DuJuan Green, Member, BFSA; Adjunct Professor

Deborah Taylor, Member, BFSA; Laboratory Technician

Glynn Wallis, Member, BFSA; Counselor, EOPS

Maurice Canyon, Member, BFSA; Counselor, Umoja Community

Pauline Wethington, Member, BFSA; Counselor

Sheldon Fields, Member, BFSA; Counselor, Men of Color Community

Mary Clark-Tillman, Member, BFSA; Curriculum Coordinator

Robert Alexander, Member, BFSA; Counselor

Wendy White, Member, BFSA; Instructor

Kevin Glapion, Member, BFSA' Counselor, Disabled Student Services

Iman Seale, Member, BFSA; Communications Associate

Moaty Fayek, Dean, Business, Computer Science and Applied Technologies

Natasha Joplin, Counselor

Myisha Washington, Interim Vice Chancellor, Human Resources

Sasha Bostick, Member, BFSA; Administrative Assistant II

Resolution by the Foothill-De Anza District Board of Trustees

The following was adopted unanimously by the Foothill-De Anza Comunity College District Board of Trustees on March 15, 2021:

Resolution 2021-09 of the Board of Trustees of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Reaffirming the District’s Commitment to the Well-Being and Safety of Asian American Community Members

WHEREAS, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees adopted resolution 2020-13 denouncing xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment arising due to fears of the COVID-19 pandemic and affirming the district’s commitment to the well-being and safety of Asian American communities on May 4, 2020; and

WHEREAS, the Pew Research Center reports that nearly one-third of Asian Americans report that they have been subject to discrimination since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; and

WHEREAS, the San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON) launched the Stop AAPI Hate website to collect and track incidents of anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying in California and nationwide at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in March of 2020; and

WHEREAS, the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center documented over 2,800 hate incidents against Asian Pacific Islander (API) Americans in 2020; and

WHEREAS, more than 700 of these incidents occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area; and

WHEREAS, incidents of hate crimes against Asian Americans continue to rise in the San Francisco Bay Area, some notable for their violence and cruelty; and

WHEREAS, the recent rise of violence against Asian Americans is part of a larger history of violence against communities of color that we must commit to end in all communities.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees reaffirms its commitment to the well-being and safety of Asian American community members; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees stands with California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley who has declared:

Discrimination and hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have no place in civilized society and must be condemned in the strongest terms. Xenophobia, racism and intolerance threaten our democratic values and social wellbeing. The California Community Colleges remains resolute in supporting and standing with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, students, faculty and staff. These cowardly acts cannot be tolerated and add to the urgency of our ongoing work and actions to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion within our system.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Trustees of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District on the 15th day of March, 2021, by the following vote:

AYES: Patrick Ahrens, Laura Casas, Pearl Cheng, Peter Landsberger, Gilbert Wong, Max Meyberg, Priya V

NOES: none

ABSTAIN: none

ABSENT: none

_______________________________________

Judy C. Miner, Ed.D.

Chancellor and Secretary to the Board of Trustees  


Increasing Support for Black Students

Tamara Williams

On June 8, 2020, Interim President Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb announced initial steps to increase support for Black students.

This followed her May 29, 2020 statement of support for all Black and underrepresented students and colleagues at the college.

June 2020 Message From Interim President Espinosa-Pieb

June 8, 2020

Dear Students,

This has been a wrenching time for our Black students, faculty and staff, and for all Black Americans.

I know you join me in in feeling sadness and anger about the death of George Floyd, and every other horrific act of racism and violence perpetrated against those who are Black. Many of us have been participating in peaceful protests across the Bay Area, while watching similar efforts unfold across the country.

It has also been a time of listening for our senior staff at De Anza College. In group meetings and individual conversations, we have been hearing from students, program representatives and community members, as well as the Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Network (BFSA) at De Anza.

In response to what we have heard, we are announcing today that we will establish a full-time, tenure-track counselor/coordinator position for the Umoja program to serve our Black students. The hiring process will begin immediately.

We also will fund – through donations to the De Anza President's Fund – a scholarship that BFSA will name and award, based on criteria they will develop.

We know these are small steps, and simply a beginning. Our listening will continue, as will our follow-up. This cannot be said too many times: We stand with – and for – our Black students and community.

Later this week, on Wednesday, BFSA will host an online forum for Black students. You can find more information and resources on the new Standing Against Racism webpage in the Office of Equity section of the college website.

