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Students for Transparency, Equity, Accountability through Mobilization (STEAM) Collective

Petition of Demands
WHEREAS Willamette University has failed to reinstitute the full-time Director of Native
American Programs position and has contributed to the continued delay of appropriate
and timely actions on recent requests for an official Land Acknowledgement. A Land
Acknowledgment must be institutionalized to recognize the role of this University in the
process of ongoing colonialism, the dispossession of Kalapuya territory, the legacy of the
University's early connections to Indigenous students, and the existence and experiences
of past, present, and future Indigenous students.

AND WHEREAS the theatre faculty and respective administration have not adequately
responded to issues of sexual harassment among their student body despite theatre being
an inherently intimate art form that requires extra care in issues regarding harassment and
assault. Student requests and concerns voiced after the strike have not been acted upon
and students out of work have not been compensated.

AND WHEREAS Willamette University currently has a singular and inadequate sexual
misconduct policy that does not foster a positive campus culture of consensual sexuality
and protects assailants actively enrolled, re-enrolling, as well as transferring into the
university.

AND WHEREAS ​Greek Life on campus has committed a multitude of negative actions that have
directly altered the welfare and safety of students within and external to its entity in the
past 5 years. A lack of administrative and institutional responses to affiliated students
who exhibit actions that place others in danger-- including multiple instances racism,
racial intolerance of people of color, sexual assault and unhealthy alcohol consumption
habits-- allows these students and their harmful behavior to go unchecked.

AND WHEREAS Willamette University exhibits a lack of policies for racially biased/
racially-based grievances; clear and concise policies, steps and protocols with timely
responses for students who come forward with culturally and racially-based grievances
and related issues. The bias reporting system is a protocol, not a policy, and has
inadequate institutional support and response.

AND WHEREAS the “Renjen Center” or the Student Center for Equity & Empowerment (E&E)
cannot be considered a gathering space for all students. Consciously referring to this
space as a gathering space continues the erasure of marginalized students of color who
created and advocated for this space for generations to come. It is not a space for
everyone​ to gather.

AND WHEREAS the Office of the Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is not only
misdirected in its efforts to foster equity but it is overburdened as a student support staff
is not adequate to address the multitude of responsibilities that are given to VP Aguilar’s
office. The lack of full-time, qualified staff to employ this office contributes to the dearth
of accountability and detrimental impact on students.
Students for Transparency, Equity, Accountability through Mobilization (STEAM) Collective

AND WHEREAS the few Faculty of Color that are here have been consistently overburdened,
underpaid, and excluded from tenure track positions, resulting in a lack of any racial
formation in all departments acutely exhibited in STEM, Social Sciences, and
Humanities. The American Ethnic Studies Department has been immensely downsized
and depleted since the department was created.

AND WHEREAS Administrators decided not to hire a full-time director of Community Service
Learning who could be solely dedicated to the department whom they promised to
replace for the 2018/19 school year. The administration failed to provide sufficient
transparency and resources to its student-led organizations.

AND WHEREAS Undocumented students and DACA recipients have not received nor felt the
full support of the institution as a result of the encumberment of a singular faculty
member.

AND WHEREAS Students with disabilities are not met with the full access and support of the
institution as promised and stated on the WU website: ​“Willamette University is
committed to the full access and inclusion of all students with disabilities in its
programs.”

AND WHEREAS Willamette Administration, faculty, and staff have failed to fulfill the
terms of the Joint Agreement. To see the full agreement scan the adjacent QR code.

AND WHEREAS this is not a comprehensive list. It is impossible to include a full history,
documentation, and list of grievances, nor should the burden of labor fall upon students. It
is not the students’ obligation to educate the University on their own conscious actions,
decisions, and publications. If you would like to share your testimony, please fill out the
following anonymous survey in the leftward QR code.

THEREFORE, WE, THE STEAM COLLECTIVE, PRESENT to the appropriate administrative


offices listed below the following list of demands:

I. There must be an official institutional Land Acknowledgment to recognize the Kalapuya


land that the University colonially occupies and the full-time Director of Native
American Programs position must be reinstituted.
II. A Sexual Offense Prevention Policy that is education-centered, includes a clear definition
of consent with clarifying points, and violations of policy with timely responses to
violations. This campus-wide policy should operate alongside existing Willamette
University policies and should be reviewed and signed by all faculty members and
students in their first year.
III. Students who are affected by the theatre strike must be paid a stipend equitable to their
lost wages to cover their lost wages, as the shows were unilaterally canceled.
IV. A review of Greek life on campus must be conducted by an unbiased, third party as soon
as possible. Paying close attention to occurrences within the past 5 years from students
Students for Transparency, Equity, Accountability through Mobilization (STEAM) Collective
within Greek life, attitudes towards them by respective administrators, and how they have
contributed to the current and ongoing campus climate. This review shall work to create a
campus-wide conversation about the effectiveness of Greek life at Willamette and present
information that will speak to if it should remain on campus. Respective administrators
must take action based upon the findings of this review.
V. The “Renjen Center” must be institutionally acknowledged as the Student Center for
Equity and Empowerment (E&E) to honor that which the space substantively is. It cannot
be considered a gathering space for all students as it was a space created for and by
marginalized students.
VI. Policies for racially-based/racially biased incidences, such as but not limited to cultural
appropriation, must be instituted to address when students and student-led organizations
engage in racist practices.
VII. Willamette University must offer support to faculty and staff of color by providing the
Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion with qualified support staff, offering tenure to
and putting forth the effort to bring more faculty of color and qualified faculty, and
reinstating the American Ethnic Studies major.
VIII. The University must fulfill its promise to hire a full-time CSL director, whose ​sole
position would be to support student-led and organized community service within the
department.
IX. A review of the Joint Agreement must take place to address where the university has
faltered in the agreement.

These ​demands are to be addressed as early as the present and no later than the conclusion of the
Spring 2019 Semester. We would like a reply as to the plans for these concerns by the end of the
following week Friday, March 1, 2019. Additionally, the deadline for these demands to be met is
by the end of Spring Break, or March 31, 2019.

To be distributed to the student body for the gathering of signatures, read during the ASWU
Senate Meeting, and to be presented at a publicly held forum wherein as many of the
following administrators are present:

Stephen Thorsett, University President


Ed Whipple, Vice President for Student Affairs
Ruth Feingold, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts
Domanic Thomas, Dean of Students
Lisa Holliday, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities
Carol Long, Provost and Senior Vice President
Jade Aguilar, Vice President of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Scott Etherton, Director of Housing
Karen Wood, Chaplin

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