Teaching & Working in Troubled Times

What we want, what we need, what we have: knowing our rights in uncertain times, 4/24

About

This session will feature a panel of campus experts who will examine the theoretical, personal and legal dimensions of federal actions on immigration as they impact our campus, contextualizing them within broader work for belonging, academic freedom and social justice. We will explore what protections exist, where and how to advocate, and how to mobilize around our values. With insights from campus experts, this session will provide actionable strategies to leverage our network of resources and connections towards collective action.

Event...

Voices after the vote: Finding respite in our communities following US elections

About

This session will be an open dialogue on the ways democratic climates impact communities, relationships, our work as educators and our own lived experiences. We'll begin by sharing what’s on our minds: What’s shaping our thoughts and actions right now? How are we responding to the political landscape? Together, we'll reflect on the role of teaching and working at Berkeley and its impact on communities during times of tension, polarization, and uncertainty. We will think about the use and purpose of teaching and working in such a politically charged moment...

Difficult Knowledge, Trauma Informed Pedagogy and Safe-ish Spaces

Event Description

Violence and trauma are all around us—fatal shootings by police, sexual violence, family separations, addiction, abuse, displacement of refugees. Often, these situations give rise to individual healing journeys and collective efforts to create change. But the pain and loss embedded in them also have a damaging effect long after the events have passed.

We invite many difficult experiences into our classrooms, historically intimate and distant, often through written and visual text depicting traumatic events and experiences. At the same time, we have many students...

More Than Words: In Conversation with the Language of Racial and Social Justice-Making

About

Commitments to the work that connects diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging/justice, anti-racism, anti-Blackness, anti-white supremacy, and abolition work, are deep and rich. Each of these terms also has motivations and genealogies. During this event, there was a discussion focused on unpacking the relationships between these frameworks and how they help us better understand and situate the work and the questions that they generate. When we think about the relationships that we hope to foster with and between students, how do we use these frameworks to inform our practice...

Beyond Accommodation: Changing the Disability Frame

Event Description

Discussions of disability on college campuses often focus on how we can support and accommodate individual needs and meet compliance requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act. With this panel of and dialogue sessions, we hope to expand that important conversation. On November 18, 2019, Berkeley faculty, graduate student instructors, staff, and students were invited to think in creative and visionary ways about culture, structure, teaching and learning, and broader institutional transformation. Some key discussion questions included:

How can we as a campus...

Researching/Teaching in Troubled Times 4/30 and 5/7

As we move towards the end of thesemester, we invite you to join us for two timely conversations, one focused on research impacts during COVID-19 and one focused on teaching. Both will center issues of equity, inclusion, diversity and belonging. The programs are intended as open-ended, peer conversations
for participants to talk about their experiences, ask questions, and
share ideas and resources with colleagues from across campus. We hope
you will join us. If possible, please RSVP so...

What to Do If ICE Comes to Campus: Rights, Recommendations, and Resources

Background

The ongoing national conversation about immigration status lies across a bipartisan political landscape, but statements made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Thomas Homan indicate that enforcement will be significantly increased and specifically target California.

On February 26, 2018, in response to the increased and specifically targeted immigration enforcement in California, across the U.C. system broadly and at U.C. Berkeley specifically, procedures and recommendations were shared on best preparing to support all members of our...

Addressing Food Insecurity and Basic Needs Among UC Students: What Can Berkeley do?

Event Description:

The latest systemwide data from the UC Institutional Research & Academic Planning team at the UC Office of the President confirms that 39% of undergraduates and 23% of graduates at UC Berkeley are experiencing food Insecurity. Additionally, 5% of undergraduates and 6% of graduate students self-report experiencing homelessness at some point during the academic year.

At this event we discussed the full student experience data, learned about Berkeley's Basic Needs model, and to explored how we, as campus faculty and administrators, could help make a difference...