We also want to make sure you’re aware that counseling support is available to you during this time of extraordinary stress. In addition to one-on-one counseling, our Psychological Services office is hosting a series of online group discussions for students this week and next. This information can also be found on the new webpage at deanza.edu/equityoffice/against-racism, and we will continue to add updates and additional resources to that page.

Please do take care of yourself.

Kindly,
Christina 

Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb
(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Herself/Ella)
Interim President

[The message above was sent via email to all students. A similar message was emailed to De Anza's faculty and classified professional staff members.]

May 2020 Message from Interim President Espinosa-Pieb

May 29, 2020

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Racism continues to be deeply embedded in this country, and I am proud it is something De Anza College has long worked against. I know we all deplore the violent death of yet another African American person at the hands of police, and that our hearts go out to the family and friends of George Floyd, and to the African American community.

We know that our African American students, faculty and staff are in pain – a pain I imagine must feel both never-ending and yet recurring, with each death. We know this pain is compounded by each act of racism, such as this week's reprehensible incident in Central Park – just one of so many similar occurrences.

Today, I want each of you to know that we stand with and by our African American and all underrepresented students, at a college that holds true equity as a central value.

Kindly,
Christina 

Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb
(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Herself/Ella)
Interim President

[The above message was sent via email to all De Anza students, faculty and classified professional staff.]

2020 Grad Speaker and BFSA Awards

At the invitation of the President’s Office, the Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Network (BFSA) selected Tamara Williams as student speaker for De Anza's 2020 Commencement Celebration. 

 

In addition, the BFSA selected four graduating students to receive newly established Du Bois and Sankofa awards for academic achievement. Each received $1,000 provided by donors through the President's Fund.

Alaric Hill and De'Von Johnson received the W.E.B. Du Bois Award, while Abdelkareem Khogali and Artie McNeal received the Sankofa Award.


Statements in Solidarity 

Video From Student-Athletes

De Anza’s student-athletes came together virtually in 2020 to produce a new video in solidarity with the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement. All told, 39 student-athletes took part by recording and submitting their own videos and collaborating on the opening and closing statements.

In addition, De Anza College employees and programs issued these statements of solidarity following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

African American Studies

African American Studies logo

To the Black students of De Anza College, your Black life matters. FULL STOP.

We, the professors in the African American Studies Department, stand by you. We see you. We know your pain, we share that pain. We know you’re tired of systems refusing to change, we are exhausted right there with you.

We understand what you are dealing with, in the midst of an historic and global pandemic, which is over-impacting our community. We are now bombarded with countless images of death and violence on bodies that look like us, our sisters and brothers, our transfamily members, our aunts and uncles, and we are overwhelmed, angry, and hurting.

We understand your frustration and need to be seen, heard, and affirmed in your humanity. We see you, we affirm you, and again, your life matters. Our lives matter.

We shouldn’t have to make statements of solidarity, because solidarity is an on-going and lived experience. We also know that often that has not been your experience on this campus. We share in that experience as well.

We ask our fellow students, staff, faculty, and campus community members to do more than make a statement of solidarity for us. Rather, we urge you to take the time to do some serious self-reflection and create a plan of action for confronting and irradicating anti-Blackness and white supremacist structure models inherent within the infastructure of higher education and on the campus of De Anza college.

We call upon our Associated Student Body to create a student-led coalition on eradicating anti-Blackness policies and procedures on the campus and within the district. If we ever want to truly live to our greatest capacity as human beings then Black lives have to matter to you.

In solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world! #BlackLivesMatter

This statement was shared by Julie Keiffer-Lewis and Jess D. Hamilton, co-creators of the Black Leadership Collective, on behalf of the African American Studies Department.

Asian and Asian American Studies / Asian Pacific American Staff Association 

APASA logo

Asian and Asian American Studies (ASAM) and Asian Pacific American Staff Association (APASA) raise our collective voices in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and Black communities:

As classified professionals, faculty, alumni, and former employees at De Anza College, while many of us cannot know or understand how it feels to be Black in America, we are enraged about the fact that yet another solidarity statement must be written because George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless other Black lives have died at the hands of police.

It is also unacceptable that people are still protesting the continuous systemic injustices that continue to harm black and brown bodies in this country.

ASAM and APASA recognize the importance and urgency of showing up for and being a part of those actively resisting police violence and racism towards communities of color, both of which are a part of the legacy of white supremacy.

