#IAmFordHall2015 Official Syllabus | Teach-In Request
“The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.” — Audre Lorde
Beginning on November 12th, 2015, the Concerned Students of Brandeis 2015 embarked on the work of diligently bringing attention and awareness to the urgency and relevancy of Ford Hall 2015. We have built community and support through this time together, yet the work has not been fully recognized at the magnitude in which it requires.
In response to our demands not being fully met, we have carefully curated a Ford Hall 2015 Syllabus along with an extensive Frequently Asked Questions list that informs, reflects, answers, and constructs conversations surrounding the needs of Black students and students of color on campus.This work has come at the cost of our personal education and emotional and physical health. This echoes an unfortunate legacy of labor being placed on marginalized people doing the work of facilitating their own liberation while also lovingly inviting our community to learn and join with us in solidarity.
We ask that in an effort to redistribute this labor of love and care, you disseminate this information to your departments as a way to process and progress with this movement. Additionally, you may use this material as an initial template with which to facilitate workshops, teach-ins, and conversations while citing the Concerned Students of Brandeis 2015’s labor for designing the work. Furthermore, feel free to contribute answers to the FAQ list as you develop dialogue between students, faculty, and staff and you are encouraged to email us back with your collectively constructed answers at fordhall2015@gmail.com. The Google docs will be continuously updated until our demands are met.
In solidarity, labor, and love,
Concerned Students of Brandeis 2015
#IAmFordHall2015
Ford Hall 2015 Syllabus
Instructor: Concerned Students 2015
Email: fordhall2015@gmail.com
Hashtags: #IAmFordHall2015, #FordHall2015
Description: This syllabus serves to communicate the urgency of cultivating an informed community to stand in solidarity with Brandeis Concerned Students 2015. It is also shared as a pedagogical tool to teach while circumventing simultaneously the uncompensated labor that people of color perform in the perpetual defense of their humanity.
Goals: To provide literary resources with which the Brandeis community might build a foundational dialogue in the collective effort to facilitate racially aware, sensitive, and protected classrooms, social spaces, faculty, staff, and students.
General Requirements:
By coming into and being a part of this space:
- This is an intentionally leaderful space. This means, that we are all continuously in conversation with employing the responsibility of the growth, protection, and education of our own communities. We ask that you be mindful by contributing to this space in a way that is resourceful as well respectful. Additionally we should be mindful of the fact that defensiveness and guilt are not productive modes in which to perform dialogue.
- This is not a voyeuristic space. Though we all are in observance of all interactions and dialogue we understand that this is a movement and not an exhibition of Black bodies performing social justice. To be present is to learn and take part.
- We understand that many of you may enter this space seeking more detail about Ford Hall 2015. There is an official list of demands, call of action and frequently asked questions document available on our Facebook page (Brandeis Students of Color Demands 2015) that provides answers to this. Please constantly reference this, as our student leaders have carefully created this so that you stay well informed.
- If anything remains unclear to you, please be mindful of the way in which you interject your questions in this safe-space. Interrogative questions often asserts privilege and power so we require that you practice active listening skills as it will help you adopt the language of the Ford Hall 2015 community.
Required Readings
Exploring Historical Context:
Ford Hall 1969
https://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/exhibits/ford/occupation/index.html
Ford Hall 2015
https://medium.com/@FordHall2015
Mizzou Coverage
Analysis: At The University Of Missouri, An Unlearned Free Speech Lesson
Kindly Explaining White Privilege:
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
The Origins of “Privilege” BY JOSHUA ROTHMAN
On Concepts of “Reverse Racism”:
7 reasons why reverse racism doesn’t exist
On Becoming an Ally:
So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All ‘Allies’ Need to Know
The Seduction of Safety, on Campus and Beyond Roxane Gay
On How Can I Help?:
Six Ways You Can Stand in Solidarity with Fort Hall 2015
On Intersectionality:
The White-Savior Industrial Complex by Teju Cole
On American Exceptionalism
Transatlantic Cultural Exchange: African American Women’s Art and Activism in West Germany by Gerund, Katharina
Additional Readings:
“List of Demands” presented to Brandeis University by Concerned Students 2015.
November 19, 2015. 1:30pm.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43.6 (1991): 1241–1299. Web.
Gerund, Katharina. Transatlantic Cultural Exchange: African American Women’s Art and Activism in West Germany. 2013. Print.
Charles, Camille Zubrinsky. “The Dynamics of Racial Residential Segregation.” Annual Review of Sociology 29 (2003): 167–207. Web.
Lynch, Lisa. “A Message to the Brandeis Community.” Email sent from Lynch to Brandeis community at large. Nov. 22, 2015. Web.
The Student Occupation of Ford Hall, January 1969, Brandeis University,
https://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/exhibits/ford/occupation/index.html
