Week 1- Ashley Shuen Section A02

"Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia" by Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde demonstrates the discrimination and harassment she faced as a woman of color in higher education and further depicts the racial injustice in society as a whole. The article highlights how she was unfairly targeted by her fellow colleagues and her struggle to achieve tenure due to discrimination of her ethnicity, gender, disabilities, class status. I was shocked to hear the blatant disregard by administration regarding Professor Valverde's and her unborn child's safety being near the volatile student. This article opened my eyes to the disregard and prejudice that occurs even in such prestigious higher education institutions against women of color. In my personal opinion, it was most disheartening to learn that the people fighting against Professor Valverde were her fellow ethnic colleagues, student assistants, and administrators. Instead of using her strong educational background and her successful publications as a reason to approve her tenure, the administration purposely punished her for aspiring to be a mother by using the "WorkLife program and a system wide policy.... that allows women to have reasonable time off after having children". (Valverde, 388). Administration scared her and other women into not accepting the wonderful and necessary program for women in fear of not achieving their career goals (like Valverde's tenure). Another factor unnecessarily targeted by the administration was Valverde's disability diagnosis of ADHD where she was made to feel ashamed and not given any disability assistance. In higher education today, mental health is becoming more prominent and administrations should be looking for ways to raise awareness/give support! Valverde's arduous path to tenure (that she successfully achieved) had many obstacles standing in her path and led her to be a stronger person today. She is calling to action that her audience, myself included, to fight against discrimination, injustices, and protect themselves.


Question: Seeing as it was Valverde's fellow colleagues and administration in the Asian-American department that bullied her, did any other professors in the same department face similar injustices/discrimination by that department and has the University held those people responsible for their unfair actions?

References:
Valverde, K., (2013). “Fight the Tower”: A Call to Action for Women in Academia, 12(2), 367-419.
Anamaria Dutceac Segesten for University of Venus, part of the Guardian Higher Education Editorial Network. “Women in Research: Recommendations for Gender Equality in Higher Education.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Oct. 2011, www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2011/oct/12/women-in-research-equality.