“Enough is enough!” THEREFORE:

  • We refuse to stand by, watch and be complicit with police violence, killings, and racism
  • We refuse to hide behind the model minority stereotype that places Asian Americans in proximity to whiteness because we know that dismantling white supremacy depends on it
  • We believe that Asian American and Pacific Islander communities need to talk about anti-Black racism and confront the internalized oppression in our families in an effort to dismantle white supremacy
  • We encourage members of our own Asian American and Pacific Islander community to engage in anti-racist/Black education so that we may become truly effective allies and build solidarity with the Black community and alongside all oppressed groups in our shared fight against racism and hate
  • We acknowledge that without the sacrifices, commitment and struggles that the Black community has historically fought for and continue to do so today, that our own fight for equity, inclusion and social justice would have never culminated
  • We stand in strong solidarity with our Black and Brown colleagues, students and community members at De Anza College
  • We stand in strong solidarity with those on the streets protesting these injustices and refuse to characterize peaceful protests as looting and riots without calling out the presence of white supremacists and terrorists who have appropriated those collective cries for justice
  • We demand the dismantling of any forms of institutionalized racist systems that require groups to pit against rather than support one another, and
  • We denounce Trump’s derogatory and racist rhetoric that has only served to inflame and degrade what is already a volatile situation

We stand with Black Communities in solidarity!

This statement was read aloud at the June 2 district Board of Trustees meeting by Christine Chai and Dawn Lee Tu on behalf of ASAM and APASA. 

De Anza Latinx Association

DALA logo

The De Anza Latinx Association (DALA), a staff, faculty and administrators association stands in solidarity with our African American students, faculty, staff, and the Black community at large. The recent police violence, hate crimes, and vitriol against members of the Black community – George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, D’Andre Campbell, Tony McDade, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Ahmaud Arbery, Christian Cooper and many others who we simply are not aware of – has been a visceral kick in the gut, a felt stab in the heart, bringing into stark relief the reality of the ongoing terror and racism that has been with us for hundreds of years. We wrestle with our own rage and anguish as we grieve the loss of untold innocent lives within the Black community; these are our brothers and sisters – our relatives.  

These tragedies come during an unprecedented pandemic that, once again, because of systemic racism disproportionately affects the lives of African Americans; a community that has suffered unemployment, morbidity and death at a higher rate than white communities.   

This must change.  Systems that create and uphold racist impacts must be dismantled.  We must each do our part, individually and more importantly collectively, to dismantle exploitive and unjust laws, policies and practices.  We, of DALA, commit to doing our work to question and root out anti-Blackness both within our own individual consciousness, within the Latinx community, and anywhere that we see it manifest.  We acknowledge that we have all been infected by the virus of racism and anti-Blackness and that we must always be vigilant against the ways in which we have all internalized harmful racial attitudes, sentiments and practices. While this work is just and moral, it is also the work of cleansing and healing needed to liberate and reclaim our own humanity as we free ourselves from this yoke of internalized oppression.  

In pain and in grief, we stand in solidarity with the Black community and all our relations ready to do our part in the difficult work of systemic transformation toward a truly just and loving world, a world where Black lives will always matter and be held as precious by everyone. 

To accomplish the work of systemic transformation, the De Anza Latinx Association calls for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District to strengthen the equity commitment and direct the colleges to engage in humanizing education and anti-racism education institutionally, in curriculum and in services. Specifically we ask that the board supports De Anza College to fully fund the Umoja program including a full-time tenure-track Coordinator/Counselor position.

In Solidarity,
De Anza Latinx Association

A version of this statement was read aloud at the June 2 district Board of Trustees meeting by Veronica Acevedo Avila and Edmundo Norte on behalf of DALA. 

Foothill-De Anza Police Officers' Association 

The members of the Foothill-De  Anza College Police Officers Association have all watched in horror the video recorded murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police Officer. Seeing his fellow Minneapolis Officers stand by and watch for several minutes as George Floyd's last moments on earth are spent gasping for air is utterly unexplainable. The failure to act as a police officer is a crime in itself. To this fact, the world has witnessed the public lynching of George Floyd at the hands of 4 police officers. There are no words that can justify or explain the actions of these officers. They have been arrested and charged for this crime. Let justice be served.

Our nation is now hearing from George Floyd when you speak for him and others who have suffered a similar fate at the hands of police. As Police Officers, we are listening to your voices.

The Foothill-De Anza Police Officers Association condemns systemic racism, acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive and militarized force throughout the country and it's potential in the California Community College System.

