Dear Campus Community,

 

The Social Science Dean’s office shares the nationwide outrage and anguish at this latest round of police violence resulting in Black death, and we stand firm with the widespread calls for justice. We are pleased that our Chancellor spoke swiftly to the entire campus, in repudiation of these killings. Our Department of Black Studies has issued its own call to conscience and action, and we pledge solidarity with them, registering their exhaustion, taking inspiration from their refusal to submit. Other Social Science departments are in the process of making their own statements, and as we receive them, we will post links to them on this website.

 

Solidarity with Black faculty, students and staff in this time of trauma, pain and anger is both essential and insufficient. As all these statements—nationally and locally—make clear, now is a time for honest dialogue, analytical clarity and most important, accountable action. Now is the time for us all to refuse all forms of white supremacy, whether blatant or subtle, and to mobilize against all forms of anti-black racism. Since such actions must always begin at home, we are at work now to support and participate in a town hall with Black faculty and students, so that we can listen, learn and plan together concrete actions that we will take.

 

We are resolved to stand with so many others in our campus community who work daily to assure that UC Santa Barbara fully embodies and practices our shared ideals of inclusion, equity, and collective self-care. The Division of Social Sciences has a crucial role to play at this moment, both for the knowledge we generate as scholars, and in our responsibilities as teachers and mentors of future generations. We cannot recommend the broken world that has been passed on to our students; but we can redouble our efforts to provide them with the analytical tools they need, to work with them in forging the critical social analysis we all need, and to follow them, as our future leaders, in our common ongoing struggles—resolute and unflinching—for intersectional justice.

 

Sincerely,

 

Office of the Dean, Division of Social Sciences College of Letters and Science

 

University of California, Santa Barbara