Civic Engagement and Empowering Our Students

Since the announcement of the electoral college president, teaching and research at my university have been challenging for a host of reasons. Most notably, the election of Trump confirmed the fears of faculty and students concerned that U.S. society accepts racism, sexism, and ignorance. The morning after the November 2016 election, I was rightfully troubled about the safety of students at my university.

I work at the second largest university in the nation (as of 2017, the campus has 66,000 students) with 45 percent students of color, of whom 25 percent are Hispanic. Shortly after the election, a white nationalist/supremacy group, American Vanguard, felt free to post flyers around the University of Central Florida campus intended to intimidate nonwhite students (Cordeiro 2016). In that same month, students of color began to tell me their stories. One student was harassed outside a Starbucks for being Muslim. A disabled, Latina faculty member posted on social media about vocal harassment on campus by a white nationalist. Another student apologized to me, at a random moment, for being “white,” as she was ashamed of what was happening on campus. As stories poured in, it became clear that fear and confusion were developing more and more on our campus.

Some of us anticipated this election result as early as January 2016. Hence, I had requested to coedit a special issue on diversity and inclusion through our university newsletter on teaching and learning. By mid-July 2016, I had collected 12 narratives from our diverse faculty, telling us their experiences, including how they handled racism or how they helped transgender students succeed in the classroom. What was most frustrating for me was that the release of this issue was delayed numerous times until it finally came out in April 2017 (a full month after Trump held a rally on our campus), and the primary editor added “other” perspectives, such as that of a male professor who underscored he is “not a bigot,” while justifying his anti-Muslim views. Really? This is the other perspective—isn’t that the mainstream view?

Between December 2016 and September 2017, the university administration released two statements: the first in response to pressure from our faculty union to cosponsor our statement asking everyone to “renew [their] commitment to diversity and inclusion” and a second one against white supremacy after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Though these statements had good intentions, they were not particularly useful without a plan of action. Rather than just speak about valuing diversity or inclusivity, what strategy were we employing to practice, cultivate, and empower diversity and inclusivity? Vulnerable and concerned faculty and students were seeking information about programs, including those related to unKoch My Campus, the Deferred Action for Children of Aliens program (DACA), immigration, and racial justice.

As a woman of color and a union leader, I was asked a lot of these questions, but, though I had some knowledge about campus resources for social justice and advocacy and LGBTQ+ rights, I had limited knowledge about resources available through local community organizations. Hence, I needed to educate myself. I specifically sought community organizations that internalize a mission of empowerment rather than a service or charity model. As a professor of Latin American history and development studies, I learned long ago that charity and service models more often preserve patriarchy, whereas empowerment programs had greater success in strengthening groups’ capabilities, increasing self-esteem, and challenging the status quo.

How amazing to discover that two of my former history students are leading nonprofit organizations focusing on empowerment, such as providing training to new activist leaders. I took one of these weekend trainings from a former student. Over that weekend, I learned about power analyses and the differences between serving, social work, and empowerment models. We were in it to shake up the foundation, not just work with a broken system to replicate the same power structure.

Since that weekend, I have continued to make more connections through former students and community leaders to learn more about DACA, how to educate voters, the post-Maria Puerto Rican crisis, and voter restoration rights. Now...