When Chief Acosta was appointed as Chief in 2018, he reviewed our police department's use of force policy and removed the use of the carotid neck restraint, before this tragedy even occurred. Chief Acosta also had our Police Officers sit down with leaders within our Foothill-De Anza Community for principled policing training for procedural justice and implicit bias, with Dean of lntercultural/lnternational Studies Edmundo Notre, Dean of EOPS Michele LeBleu Burns, and Academic Program Coordinator for the Office of Equity and Social Justice, Tony Santa Ana.

We as Police Officers are here to serve you the Foothill De Anza Community. I have recently listened to members of this community discuss racism challenges on our campuses. I heard from a staff member who struggles to support our black student community with academic success. Her extraordinary efforts are being oppressed not by just the police but other members of our community.

She is struggling in her mission to serve the black student community by giving them support for things most of us take for granted. Our community is hurting and now is the time for our community to work together to shine a light on the ugliness of racism and find new ways to support our black student community to achieve academic and life success.

As someone who is privileged to serve you and your community for the past 25 years, please consider this. We are part of your community and we are deeply invested in the safety of this community. At any given time our police department  has one police officer on duty at each of three campuses. Our police department relies on it's campus community of Faculty, Administrators, Staff and Students whom we work with to be problem solvers and community caretakers. We are trained in mental health crisis response, de-escalation practices and conflict resolution. We are also first responders to emergencies on campus such as medical events, traffic accidents, natural disasters and the ever present threat of an active assailant attack on our community. We as officers have a passion for working in this community. We want to keep it safe for our black student community that is seeking an education  or vocational skill.  We are angered by the tragic death of George Floyd.  I would hope that we would all take the time now to  think and act on the wisdom of the ages "In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you."

The statement above was released on June 8 by Leif Nelson, president of the Foothill De Anza Community College District Police Officers' Association

De Anza College Academic Senate

The De Anza Academic Senate Executive Committee (noting that the De Anza Academic Senate includes ALL full-time and part-time De Anza faculty employed by the Foothill De Anza Community College District), publicly announces this statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the people who are part of this multiracial, multiethnic worldwide movement.

This movement addresses inequities faced by many segments of our college community, and our broader society. We also note that the BLM movement also includes activists who ARE our students.

Unquestionably, the outrageous murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 unleashed a torrent of longstanding frustrations and anger within American society, and throughout the world. The numerous unjustifiable deaths of other Black people, and other People of Color at the hands of municipal and state-funded law enforcement officers must cease.

The De Anza Academic Senate Executive Committee acknowledges the existence of social inequities that have their genesis in various forms of institutional racism. We affirm our awareness that Black and Brown and Indigenous people are also burdened with bearing the brunt of economic hardships, illnesses, and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The De Anza Academic Senate Executive Committee acknowledges the collective pain and difficulties that our students and other members of our collective college and worldwide communities are facing.

The De Anza Academic Senate Executive Committee stands in solidarity and support with our students, staff, and faculty who are suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally as a result of this social strife and upheaval that has accelerated in Spring 2020. We also stand in solidarity with our students, staff, and faculty who are activists in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Accordingly, the De Anza Academic Senate Executive Committee solidly supports the goals and objectives of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement; and with our Black Staff and Faculty Association (BFSA) and their demands for:

  1. A Full-time Tenure-track Umoja Counselor
  2. Support and visibility for our Black students/a safe physical space for our Black students
  3. An Official Black Student Union (BSU)
  4. The establishment of budgetary support for all programs directly affecting Black students
  5. Securing Dr. Joy DeGruy as an Opening Day speaker
  6. Recruitment of Black students, staff, and faculty
  7. Increased opportunity for Black staff professional growth and advancement
  8. Support and maintenance of established Black studies courses

In Solidarity,
De Anza College Academic Senate Executive Committee

The statement above was adopted unanimously by the Academic Senate on June 15. 


More Resources for Reading and Learning

TIME cover with painting of mother holding empty space in shape of a childTitus Kaphar, a De Anza alum and 2018 MacArthur fellow known for exploring issues of race and equity in art, created the painting at right for the June 15, 2020 cover of TIME magazine. He also contributed a written piece about his thoughts on being Black in America. 


Information About Previous Events

  • 2022-2023 Academic Year

  • 2021-2022 Academic Year 

  • 2020-2021 Academic Year  

  •  2019-2020 Academic Year

  • Juneteenth Information

  • Black History Month

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