The MUNFA Executive are aware of a video circulating on social media of an instructor at Memorial University expressing an anti-Black racist epithet and wish to offer the following statement.
MUNFA condemns anti-Black racism and white supremacy. MUNFA is committed to working with Black faculty, staff, students, and community members to dismantle racist structures within academia. While we understand there is much work to be done to achieve this goal, we believe that by listening to, and working with, Black communities, post-secondary institutions can foster spaces which challenge anti-Black racism and white supremacy.
In the coming months, MUNFA looks forward to continuing this important work as we establish and support a Caucus for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour academic staff.
MUNFA Executive understands that conversations about the intersections of anti-Black racism and white supremacy, and academic freedom are ongoing within our Memorial University community. That such conversations are happening is a good thing. We encourage academic staff, particularly non-Black persons, to do research to better understand these issues. For those looking for places to start, we offer this brief list of suggestions:
- AORTA Collective. “Continuum on Becoming a Transformative Anti-Oppression Organization”. https://aorta.coop/continuum
- Barber, Paul H., Tyrone B. Hanes, Tracy L. Johnson, and Leticia Máquez-Manaña. 2020. “Systemic Racism in Higher Education.” Science 369 (6510): 1440–41.
- Delatolla, Andrew, Momin Rahman, Dibyesh Anand, Mary Caesar, Toni Haastrup, Nassef Manabilang Adiong, Swati Parashar, and Jeremy Youde. 2021. “Challenging Institutional Racism in International Relations and Our Profession: Reflections, Experiences, and Strategies.” Millennium 50 (1): 110–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298211059357.
- Kennedy, Randall. 2019. “How a Dispute Over the N-Word Became a Dispiriting Farce. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-a-dispute-over-the-n-word-became-a-dispiriting-farce/
- Young, Vershawn Ashanti. 2020 “Commentary / Banning the N-Word on Campus Ain’t the Answer—It Censors Black Professors like Me | CAUT.” https://www.caut.ca/bulletin/2020/10/commentary-banning-n-word-campus-aint-answer-it-censors-black-professors-me
- University of Ottawa. 2021. “Committee on Academic Freedom.” https://www.uottawa.ca/en/committee-academic-freedom.
