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Morning Briefing: Cal State Faculty Pushes For Anti-Racist Policies
The John F. Kennedy Library at Cal State LA. (Chava Sanchez/LAist)
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Faculty at Cal State University are pushing for anti-racist policies to be adopted across the school’s system. The suggested changes include making ethnic studies courses a requirement for graduation, defunding and disarming campus police, and offering free tuition to Black and Indigenous students.
The effort is being led by the union that represents the system’s faculty.
So far, CSU administrators have pushed back, suggesting that students should be required to take a general social justice course instead of ethnic studies. But Sharon Elise, the union's associate vice president of racial and social justice and a sociology professor at CSU San Marcos, says ethnic studies in particular would be a step towards greater understanding of racial disparities.
Ethnic studies "are explicitly linked to the struggles of people of color in society," Elise told Marina Peña. "These programs emerged from those struggles, and they express the academic side of those struggles."
Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A. today, and stay safe out there.
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Coming Up Today, July 22
Slate's Slow Burn is one of the best podcast documentary series around, with each season driven forward by a simple framework: what was it like to live through a prominent historical event? In this week’s episode of Servant of Pod with Nick Quah, join Nick as he dives into the making of Season 4 with Slow Burn host Josh Levin.
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The Past 24 Hours In LA
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Coronavirus Updates: California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly noted that treating reopening the economy as a "green light" to resume normal life has led to an increase in hospitalizations, case positivity rates, and deaths.
Immigration: President Trump is expected to sign a memorandum calling for the exclusion of unauthorized immigrants from the numbers used to divide up seats in Congress among the states.
California Kids: The Cal State University Board is considering whether to create a requirement for all students to take at least one ethnic studies course. Students and faculty have called for even more reforms, though, including defunding campus police and offering free tuition to Black and Indigenous students.
State Of The Arts: State data shows more than 230,000 Californians in arts and entertainment filed unemployment claims since the pandemic hit in mid-March. In Episode 5 of Hollywood, The Sequel, producer and actor Gloria Calderon Kellett has a simple piece of advice for Hollywood executives trying to fix the industry’s diversity problem: just do it.
Long Live The Gelatina: Business is booming for Myra Vasquez, who updates a classic Mexican dessert — the gelatina — with a world of flavors and unapologetic Latinx pride.
Photo Of The Day
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Originally from Missouri, Kyle is pictured here working on his make-up. He’s been sleeping on Beverly Boulevard, and is striving to become a clothing designer one day.
(Bumdog Torres/LAist)
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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