When reading Professor Valverde’s actual experiences in Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia, it really puts into perspective how real these injustices are. Throughout my education growing up I’ve only had a few professors who were actually women and it was even more rare to have a professor who identifies as a woman of color. Being able to read Professor Valverde’s experiences and her fight against this corrupt system is shocking to me. I’ve always been aware of such racial discrimination and gender equalities but I never gave too much thought about how it happens right to our own people in these universities. You would think that as a place of higher education and intellect that there would be no such thing as this “academic bully culture” that is mentioned in the reading, but in reality it still happens everywhere and never seems to stop (even in the workplace). I admire Professor Valverde’s resilience and strength throughout her struggles against fighting for her right to the tenure she deserved, but it is extremely frustrating how she had to go through that in the first place just because of how this system was never created for people like us.
Question: If this institution was not designed to help me succeed because of my who I am, why did they accept me here?
reference:
- Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde. “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia.”
- WOC in Academe https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/03/29/women-color-academe-should-not-feel-pressured-overcompensate-essay
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