OUR RESPONSE TO SCAD
To President Wallace and Board Members,
After receiving your email update on 6/11/2020 on “SCAD actions to create positive change”, we are optimistic with some of your proposals for the future. However, since SCAD has put forward that they will be open to listening and discussing how to better improve the establishment, it is in the students best interest to have a platform and an organization to respond thoroughly and openly. Furthermore, since SCAD has shown no interest in creating a student government, the student body, all on our own, has had to uplift each other and unite together to make our voices louder. Every statement of this letter is made with the deep passion, courage, ambition, and urgency of our community. We hope you hear us and take note of every word.
First, to address the email’s 6 points presented:
“Added 15 endowed scholarships for Black students, to be applied for and administered through the SCAD office of student financial services”
15 scholarships are not nearly enough for the 12,000 and counting students that attend your campuses, not to mention those taking online courses nationally and internationally. Additionally, we made a very clear point that there should be scholarships allocated to alumni and Savannah/Atlanta locals.
“Increased scholarships for under-resourced students to attend SCAD summer programs, by matching funds of any donation to this initiative, which began in 2019,”
This is a good start but we must give a strong reminder that there must be scholarships for more than just students attending summer seminars and programs.
“Created a SCAD office of inclusivity and will hire an inclusivity director to lead the recruitment and retention of Black students, professors, and staff members, and to serve as an advocate for members of the SCAD community through continuous engagement and surveys on inclusivity.”
There cannot be the presumption that creating another office that deals with these issues will fix the greater problem that is woven in all departments and offices within the school. There should be representation from the top down; that includes having black/brown board members as well.
What real power does the “office of inclusivity” have? What will be the punishment when racially charged incidents happen? How will first time offenders be reprimanded or punished? How will their decisions be oversighted and checked? Will the office members be involved in board meetings with our President and the board members? When there's an issue brought forward, who does the office go through to carry out the proper steps? Who gets the final say over a reported incident and over the office? How many personnel will be working in this office? What are their roles and responsibilities?
“Develop and require professional development for all faculty and staff members to address unconscious bias and learn effective strategies to engage diverse perspectives”
Who is carrying out this training; are they a trusted expert and third party? What will be included in those lessons? How often will this training occur? How will SCAD instill that the work towards anti-racism within their establishment must be a daily practice; not learned once or twice a year for a few hours? What will SCAD do to create goals rather than just ‘inclusivity’ (these issues are far too complex to be tackled in a few training sessions)? What outcomes should SCAD strive for beyond just ‘inclusivity’? How and who is holding the university accountable for what they are promising to fulfill? How and who will hold the university accountable when racial incidents occur?
We demand this training include workers from ALL levels, not just professors and staff but our president, the board, and administrators especially.
“Create content for the required "First Year Experience" course to address topics relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement;”
Racism goes beyond just the Black Lives Matter movement. Although there are college courses that delve into the BLM movement and its history, this is not a fad nor a trend. Additionally, the complexity of these issues can not be properly summed up in the ‘first year experience’. These freshman classes are normally formatted for students to be sitting and listening for long periods of time. The subjects chosen for this course should be selected and taught with care and should include Atlanta and Savannah history lessons as well as provide physical opportunities of engagement; like visiting the Savannah African Art Museum.
“Assess and ensure fair representation of artists of color in the curriculum and exhibitions, with recommendations from a diverse team of SCAD professors and students.”
Similarly to #5, race and culture are complex. There have been issues in the past of courses not accommodating diversity within the classroom; for example, not teaching how to paint, light, and film black/brown skin. There must be more creative, tangible, and experience-oriented ways of learning when it comes to these topics. Including independent studies, guest speakers of color, and field trips to historically black museums and monuments.
Some topics that are vital to our learning experience are:
cultural appropriation,
gentrification,
anti-blackness and white supremacy,
black/brown art history,
how social movements lead to expansion of art,
black cinema/television,
black/brown fashion,
how race and culture inform art,
african-american history,
black/brown literature,
cultural politics,
intersectional women’s studies,
intersectional queer studies,
black/brown theatre
And more!!!
Here are a few important questions we should all be asking:
Why has SCAD refused the formation of a student government so students complaints and concerns can be heard beyond just social media?
