Inclusive Excellence Advisory Group: Upcoming Sessions & Resources to check out

A subgroup of the UVAFinance Inclusive Excellence (IE) Advisory group is meeting to develop recommendations for improving our internal HR practices and will develop recommendations to improve these practices within UVAFinance, paying close attention to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

To start, the group is looking at selection and hiring practices including job postings, selecting candidates for interview, interviewing, hiring, and internal promotions. 

Participation in our hosted “sprint discussions” has continued to be high and the conversations have been engaging. They are a great opportunity to connect and learn about each other. 

The next discussion is on Thursday, September 10, and will begin at 4:00. In this discussion we will examine the complicated history of race at the University of Virginia. 

“This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

-Thomas Jefferson to William Roscoe, December 27, 1820

Beginning with the inception of Jefferson’s imagining of an institution of “illimitable freedom” supported by the labor of enslaved people to the release of the Recommendations for Action by The Racial Equity Task Force, this discussion will use the following UVA Today published articles as source material as a self-examination of the truth of how we’ve arrived at today’s UVA:

• https://news.virginia.edu/news-category/uva-and-history-race
• https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-group-honors-unknown-slaves-burial-site-sets-stage-future-work
• https://news.virginia.edu/content/kitchens-gravesites-commission-explores-history-slavery-uva
• https://news.virginia.edu/content/racial-equity-task-force-releases-report-12-key-recommendations-action

In these “Sprint discussions” we’ve discussed many issues related to racism, including microaggressions, police brutality, protests, and covert forms of white supremacy, and “colorblindness”. In the last discussion we took a closer look at colorblindness and discussed, that while it may seem like a goal we want to achieve, colorblindness actually denies and obscures the existence of racism, and fails to recognize and appreciate the perspectives of people of color.

If you missed the discussion and want more information on the topic, following are videos and articles we used as the basis for our dialogue: 

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlks-content-of-character-quote-inspires-debate/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDJcjasFzBI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqvZRO2LPmw
• https://www.oprahmag.com/life/relationships-love/amp32824297/color-blind-myth-racism/?fbclid=IwAR2__elSZnm-4kO8MwyYisuu7-MEalr0YcLUX_ooAt36ILgk8MpBoh1bm38

As you read these articles and watch these videos, consider the following questions:

• Think about your experiences as they relate to your race. How does colorblindness deny the experiences of others?
• Think about your experiences as they relate to your race. How does colorblindness deny the experiences of others?
• How does colorblindness obscure and deny systemic racism? What do you think of this quote --“If you are blind to color, then you are blind to the consequences of color.” – Julian Bond
• How does being colorblind a form of white supremacy?
• What do you think about Traci Ellis’ comment about the “Exceptional Negro”, and how is it related to colorblindness?
• If being color-conscious is the goal rather than being colorblind, what can we do to be more color-conscious?

The UVAFinance IE Advisory group includes: Patty Marbury, Melody Bianchetto, Jen Bari, Jack King, Steve Kimata, ToShun Campbell, Raegan Harouff, Anne Marie Cumiskey, Mohammed AlKaisy, and LaVerne Harris. Please reach out to any member of the group with questions.