Greetings Davis Joint Unified School District Leadership:
We write as University of California, Davis, anti-racist scholars who support Ethnic Studies at the State and local levels.
While Ethnic Studies shares some pedagogy and methodology with Jewish Studies, Women’s/Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Whiteness Studies, Ethnic Studies since its inception in 1968 has focused on the experiences and histories of the following core racial ethnic groups of color: Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latinx communities. Ethnic Studies Courses, with their anti-racist curriculum and their critical and intersectional approaches, have been shown to be effective at teaching students about systems of power and oppression, an important topic that extends beyond issues of racism and impacts all aspects of our lives. For students of color whose histories and experiences are often invisibilized or marginalized in mainstream curricula, Ethnic Studies provides an important opportunity for developing greater knowledge as well as self-esteem. In addition, Ethnic Studies courses facilitate and promote the cultivation of critical thinking and problem solving, civic and cultural awareness, collaboration, adaptability, and resilience through a curriculum that is centered on the perspectives of historically marginalized groups. The pedagogy embodied in Ethnic Studies is one that necessitates culturally responsive teaching and encourages students to seek pathways for their communities to break from systems of oppression and inequity. This is more urgent than ever given the climate of racism and xenophobia stoked by the Trump administration.
Given the importance and potential of Ethnic Studies to enrich the K-12 curriculum, we are deeply concerned with the anti-Ethnic Studies statements that a few UC Davis faculty have recently published in the press and have communicated to the State Department of Education. These statements are inaccurate, ignore the value of gold-standard research methods and approaches in the social sciences and are arguably racist. We are strongly disappointed that a few UCD faculty circulated anti-Ethnic Studies views in the local community and that the local “high performing” 
school district has resisted recognizing the four core racialized ethnic groups, defined historically and legally, in their DJUSD Ethnic Studies Task Force. It has derailed real efforts to implement a robust K-12 Ethnic Studies curriculum in the local schools.
As University of California, Davis, anti-racist scholars who support Ethnic Studies at the State and local levels we wholeheartedly support: first, the presence of Ethnic Studies curriculum in schools is a civil right; and second, Ethnic Studies is intrinsically anti-racist as it addresses systems of oppression, and employs critical and intersectional approaches; and third, Ethnic Studies must be taught at DJUSD.
Truthfully,
UC Davis Anti-Racist Faculty
CC: Provost; Vice Chancellor; and Chancellor
Signatures
Raquel E. Aldana, Professor of Law, UC Davis
Natalia Caporale, Assistant Professor of Teaching, UC Davis
Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Professor in Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Christian Baldini, Associate Professor of Music, UC Davis
Dawn Sumner, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Chair of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Feminist Research Institute, UC Davis
Charles Walker, Professor of History, UC Davis
Alissa Kendall, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Carole Hom, Academic Coordinator, UC Davis
Karen Zito, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, UC Davis
Elva Diaz, Professor of Pharmacology, Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program
Colleen Sweeney, Professor & Vice Chair of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine
Bruce D. Haynes, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis
Yvette G. Flores, Professor Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Eleonora Grandi, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, UC Davis
Gregory Downs, Professor of History, UC Davis
Sunaina Maira, Professor, Asian American Studies, UC Davis
Kimberly D. Nettles-Barcelón, Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and Faculty Director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (CAMPSSAH)
Karen Bales, Professor of Psychology; Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
Archana Venkatesan, Professor, Religious Studies and Comparative Literature, UC Davis
Julie Bossuyt, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Chair of Molecular Cellular & Integrative Physiology Graduate Group
Margaret Laurena Kemp, Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance, UC Davis