What benefits will be allotted to alumni, especially alumni of color? What is being offered for black alumni to become professors, mentors, and staff for the school? How will SCAD implement a mentoring program for alumni and current SCAD students?
How is SCAD supporting students of color who will be entering a career or environment that many times will deny or “defer” their dreams and passions?
How is SCAD going to be “inclusive” beyond just hiring faculty and accepting students of color? What will SCAD do to embrace, encourage, empower, and support those members of the community?
How will SCAD form relationships with black owned businesses, donors, companies, and shareholders? SCAD receives many sponsors and donors, thus, how is SCAD going to ensure they align themselves with organizations that share the community's values? (i.e. companies and individuals who don’t contribute to racial injustice/inequality.)
How will SCAD establish on campus/virtual therapy and counseling for people of color with licensed professionals of color; specifically for black students and staff?
What will SCAD do to support the Black Student Association (BSA)?
In order to treat a disease, the illness must be acknowledged first. SCAD cannot move forward without direct, honest, and earnest acknowledgement and transparency of its own responsibility and faults in perpetuating institutional racism and the negative effects those actions or inactions have on the wider SCAD and Savannah/Atlanta communities. SCAD has still not acknowledged or formally apologized for their role in the racial oppression of its students, alumni, faculty, and staff. SCAD also has not acknowledged the cover ups of sexual misconduct and racial injustice that have been silenced for over many years at the school.
We demand:
Acknowledgement of SCAD’s role in the negative effects its actions, or inactions, have caused its black/brown students, alumni, faculty, and staff as well as acknowledgement of its continued oppressive behavior within the SCAD community and the cities of Savannah and Atlanta. (This includes SCAD’s silence over the case of Matthew Ajibade.)
A formal apology to the SCAD community and the cities of Atlanta and Savannah for these offenses and their role in gentrification of these local communities. We also demand a formal apology for SCAD’s role in cover ups of sexual assaults and racial inequality with a pledge and action to back up these words.
Acknowledgement of their role in gentrification and do what is within their power to stop it; this includes paying property taxes in the state of Georgia. (Due to SCAD’s title as a “non-profit”, they do not pay property taxes, thus, the money they acquire from their 92 buildings and counting DO NOT go back into the community which covers costs of: K-12 schools, residential housing, infrastructure, hospitals, and more.)
This means giving back to the community.
Donation of SCAD’s massive revenue towards associations and/or other local organizations with additional aid to programs and opportunities that assist black/brown communities, alumni, students, and staff.
This means giving back to the community.
Outreach programs to local Atlanta and Savannah middle and high schools to boast art and creatively within the region without the manipulative promotion of the school.
This means giving back to the community.
MORE scholarship opportunities for black/brown alumni, undergraduates and graduates.
This means giving back to the community.
Utilizing SCAD’s massive platform to give prominence and support to black/brown artists and artists of color in general whether on the local level, national, or international.
This means giving back to the community.
SCAD should have periodic open ‘town hall meetings’ with its faculty, staff, student body, alumni, and the Savannah/Atlanta residents. This will ensure concerns and open communication is transferred directly between the people in charge and the community as a whole; which is beneficial in keeping transparency.
This means giving back to the community.
We are tired of demanding and organizing for basic decency, transparency, and respect from an institution that boasts inclusivity, diversity, and making their students their priority. How can a school that advertises these promises and has a history of secrecy and silence be trusted in the future with issues as important as black/brown lives? The solution is to acknowledge/apologize, listen, learn, and act. That especially means listening when students have complaints, listening when students bring forward concerns and ideas, listening when entire cities speak out against the erasure of their environments, listening when it is not just mutually beneficial to SCAD’s own interests.
It has been said before that SCAD has a lot of promise and as a young contemporary school it has the power to change and modernize its policies, procedures, and institution. However, when a school falsely advertises inclusion, when a school silences victims of hate crimes and sexual misconduct, when a school gentrifies historically black cities without reparations, when a school refuses to form a student government to help their ‘bees’ have a voice and a safe space, when a school’s president is the wealthiest in the country, when the school is considered a non-profit but charges a tuition that is (29%) more expensive that the national average for a 4 year private non-profit (127% higher than the average Georgia tuition), when a school does not do its the job in giving artists a place where they can thrive, it is those students responsibility to hold that institution accountable and demand change for what we pay for; whether in time, energy, and/or money.
Sincerely,
BLMBees