The Post

At a recent virtual teach-in on the Black Lives Matter and Racial Justice movement, the faculty of Political Science, International Studies, and Pre-Law introduced the following statement that was unanimously adopted by the department and programs.  We invite other departments to sign onto this statement, or to develop similar statements that renounce racism and recognize the importance of our role in this movement.

June 15, 2020

As Niagara University faculty in Political Science, International Studies, and Pre-Law:

• We affirm that Black and Brown lives matter and that silence is not an option.
• We recognize that institutions of higher education have contributed to systemic racism and have systematically devalued Black and Brown lives.
• We know that curricula have privileged whiteness as a starting point for understanding the world, and we reject this status quo.
• We believe that our teaching must seek to identify, examine, and expose racism and racial oppression—and all forms of discrimination and oppression on the basis of race, sex, tribal membership or indigenous status, LGBTQ status, national origin, immigration status, or disability, among others.  We believe that our curricula need to reflect the realities of our students, our communities, and our world.
• We resolve, as a department, to strive for equality—culturally, socially, linguistically, academically, and professionally—in all hiring, teaching, writing, research, and work spaces for students, staff, and faculty.
• We commit to educating ourselves and others about bias—explicit and implicit—and to combatting bias, discrimination, and oppression of all kinds.
• We commit to supporting students, staff, administrators, and fellow faculty against racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression and injustice.