CSUN Faculty Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

(Approved by the Senate Executive Committee, June 11, 2020)

The California State University, Northridge Faculty stands in solidarity with our Black students, faculty and staff, in denouncing the violence perpetrated against Black people by those entrusted to "Protect and Serve." The death of George Floyd at the hands of the four Minnesota policemen was an egregious example of the systemic racism and discrimination embedded in all institutions in the United States. The death of George Floyd is only one in a long list of deaths of innocent black people leading us to this moment in history. CSUN stands united against all forms of oppression, exploitation and exclusion of communities that have been marginalized throughout history.

The murder of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of law enforcement is but a glimpse of the widespread and systemic racism which we, as educators, are called to address wherever we can. 

Therefore, the CSUN Faculty demands

(1) that CSUN create an aggressive and sustainable action plan with periodic public reporting requirements to recruit Black students and establish programs to support them once enrolled; and

(2) that Ethnic Studies be made a graduation requirement for CSUN students; and

(3) that the budget of CSUN Police Services be reduced and funds reallocated to programs which directly support the welfare and achievement of Black students, including a Black Student Resource Center; and 

(4) that the CSUN police operating procedures for handling student protests be revised by a commission comprising students of color, faculty from Ethnic Studies departments, and police leadership; and 

(5) that CSUN set and periodically report on targets for hiring tenure-track faculty of color and establish the expectation that the faculty hired by a college in an academic year shall  increase the diversity of the college; and

(6) that the CSUN Foundation create a legal support program for students to honor Quentin Thomas; and 

(7) that CSUN provide resources and professional development for faculty in anti-racist pedagogy and instructional strategies;

and, furthermore, we strongly urge:

(8) that all faculty, wherever possible, infuse the lived experiences of those harmed by racism and other forms of systematic discrimination into their teaching; and

(9) that all faculty hold conversations about race with their students and use their feedback to update their teaching.

Furthermore, the CSUN Faculty Senate Executive Committee will constitute a task force to draft and present to the Faculty Senate a resolution addressed to the Governor of California requesting the records of students involved in uprisings that led to the formation of Ethnic Studies be expunged.