“The urgency to speak up and fight is now”

Esther Ho

Section A02
Reading Reflection #2
In response to: "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia"

"Fighting the Tower" reminded me of the idea of "breaking" the glass ceiling that is common for minority groups in all professions.

One of the main things that took me by surprise was that this article was written by Professor Valverde herself. As Eddie presented his story and the hegemony that Prof described, I feel like I was, too, tunneled vision into thinking that everything is okay, since I don’t physically see the injustice happen (or wasn’t given the resources to see). But reading this article and realizing that it was written by someone I know, someone that stands before me during lecture, makes me realize that the problem does exist around me and it’s just whether I take notice of it or not.

Injustice in an academic environment is ironic to me because the level of toxicity within academia in Valverde’s account reveals the academia environment as an institution that performs actions that goes against the values (equality and freedom) that it proclaims to hold.

Although it isn’t new that women of color in academia are oppressed, as they hold multiple oppressed identities (women and of color), I am surprised of severity of the torment and torture that they experience in academia. The process in which the institution tortures and physical (and mentally) weakens them makes the future of women of color in academia seem dim. But in the article, Valverde presents a hope and a need for change, in her journey of fighting against her denial of tenure. By reaching out and gathering support from other colleagues that have experienced a similar situation and students that allied with her in her protest, she was eventually able to overturn the denial and received tenure. Of course, this case was not as easy as it sounds and contained much more depth and perseverance to the story. But it is a stepping-stone for the idea that you can challenge the power.

Question: Did your perception of academia change after reading the article? Did it shed a light to the reality of the academic institutions? Or did you always know about the injustice that occurs, but just did not take notice?