CURTAILING INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN AN EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES DEPARTMENT

In July 2020, the Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, convened an Anti-Racism Action Committee (ARAC), with membership including 2 undergraduate and 2 graduate students, a post doctoral scholar, a staff member, the lead for a research unit, and 2 faculty members with the Chair an ex-officio member. “The ARAC is charged with proposing actions to curtail institutional racism that arises out of department structures, curriculum, and culture. The ARAC will facilitate implementing changes under the direction of the Chair of EPS.” Student and postdoc members are compensated hourly or with research funds. The ARAC is structured around intersectional feminist principles, which are embedded in committee-developed communication protocols, including a flattened power structure and a defined process for reaching consensus.

The ARAC identified 6 themes that embed institutional racism: Cultural Climate, Curriculum & Grading Practices, Mentoring, Financial Challenges, Recruiting, and Power & Harassment. Peer reviewed resources are being mapped to department-specific issues within each theme to identify institutional racism in current practices. The ARAC solicits ideas from all department members and consults with experts across campus. It is developing recommendations that describe a specific issue, document why each issue embeds racism, articulate specific changes to make, and document why the changes are expected to reduce racism. Recommendations will span topics from relatively easy to implement, e.g. modifying department events, to very difficult, e.g. revamping faculty mentoring expectations and accountability. The ARAC process and consensus recommendations may provide a model for other departments to curtail institutional racism.