#decolonizeuchicago

“Transformative justice asks you to yes, concentrate on the interpersonal, but also change the structures [that are oppressive]” ~ Mariame Kaba, Chicago freedom fighter

To the SSA community:

We write as concerned students who observe that the culture at SSA - whether intentionally or not - has shamed folks for nourishing themselves with other people’s food. We invite the SSA community – students, faculty, administrators, and staff – to use a transformative justice (TJ) framework in addressing this issue and put to work our social work values of dignity and worth of the person, the importance of relationships, service, and social justice. TJ is a practice and philosophy of responding to conflicts beyond the criminalization. It is based on the idea that, rather than punish those who have done harm, we work to address and heal from harms committed, and to transform the systemic conditions that perpetuate violence and harm in the first place.

In practice, this would mean that as a community we make the effort to provide food we can share with others. We know students in our community have already initiated this by putting “Free” notes on food in the fridge. We commend our peers for putting into practice our social work values. The Elephant Steering Committee is hoping to collaborate with our new SSA Student Government on creating a Communal Food area at SSA where we – the entire SSA community – can put non-perishable food items for anyone – UChicago affiliated or not – to eat and sustain themselves. If you’re interested in becoming part of this student-led initiative, please email us at [email protected]

Second, we call the SSA administration to make it easier for students to apply for LINK. In the fall of 2015 an Elephant Steering Committee member asked Joe Edwards to provide incoming students with information on how to apply for LINK during orientation week. However, our administration can do more. The next step the Dean of Students office can take is to bring caseworkers to SSA in order for students to apply for LINK benefits. In the meantime, if you are in need of assistance in paying for food, click here for the SNAP application, or email Peter Fritch at [email protected] if you have questions about applying. (We strongly encourage you to explore the eligibility requirements for SNAP benefits. NOTE: If you are currently receiving state or federal work-study, if you are a single parent, or if you are 50 or over, you automatically qualify and can get up to $190 per month.)

Lastly, we challenge the SSA community to consider the following: How can we collectively address this recent issue in restorative and systemically transformative ways? Can we address the violence targeted students and Chicago communities experience daily with as much fervor as we address concern over missing food? We hope our community strives to embody social work values within our own walls of learning just as much as we strive to do so outside of these walls.

This link leads to Guterman’s timeline of action, which was uploaded to the SSA student website (myssa.uchicago.edu) in January. Although this document has not yet been distributed to the student body via email, we are providing the link for the sake of transparency.

This link leads to the first quarterly meeting with Dean Neil Guterman. The first half of the meeting, the representatives presented their agenda items. The last agenda item was an update from Guterman. 

Silenced Students’ Reflections on the Second Community Forum

To the SSA Community,

At the second community forum we taped our mouths shut and sat at the center of the room wearing all black. We were comprised of nine Black and of color students. We did this to call attention to the ways in which our voices have been silenced and labeled as aggressive, impatient, and disrespectful. We did this to highlight the disparity in the way that white voices are valued and ours are not. We did this, because this was the only way we could get people to “listen.”

During the forum, several traumatic acts of violence against Black and of color students occurred that exemplified the reasons why we began organizing to transform SSA. We write to share with you what we could not share with you then. We write to share the grief and righteous anger about the forum’s events. We write - taking the time from our academic duties during finals week - to urge you all to truly listen to student suffering, internalize it, and to use it to transform yourselves and this institution with us.

First, the shaming of student efforts for transparency through recording the forums was belittling and functioned as a means to divert attention from the issues at SSA, in order to frame student action as the problem. It suggested student leaders were irresponsibly silencing and harming vulnerable folks in our community - such as survivors of stalking or domestic violence, undocumented students, or folks transitioning - through public videos of the forum. This opening statement served as a manipulative tactic to devalue our movement and shift attention away from those in power who are allowed to inflict and dismiss student pain without accountability. It was dishonest  to frame the current climate at SSA as, at all, the fault of students. We are largely the dependent variables until we put ourselves at risk by deciding not just passively accept what’s happening. For instance, right now we have to defend our actions to record the forums. We were mindful of the risks and thus placed posters advising folks to let us know if they would not like to be on camera, no questions asked. Instead of highlighting intentional efforts, the forum began by creating a hostile environment to student leaders. Student organizers should not be blamed for helping to alleviate the distrust created and fostered by the SSA administration.

