Racial Injustices and Systemic Oppression in the Academy

June 17, 2020

The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies acknowledges the long-standing scholarly leadership and emotional labour of Indigenous, Black and other racialized scholars in the academy. For so long, these scholars have worked to challenge the racial injustices and systemic oppression that many Universities were founded on. These scholars’ invaluable work, often done at great cost to their lives and careers, has too often remained neglected and marginalized. Despite many top-ranked academic institutions’ stated commitment to change these systemic injustices, we have failed to alter the practices, policies, and structures that continue to reinforce them.

Our Institute has recently undertaken an in-depth review of its practices, policies, and governance structures to identify ways in which they can be improved. As we move forward with implementing necessary changes, we will be guided by the work of Indigenous, Black and other racialized scholars who have addressed the problems of racism and inequity within the Canadian academic context in depth, and whose scholarship has charted clear pathways towards creating a just and equitable academy that serves all human beings equally.

Kalina Christoff
Interim Director

 

Photo credit: University Archives, UBC