Catching Up with Kathy
As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion would like to share a video of the powerful and instructive words of Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh and Vice Chairwoman Monica Arellano of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Their words were shared with our campus and local communities at the opening keynote address of Vice Chairwoman Arellano gives a detailed context to understand our presence on the ancestral lands of the Muwekma Ohlone, land on which our institution and the city of San Jose occupy, an important background for the land acknowledgment many of us use on our campus at events. Chairwoman Nijmeh gives a powerful detailed accounting of the specific steps and history of the disenfranchisement of the Muwekma Ohlone peoples, as well as the strength and presence of their community today. Their leadership reminds us of how much further we have to go, and that the land acknowledgment given to us by their tribe to share at our campus events is a very small step on our part. The keynote speaker, Dr. Andrew Jolivette, also shares the importance of building relationships between institutions such as 91ÁÔÆæ with its local indigenous communities in ways that do not mirror historical abuse. I urge you to watch this video. We also want to acknowledge one of our several Employee Affinity Groups, GAIN, Gathering of Academic Indigenous and Native Americans and the work that they are doing to build community, promote visibility, and provide support for 91ÁÔÆæ’s Indigenous and Native American faculty and staff through campus activities and initiatives. Lastly, we look forward to the future establishment of a Native American and Indigenous center to support students and community.
On a final note, the of the Campus Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CCDEI) was submitted over the summer, accepted by the President and released. This is the first report produced by the inaugural CCDEI. The chairs of the CCDEI and the staff of ODEI are putting together rubrics and a soon-to-be launched dashboard to monitor progress on the priority recommendations in the report. The CCDEI continues its work on developing recommendations this academic year.
