On social media, some of you have spoken out about, or shared with each other informally, your experiences of institutional and interpersonal racism at OCAD University. In response, the OCAD U Student Union and OCAD U’s administration (Vice-President, Students & International, Office of Diversity, Equity & Sustainability Initiatives (ODESI), and the Deans) have co-organized a closed forum for only OCAD U BIPOC students, recent alumni from the last four to five years, and the senior administrative team, including incoming President Ana Serrano, to share your truths. We will hold other workshops for non-BIPOC students.
The intention of the forum on Monday, July 6th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) is to gather your stories and set up real strategies to hold the institution accountable for how it can improve the experiences of BIPOC students at OCAD University.
We will ask/solicit two intersectional Indigenous, Black, and POC recent grads and/or current students to share testimonials of your experiences (email me at dtunstall@ocadu.ca ASAP if you are willing to do so), go into break outs for deeper discussions on themes and strategies, come back together to share how we would like to go forward as the OCAD U BIPOC Community, and end in meditation and wellness. We will have both an Indigenous and a Black counsellor on hand in a special break out room for those of us who might need process our emotions during and after the forum.
There will be no faculty in this forum, although we will follow up with recent graduates who might want to record their testimonials, so that we might use them in anti-racism and anti-oppression training for faculty in the Fall.
RSVP by Thursday, July 2 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time to info@OCADSU.org, subject line: 'Speak to Power'
A link and password will be send to registrants on Friday, July 3, 2020.
Dori Tunstall, Dean, Faculty of Design
Stephen Foster, Dean, Faculty of Art
Susan Blight, Acting Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and School of Interdisciplinary Studies
Ashok Mathur, Dean, Graduate Studies