Juan Diego Diaz, Assistant Professor of Music, UC Davis
Stacy D. Fahrenthold, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Beenash Jafri, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies
Jonathan K London. Associate Professor, Department of Human Ecology, UC Davis
Seth L. Sanders, Professor of Religious Studies, UC Davis
Lynna Dhanani, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, UC Davis
Ofelia Ortiz Cuevas, Assistant Professor Chicana/o Studies, Director of Beyond the Barriers, UC Davis Initiative
Baki Tezcan, Professor of History
Kalindi Vora, Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies and Director of the Feminist Research Institute
Jann Murray-García, MD, MPH – Associate Health Sciences Clinical Professor, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and Director of Social Justice and Immersive Learning in the Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at UC Davis Health
Kimberlee Shauman, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis
Denneal Jamison-McClung, Director, Biotechnology Program, UC Davis
Aldrin V. Gomes, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, UC Davis
Anne E. Todgham, Associate Professor of Animal Science, UC Davis
José Juan Pérez Meléndez, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Marian E. Schlotterbeck, Associate Professor of History, UC Davis
Lorena V. Márquez, Assistant Professor, Department of Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Linda F. Bisson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
Mariel Vázquez, Professor of Mathematics and of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science
Theanne Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology & Membrane Biology, UC Davis
Jeanette B. Ruiz, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Communication, UC Davis
Fernanda Valdovinos, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis
Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, Professor Emerita of Nursing, UC Davis Health
Titus Brown, Associate Professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Gina Dokko, Professor, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Justin Leroy, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Darnel Degand, Assistant Professor, School of Education
Cecilia M. Tsu, Associate Professor of History, UC Davis
Annaliese Franz, Professor, Department of Chemistry, UC Davis
Shennan Hutton, Continuing Lecturer in Classics, UC Davis
Elizabeth Montaño, Associate Professor of Teaching, UC Davis School of Education
Danny C. Martinez, Associate Professor, UC Davis School of Education
Sally McKee, Professor, Dept of History, UC Davis
Michael Saler, Professor of History, UC Davis
Michael Rios, Professor, Department of Human Ecology
Michal Kurlaender, Professor, School of Education, UC Davis
Corrie Decker, Associate Professor, History, UC Davis
Ian Campbell, Associate Professor, History, UC Davis
Omnia El Shakry, Professor, History, UC Davis
Jonathan A. Eisen, Professor, Dept. of Evolution and Ecology, Dept. of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis
Kyaw Tha Paw U, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dept. of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis
Benjamin D. Weber, Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies, UC Davis
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Whiteness studies?
Do you ever use Google?
The rise and fall of whiteness studies (link).
Is ‘white’ a color or is it a lack of color?
Is that a question or an attempt to incite?
Why would that incite you? Please explain.
“clear” is a lack of color.
Beware Clear People 😐
(also known as “People of the Translucent Persuasion”)
As I recall, there is a dichotomy between “light”, and “color”… to put it in black and white terms…
‘white’ is the full spectrum, as to light…
‘black’ is the full specturm, as to color/pigment…
Two pretty “catty” responses, in meow humble opinion…
Another catty response, from my cat, is a long bloody scratch down the arm. DG’s response seems on that level.
To answer DG’s question in the literal, yes I use Google.
To respond more specifically, no I did not use Google to look up “Whiteness Studies”.
So let me tell you, since it was not obvious to you (I could ask, “don’t you ever think about what people are really saying?”):
In every, and I mean EVERY, time that I see the word “Whiteness” used, it is used as a put down, as an insult, as a derision of, so-called white people. Show me an example of “whiteness” used in a complimentary fashion, or even neutral.
Therefore it is a pejorative – and by the Vanguard’s own rules, cannot be permitted.
Tell me I am wrong (I’m sure you will) . . .
IF you look at the definition of whiteness, I don’t think you are wrong. It is largely a study of white supremacy.
