Advocacy

2nd Annual Campus-wide ANTIRACISM READING DAY

uhmclibrary Advocacy, EDI, Events 0 Comment

On June 30th, please join the library in taking a pause…

 

As we consider and celebrate Progressive Pride Month month and Juneteenth, the UHMC library continues to support the last day in June (June 30th) as an annual, campus-wide Antiracism Reading Day — reading for antiracism reflection, education, and action.

 

This “event” originally began as the library’s response to the May 25th, 2020 murder of George Floyd that catalyzed world-wide protests, reflection, and expressions for change. Many of our institutional leaders and colleagues at UH published solidarity statements that called for continued change to the systems of racism (read more about this in our library blog post from 6/20/20).

 

Since his killing one year ago, George Floyd has become a symbol for racial reckoning in the U.S. At Maui College, we’ve been creating spaces to discuss issues of race, power, and equity in the context of Hawaiʻi and higher education.

 

The Reading Day Recommendations from last Summer (scroll down this post to read the recommendations) continue on as viable resources. The focus of the list is institutional and systemic racism, and highlights might be our collection of “classics” (such as the ebook, Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?) and Librarian Shavonn’s Books on Anti-Racism in Hawaiʻi with focus on Kānaka. Or, visit the library to explore Progressive Pride Month display (💗 this on our Facebook and IG pages).

 

We hope you find something of interest to read from the library (or anywhere!)for tomorrow’s 2nd Annual Campus-wide Antiracism Reading Day!

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(what is the meaning of the new progressive pride flag!?)

Higher education included in President Biden’s first policy changes!

uhmclibrary Advocacy 0 Comment

Here’s an update from Meg Foster of Innovators Educators:

“This week marks the beginning of the Biden administration.  Higher education was included in President Biden’s first policy changes.  On his first day in office, President Biden extended a pause on federal student loan repayment and codified the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The executive order that barred diversity training by federal grantees and contractors was repealed.  The Biden administration also appears to have put an end to the 1776 Project: a faux-historical publication criticized by academics as a whitewash of U.S. history.”

Celebrate Constitution Day with a Spotlight on Voter Rights and Electoral Advocacy

uhmclibrary Advocacy, Events 0 Comment
For this election year’s Constitution Day (September 17), I’ve put together a library guide to help support U.S. Constitution education as well as voter rights and electoral advocacy. 
 
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I hope you’ll take a moment tomorrow (or sometime soon) to consider voter rights and the millions of Americans that have been intentionally and systematically kept out of the electoral process. 
 
These “low-propensity” voters—many of whom are people of color, younger, and from lower income brackets—face undue obstacles to voting. And now, in the midst of a global pandemic, the added health risk of voting in person makes for a devastating set of barriers to participation for these individuals.

There is hope that these people will vote at higher rates if we help make doing so more accessible for them. Please explore some of the resources on the library guide and beyond, if you are interested in this topic (and, I’m still collecting resources, if you’d like to send me additional links to share). 
~Librarian Ellen