This week's reading describes Dr. Valverde's struggle in becoming a tenured-professor. “Fight the Tower" specifically talks about the politics and the extent higher power go to target women of color, especially when there is still a low number of them in academia, which makes them easier targets for dismissal and discrimination.
Dr. Valverde was not the only one who dealt with injustice in academia; individuals who shared similar experiences formed “The Fight the Tower (FTT) Movement" with her to call for strategic planning, support, and solidarity amongst women of color across academic institutions to fight, raise their voice, and demand equal rights and justice. Before reading this article, I had a positive outlook on higher education - that universities are supposed to provide spaces for research and intellectual discoveries, not, in the case of Dr. Valverde, “torture in the form of bullying and mobbing that goes on for years causing harm to the body and mind” (Valverde, 370) or even pepper spraying the students who fought against anti-corporatization of academia.
The most surprising part for me was learning how Dr. Valverde's tenure battle was not entirely with the university administrators, but rather with her department due to intra-racial/inter-ethnic tension and class biases. UC Davis’s current mission statement is to “offer its undergraduates an experience which comprises the central elements of a liberal education… and opportunities for personal development and academic enrichment [by committing to] advancing teaching and scholarly work" (UC Davis General Catalog, 2017). My question is: how can professors like Dr. Valverde offer her students the so-called ‘opportunities and academic enrichment’ if she is not being supported or recognized for her extensive research and publication by the institution or worse, by her co-workers, and instead, is being targeted for her gender, race, disability and motherhood?
References:
- Valverde, K. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia. Seattle Journal of Social Justice. 12(2). 367-419.
- UC Davis General Catalog | Mission Statement | Philosophy of Purpose. (2017, March 22). Retrieved April, from http://catalog.ucdavis.edu/mission.html
- Women of Color in Academia. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://fighttower.com/
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