Well, here is part of the required curriculum for getting a degree in “whiteness studies”… (cite requires a subscription, so I don’t offer)…
Undergrad:
Wonder Bread 10 [some brown along the edges, but easily trimmed off… (food science)]
Dover Cliffs 20 (geology)
Upper division:
Anglo-Saxons 105 (history)
All Whites are Inherently Racist 147 (comparative lit)
All Whites Should be Taxed @ 95%, and all Money Given to Those who Aren’t 171 (econ)
Currently, there are no courses @ the graduate/post-graduate level… but they are working on it…
I don’t know what views they are describing as they write this letter, because we aren’t given any reference to the specific “statements that a few UC Davis faculty have recently published in the press and have communicated to the State Department of Education.”
As we read these letters on behalf of a particular version of ethnic studies, I feel that we’re seeing one particular side of an ongoing turf war on this topic. The same thing is described in Eric Gelber’s recent review of AB 1460 regarding ethnic studies in CSU, as well as in the discussion around Governor Newsom’s veto of an ethnic studies bill last year.
The CSU Chancellor’s proposal
The core issue seems to be which ethnic groups will be included, and which will be excluded, from mandated ethnic studies programs. In effect, it’s a fight about who controls the message and what that message should be.
True story, that… wouldn’t surprise me at all if ‘religions’ and/or ‘spirituality’ are brought into the mix… we’ll see…
Borders on Ron G’s 9:20 post as well… some ‘semites’ are considered white, but as many are Jewish, Moslem, Christian, Druze, there could well be some ‘fuzziness’… we’ll see…
The core issue for me is if it still includes Anti-Semitic tropes or if they have been removed in revised drafts.
Are there links to those?
I remember (not so long-ago) when the term “melting pot” was in vogue.
Now, it’s focusing on “diversity” – which seems to emphasize differences, rather than similarities.
Not sure which of those is “better”, or if both concepts are just made-up political constructs. (I’m thinking that this third view is the most accurate one.)
Notice that diversity doesn’t actually appear in the letter.
Now the term of art: anti-racism.
“Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably.”
The melting pot metaphor emphasized assimilation and conforming to the dominant “American” culture. It meant giving up one’s cultural values, language, uniqueness in order to fit in. The concept of diversity, or cultural pluralism, respects cultural differences. It views society as a whole, being made up of people with diverse values and traditions.
What is the dominant “American” culture, anyway?
Hot dogs, apple pie, capitalism?
And, who is the committee which decides whether or not one “fits in”? Is this spelled-out somewhere in the bylaws?
Any course in Western Civilization from the last century pretty much covers it.
Not sure that those (I assume you mean U.S. history courses) are focused on culture, nor do they ignore the negative parts of U.S. history.
“Culture” (as Eric defined it) might include languages left behind in European countries. Or, tea at 4:00. Or, reverence for royalty. Or Octoberfest and lederhosen.
Or, the impacts of the potato famine, or Roman history/culture.
Or for that matter, Japanese Imperialism (which “clashed” with so-called American values/interests), Spanish conquest, the impacts of Missions in California, etc.
Seems to me that China is now adopting “Western” culture, in the form of capitalism.
Some still claim that Jewish people are part of the “successful” culture in this country (e.g., Hollywood). Some people say that Jewish people are predominantly “white”, anyway.
Some might note that Asians are pretty-well integrated into the “culture”, and that Hispanics increasingly are as well. Some might say that there’s always been the latter influence, in California.
(Probably my 5th comment.)
No, I meant Western Civilization. That is not the same as U.S. history.
Example: https://www.edx.org/learn/western-civilization
Western Civ was a required subject at most universities until the 1960s, then at most liberal arts colleges into the 1980’s.
We were still taught Western Civ in HS in the 80s, possibly College in the early 90s.
Yeah.
Reminds me of George W’s pronouncement (under a different context), “you’re either with us, or again’t us”. (Something like that. Thought you might appreciate the “old West” pronunciation.)
I wonder what’s coming next, regarding this (and other, related terminologies). Is there some kind of an approval committee? (Probably no white people allowed on there, regardless. Otherwise, we might not even be using the term “white”, anymore.)
Oh, well – better keep up, otherwise at your own social risk for failing to do so.
“Science”.