UCSF’s Anti-Racism Initiative seeks to combat 'white fragility', build 'inclusive and diverse' library
The University of California San Francisco offers numerous resources as part of its Anti-Racism Initiative.
“Anti-racism ... disrupts the power imbalances between racialized and [white people], to shift power away from those who have been ... over-advantaged,' reads one initiative document.
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF), a “leading university dedicated exclusively to the health sciences,” offers numerous resources as part of its Anti-Racism Initiative.
”As an organization dedicated to improving health, UCSF has committed itself to dismantling structural racism and the impact of bias,” UCSF declares on the Initiative webpage.
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One resource falling under the Initiative is an “Antiracism and Race Literacy” toolkit, the introduction of which states, “As medical educators and clinicians, we are often called upon to discuss race and racism, and to address health disparities while teaching and delivering care. UCSF students and trainees engage academically, personally, and professionally with concepts such as racism and power in their coursework and training.”
“Anti-racism” is defined in the document as “the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably.”
It goes on to say that “(a)nti-racism examines and disrupts the power imbalances between racialized and non-racialized people (white people), to shift power away from those who have been historically over-advantaged and towards people of color, especially Black people.”
The concepts of “white privilege,” “race privilege,” “white fragility,” and “implicit bias” re also discussed throughout the toolkit.
UCSF offers a number of other resources as part of its Anti-Racism Initiative, including a series of webinars titled “Anti-Blackness & Its Link to Racism, Privilege, and Power,” as well as an anti-racist library guide that consists of an “overview of the anti-racist books and articles in the UCSF Library’s collections.”
”The UCSF Library is committed to building a diverse and inclusive Library as a means of promoting health equality and counteracting historic and current systems of oppression,” explains UCSF.
“Equity in Decision-Making,” “Equity in Patient Care,” “Equity in Research,” and “Diversity in Leadership” are just some of the “pillars” of the university’s Initiative.
[RELATED: 5 times universities segregated students by race]
In January, Campus Reform reported on a federal civil rights investigation against UCSF by the Department of Education for having segregated “Racial Affinity Caucusing Groups.”
The complaint noted, “[T]here are separate RACGs for (a) People Who Identify as Black/African American, (b) People Who Identify as People of Color, and (c) People Who Identify as White.”
Campus Reform has reached out to all parties mentioned in this article for comment and will update this article as necessary.
