An open letter to Dr. Cathann Kress (Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences) and Dr. Jeff Sharp (Director of the School of Environment and Natural
Resources), on behalf of the Environment and Natural Resources Graduate Program student body:

The Environment and Natural Resources Graduate Program student body is disturbed by the lack of action taken by administration and faculty in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, as well as the School of Environment and Natural Resources, specifically, to address the systemic barriers to success in our academic settings for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. The College and School have failed time and again to foster an environment that facilitates the personal and academic success of BIPOC students. Moreover, faculty, staff, and fellow students (including some of those signed) continually exhibit complicity in the racist structures of OSU, CFAES, and SENR’s academic environments, in the form of both personal microaggressions and engagement with racist institutional systems. Immediate action must be taken at the School and College levels to curtail this violence.

We echo the concerns expressed by SENR undergraduates in their recent letter to College and School administrators, and we note that Dean Kress’s response did not address many of these concerns directly. 𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. We also put forth our own set of demands to address how our academic leadership will prioritize the needs of graduate students of color - one of the most marginalized communities in the College - particularly at a time when their physical, mental, and emotional health are heavily jeopardized.

The past few weeks have shown that our leadership is not well equipped to address these concerns. The SENR Diversity, Inclusion, Justice, and Equity Task Force, established nearly two  years ago, neglected to make any statement regarding the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, or Tony McDade without explicit pressure being placed on them by graduate students.  After this statement was made, many SENR graduate students were surprised to learn of the existence of a DIJE Task Force in the School, not having previously heard of the Task Force or any specific actions it has taken to dismantle structures that enable violence against marginalized students since its inception. The students voiced their concerns, yet some signatories of the DIJE statement have remained silent and neglected to respond. In their recent letter, SENR undergraduates demanded mandated reporting of faculty’s “efforts to advance diversity and inclusion in their teaching, service, and research”; this transparency was obviously lacking in the case of SENR’s DIJE Task Force, an irresponsible and unacceptable choice that caused harm to students.

We believe that this work should not be in the hands of a task force of volunteer faculty (particularly white faculty), especially given the lack of direct action and transparency displayed thus far. The onus of guiding faculty and administration through the steps of change should also not be on full-time graduate students of color who are not compensated for this work, have not seen their concerns addressed over the course of years, and exist and work in a power structure that suppresses their ability to communicate honestly with faculty and administrators.

𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨:
    𝟏) 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬
         𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦,
    𝟐) 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐲, 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝
    𝟑) 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰,
         𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬.

𝐖𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Issues that we demand be addressed by such a process include but are not limited to (in no particular order):
    1) The ongoing toxicity of academic spaces for BIPOC graduate students, with particular attention to
         intersecting queer identities;
    2) The absence of an anonymous and effective grievance process for students to report instances,
         patterns, and systems of violence, including those enacted by their academic advisors, and to have
         them appropriately addressed;
    3) The absence of School policies that include personal and collective antiracist work as required
        departmental service and criteria for tenure;
    4) The absence of required cultural competency training for faculty and staff;
    5) An overwhelming lack of faculty of color, who are critical to student development and success in the
         form of mentor/mentee relationships and network building of BIPOC graduate students;
    6) A lack of mental health or support staff of color (e.g., embedded counselor, graduate student
        support group lead);
    7) A lack of Black psychology and sociology courses focused in the School’s disciplinary areas, as well
        as faculty equipped to teach these courses;
    8) A lack of courses focused in the School’s disciplinary areas which center Indigenous knowledge in
        environmental issues or Indigenous history;
    9) A dearth of money, staff, time, and accountability measures invested in the support of
        BIPOC students;
    10) A lack of accountability for white faculty, administrators, and graduate students to engage with
        antiracist literature, conversation, and action in academic and personal spaces; and
    11) A lack of independent oversight on the actions School faculty and administrators take to address
          the toxicity of academic spaces for marginalized students.

Meaningful structural change moves beyond the existence of a DIJE Task Force towards lasting, continuously improving efforts to combat racism. We ask that you consider these demands carefully and respond with a plan to address each of them within 1 week. In particular, we ask for a written commitment to comply with demands from both Dean Kress and Director Sharp.


Click link below to view the full letter and signatures already acquired  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1X3sDGZbXhGR85lguWyXO_FE2YzkwzOcwSrojGQ8CU/edit?usp=sharing