Second, what does it mean when a white adjunct professor blatantly attacks a student of color for speaking her truth and challenging Guterman’s privileged identities? That act of violence both implicitly and explicitly aimed to further silence targeted populations at SSA. Not once did a white administrator or professor publicly hold this professor accountable. Not once did a white person publicly humiliate one of the numerous white students who interrupted and challenged Guterman. Not once were white students accused of “microagressing” Guterman. While white students stepped in when the aforementioned white adjunct professor aggressed the student of color, this is not representative of how the majority of white students at SSA react when targeted students are violated at this institution. Let us not forget that it was not until a professor of color directly pointed out that Black and of color students taped our mouths shut, unable to verbally contribute to the forum and using our white peers to speak for us, that we were finally acknowledged. This moment also revealed that many students and faculty in solidarity with us did not know how to support us at the forum - whether they wanted to or not - based on not having the skills or know how to do so. In the end, the same students, the ones with tapes across our mouths, are harmed.   

Third, what does it mean when a professor of color suggested that we should be “appreciative” of the opportunity to speak? We understood this professor wanted to remind people that folks in countries from around the world are not often able to voice their truths without persecution. However, Black and of color folks in the U.S. – such as in Chicago and at UChicago, – still face state-sanctioned repression when demanding justice and freedom. Furthermore, these forums were made possible in the first place because targeted students demanded them. Therefore, no, students should not simply be “grateful” for being allowed to speak at SSA. Justice does not end at being allowed to speak. We have all been told at SSA that we grow through discomfort, so nobody grows by “ending on a positive note.” Even though this professor’s comments were well-intentioned, it nonetheless devalued the actions of students expressing and attempting to heal unacknowledged pain.

Lastly, we are very well aware that communities of color at SSA are made up of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, and intersecting target identities. With the current climate at SSA, it is essential these groups are not self-divided into smaller factions. The reality is that each community has its own unique narratives and struggles due to the same oppressive regimes that dehumanize us. However, it is vital that we, as students with various intersecting target and racial identities, accept that our liberation depends on Black liberation. It is crucial for our targeted communities to recognize that the U.S. and all communities of color thrive and benefit from anti-Blackness. Ignoring this reality impedes the process of radical transformation and liberation that we - as leaders, social workers, and agents of systemic change - are working to achieve, especially at SSA.

The forum was a replica of the daily traumatic and institutionally-sanctioned aggressions, isolation, and dehumanization Black, of color, and further minoritized students endure at SSA. We left the forum without knowledge of what our administration and professors are doing to understand their own privilege identities, to deepen their critical self-reflection. We left having our suffering and intentional actions gaslighted. We left feeling ashamed of the school that is supposed to teach us how to value and practice social justice and human rights. We write not to seek apologies. Instead, we write to help heal from the pain we endured; to hold our school and leadership accountable and to provide us with the social justice education we deserve; and to compel the privileged members of SSA to truly listen, critically reflect on the suffering inflicted upon minoritized people for over five centuries, and transform along with this institution.

Resiliently,

Representatives from The Elephant, BSA, and LSA agreed to meet with Dean Guterman, on Thursday, December 3. We have requested an agenda for the meeting by Monday, December 1st. Below is the e-mail that was sent on Wednesday, November 23 at 10:16 am. 

Dear Dean Guterman, 

The Elephant, LSA, and BSA leadership is available to meet on Thursday, December 3rd between 12:30-1:30pm. This was the only time period we were able to find that leadership from each organization was available.

Additionally, we would like to request an agenda by the end of the business day on Monday, November 30th.

I have also Cc-ed Elephant leadership that were not included on the original e-mail.

We look forward to hearing from you.