BRIEF: George Floyd events prompts university proclamation and discussion of change
The death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests and discussions of race and police brutality in America has not left UHCL exempt from partaking in the discussions. The university, like many others across the country, has responded in a variety of ways.
UHCL’s first response was an email from Vice President of Student Affairs Aaron Hart. In the email, Hart discussed the recent events and discussed how the national reaction is a result of the history of injustice against black people in America. He then proclaimed how the university stands against racism and any kind of discrimination.
Hart addressed how an incident has and will continue to prompt discussion about what and how the community can learn from these incidents.
“We recognize that the UHCL community is concerned about how we can learn from these incidents and support one another,” Hart said in his June 2 email. “As Hawks, it is imperative that we understand the impact of societal inequities and explore ways to approach uncomfortable conversations that extend our learning beyond the classroom.”
Hart acknowledged the mental impact the recent events could have on students and went on to list resources for students to utilize in order to get through such troubled times.
In that same email, a community dialogue hosted by the Office of Student Diversity Equity and Inclusion was announced with the intention of encouraging the university community to discuss and process recent events.
President Ira K. Blake released her own statement on June 3. In the statement, Blake sent out condolences to the family of George Floyd and addressed what the university community can do to affect meaningful change to the issues of racism in America.
“UH-Clear Lake’s Faculty will facilitate students’ continued development of critical thinking skills and honing of their ability to ask critical questions with a focus on creating an inclusive community and ultimately positively impacting larger structures of inequality,” Blake said in her email. “Moreover, the Faculty Senate will work with The Center for Faculty Development to host workshops to help train faculty to have difficult discussions around race, inequality, intolerance, prejudice, injustice, and more in the ways that these concepts intersect with their discipline or curriculum.”
The president said how the university is dedicated to the development of competent, confident, caring individuals and announced a new financial literacy course. This one-credit financial literacy course will be tuition waived and award students a one time $500 scholarship to those who complete the course.
Blake went on to say that all of higher education has a shared responsibility for taking positive actions to affect the longed-for transformation.
“I urge all leaders in higher education to maximize the transformative potential of their institutional spaces,” Blake said in the email. “Higher education can lead our nation’s way to establishing the lasting paradigm for our collective humanity. Together, we can replace the cycle of “Here we are again” with “Together, we made it happen.”
