Volume 1, Issue 2: July 2, 2020
R.I.S.E.* Up Newsletter
*R einforcing I nclusion through S kill-building and E ducation
Many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July with mixed feelings this weekend. While we celebrate our nation's stated principles that proclaim "liberty and justice for all," we also recognize that there are many people in the United States of America whose experience as Americans is still neither that of liberty nor justice.

On Independence Day in 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a public address in which he demanded of his audience, "What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. ... your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to [God], mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."

While our nation has made significant progress towards human rights and equality since Douglass' denunciation of slavery's savagery on July 4, 1852, the events of 2020 have cast a bright light on the work our nation has yet to do to achieve true equality and respect for human dignity. Let us embrace this year's Fourth of July, therefore, as an opportunity to continue shining that light so that Frederick Douglass' prediction will at last be true: "No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light."

Upcoming Events:

Community Book Read

Join President Michael Johnson and the entire university community for our campus-wide summer book read of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh, Ph.D. Open to all incoming and returning students, part-time and full-time faculty, staff, and alumnx.
silhouette image of a group of 7 people in a line with multicolored speech bubbles above their heads
Affinity Spaces

Aspiring Anti-Racist Allies Affinity Space is a space for discussion and self-education about racism and allyship with Black and POC communities.

Black, Indigenous & People of Color Affinity Space is a space for discussion, encouragement and mutual support.

The next gathering of both affinity spaces will be held on Friday, July 10 from 3:00-4:30 pm on Zoom. Open to faculty, staff, students and alumnx.
News from the Division
CSDI News

TONIGHT -- Thursday, July 2, 2020
8:00 PM ET

The Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion will host an Amazon Prime Virtual Watch Party of the 2001 film Ali.

Link for tonight's watch party and information about upcoming watch parties for other films on July 9, 16, 23 and 30 can be found on CSDI's Instagram: @jcucsdi.
SAS News

For faculty preparing their courses for HyFlex delivery this fall, Student Accessibility Services suggests the following article for consideration:


More information and resources about accessibility, including guides for online course delivery, are available on the SAS website.



This past Tuesday, June 30, dozens of JCU alumni participated in our A.C.E.S. webinar "How to Contribute to the Work of Racial Equity." If you are interested in having us customize this webinar for your department, division, group or team, please contact diversity@jcu.edu.
R.I.S.E. Higher: Featured Article of the Week:
Inclusion, Not Only Diversity, Should be the Goal
If We Want an Equitable Workplace
Naz Beheshti, Forbes, June 30, 2020

The resurgent Black Lives Matter movement has done more than put a spotlight on police brutality. There is an emerging consensus that we need to address the multitude of ways racism is felt in our society. For business leaders, diversity and inclusion initiatives must be front-and-center in that effort.

Aspirational statements about fighting racism ring hollow if our workforce does not reflect the communities we are a part of. And overall employee diversity is only a half-measure if it does not extend to the executive team.

Diversity can be measured, and those numbers matter. but... (click below to read more)
Announcements from our network:
Heads of nine African American studies programs at Catholic universities are calling their institutions to conversion, to take meaningful actions to address systemic racism and more fully support people of color on their campuses. Full story at the National Catholic Reporter.