Realizing Racial Justice

California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) is deeply committed to academic excellence and providing access to a higher education experience grounded in inclusive excellence.  As an academic community, CSUCI recognizes the transformative power of higher education on the communities we so proudly serve and unambiguously denounces racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and hateful ideologies that diminish humanity and liberty for all.  CSUCI is committed to making the structural changes required to dismantle racism and enact anti-racist policies and structures that serve our academic community.

As our country is still recoiling from the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain, and horrifically, too many others, we find ourselves on the precipice of an opportunity for transformational change. It is profoundly saddening that it has taken a combination of generational racial violence, a global pandemic, and recent televised murders of Black individuals to get us to this time.

As an academic community, we are called upon to recognize our responsibility to meet this moment and engage in the work necessary to realize racial justice on our campus and beyond. Our values will serve as our guide for building anti-racist organizational capacity and resilience and move us forward to a more socially and racially-just campus community. 

Although some of the work is already underway (as outlined in the Racial Justice – A Commitment to Action document, which contained 17 specific action steps), we recognize the enormity of the task ahead and have adopted the 7 Point Framework for Realizing Racial Justice to serve as the high-level framework for our work moving forward.

We recognize that this work will not come easily, as genuine transformation will require sustained effort and significant change at the policy and process level.  Along the way, it is imperative that we hold ourselves accountable, as we cannot place the burden of change solely on the shoulders of those who racism, bigotry, and inequity impact so profoundly.

Moving forward, we will deepen our commitment to inclusive excellence by expanding programs and initiatives focused on eliminating the equity gap. We will remain committed to ensuring the transparency of our efforts by shifting our organizational culture to one that advances consistent, transparent and inclusive communication practices at all levels. We understand that to make meaningful progress, we must prioritize our efforts, commit resources to advancing them and deploy accountability metrics.