Background:

Bucknell University’s response in light of recent events of racism and police brutality has been insufficient. The “Breath of Life” statement shared by the Office of the President (on June 1, 2020) to current students and alumni via email (and later re-posted on Instagram) lacked vital information about an adequate plan, suggested actions for members of the Bucknell community, and "how to do better". Furthermore, the statement was compounded with information focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. These two subject areas deserve individual focus, and a focus on Racial Justice for the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community should not be mentioned second in a statement of this nature.

Bucknell Alumni reached out to the University, asking them to release a stronger statement against racism, and to share an action plan. Unfortunately, these direct requests were not met over social media or email. This is why we decided to create this petition on June 4, 2020.

This petition was written and revised by members of all identities, including members of the Bucknell BIPOC student, alumni, faculty, staff and admin community. This petition is not a fully-mapped out action plan, it is a working document. Many of us in the Bucknell community have not lived the BIPOC experience. Therefore, we do not know beyond our own well-intentioned perspectives what prescriptive recommendations are truly going to drive lasting change at Bucknell. We are open to learning and unlearning to help in trying. 

After signing, if YOU would like to join this group of students meeting behind the scenes to  deliver this petition to the University, please email us. 

 

Update:

On June 15, 2020 President Bravman and Board of Trustees sent a follow-up email to the Bucknell Community, with their initial (still undefined) goals. This email - among other plans - announced the creation of the Bucknell Anti-Racism fund. However, it does not detail how these funds will be used.

Our Mission:

The Bucknell community needs a direct action approach, with details from the administration on how the University plans to revise the current curriculum, resources, and allocation of our generous endowment. A halfway stance against racism and hate can no longer be tolerated and is not in the best interest of the students, the alumni, and the institution. The Bucknell community and public should not have to question whether Bucknell University stands in solidarity with the global community against racism.

By signing this petition, you will join our diverse coalition of students and alumni to make this commitment a reality. This is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to make institutional impact. The petition we are asking you to sign today does not outline all that needs to be done - we acknowledge that systemic racism cannot be ended with a signature or a list of potential action items.  In writing this petition we are asking the University to take each of these critical steps:

• A message from President Bravman to the entire Bucknell community detailing the specific action items Bucknell is going to take to fight against racial injustice.  This message will be widely available on social media and the University website.
• An updated Diversity Plan for 2020-2025 that includes specific, measurable steps towards a more diverse and inclusive environment.  The plan should encourage regular reevaluation and refinement over time.
• Publicly available metrics reporting the progress the University is making towards its DE&I goals to hold itself accountable to change.

-------------------------------------------

We are petitioning that Bucknell University’s Office of the President execute the following or similar initiatives:

Foundational

1. Bucknell must provide a statement that acknowledges and condemns racism, highlights Bucknell's shortcomings in promoting racial justice both on campus and in the surrounding community, and an action plan including (but not limited to) the below short- and long-term solutions.

2. Establish that these initiatives will be funded through 15% of donations to the Bucknell Annual Fund. Set a target, for example, to raise $1M for these initiatives in 2021. 

3. Hold the Planning & Budget Committee accountable to allocate 50% more to the Diversity & Inclusion Offices in 2021, that was allocated in 2020 and previous years. This funding will be used to dismantle systemic racism and educate students, faculty and staff about anti-racism, racism and white privilege.

4. Create an independent Oversight Committee composed of students, faculty, and alumni to enact the short and long term solutions in partnership with the President's Diversity Council.

5. Make detailed short term and long term plans publicly available, with assigned time-frames (roadmap) and current status updates. Provide more details than the overview shared in the current diversity plans for 2014-2019, and 2020 onward). 

Health & Well-being 

6. Provide immediate online mental health resources for BIPOC faculty, students, and staff to support any and all race based traumas and indignities that occur both at Bucknell and/or off-campus.

7. Provide food stipends to low-income and international students who reside in campus housing during breaks and states of emergency.

Campus Diversity

8. Commit to significantly increasing both the racial and socioeconomic diversity of the student body, through changing Admissions priorities and more. Some ideas include strengthening ties with the Posse Foundation and a dedicated effort to increase the percentage of Pell Grant students on Bucknell’s campus

9. Enact new policies and funding that commit to recruiting, hiring, and promoting faculty of color.

10. Include a question regarding the racial climate of classrooms in professors’ end of semester evaluations.

Student Life 

11. Create mechanisms in the Career Center to direct BIPOC students towards professional development organizations, such as Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and Seizing Every Opportunity (SEO)

12. Create a mechanism for BIPOC students to interact more frequently with Bucknell Alumni, Affinity, & Trustee board members.

13. Evaluate current culture within all aspects of Bucknell Student Life, including: student hosted events, organizations and clubs,  University Housing and residential experiences, and key traditions such as Bucknell New Student Orientation and more. For example, during new student orientation, in addition to sponsoring events such as the “Diversity Speaker”, create discussions, games and activities that focus on learning about diversity. 

14. Commit to the pursuit of diversity and inclusion across all forms of Greek Life through efforts including but not limited to: equitable financial resources, equal scrutiny in disciplinary proceedings, mandatory routine inclusivity training to Panhellenic/IFC chapters.

15.  Create more safe spaces, direct channels, and opportunities for BIPOC to voice concerns, share ideas, and discuss their experiences with Bucknell administration, faculty and staff to  address systemic racism on and off campus and improve student life for BIPOC students.

16. Create and implement a 10 year plan that would make each Affinity House ADA (Americans with Disability Act) accessible, enabling all students to have the option of living in these communities that are designated safe spaces for diverse groups on campus. 

Education & Programming 

17. During the summer of 2020, Bucknell University will follow the lead of the Griot Institute and distribute this list of resources to the current student body, alumni, faculty and staff. The Griot Institute shared these resources in their June 2020 newsletter, with the aim of providing educational resources on the subject-matter of Race, Racism, and Resistance in the African American Experience. 

18. Bucknell University will host a monthly anti-racism speaker series in the Weis Center in the school year of 2020-2021. This will be an opportunity for Bucknell University to provide consistent educational programming to the community. 

19. Create mandatory courses for first-year students on Bucknell’s history with racism, slavery and social activism specifically - and US history on slavery, racism, and social activism generally - in partnership with Africana Studies.

20. Commit to serving as a proactive leader, instead of acting as a follower that reacts to events and headlines. Share research and work created by students and faculty (e.g. from the Griot Institute and Africana Majors). Bucknell has the potential to serve as a local, regional, and national leader in the higher educational world on these fundamental issues. 

21. Host semesterly diversity roundtables that discuss the United States long history of discrimination, bias, racism, slavery, racial profiling, gerrymandering, and social injustice. This will not be a mechanism to highlight shame, but rather a means of promoting empathy, sincerity, and greater understanding. These roundtable discussions must consist of representatives from each official student organization (including all Greek organizations), where they will speak about their continual efforts within their organization to promote diversity and inclusion. These roundtables will be facilitated by on-campus faculty and alumni. These sessions will be mandatory for all students who are not speaking at the round table to attend and forums for asking questions will be facilitated.

22. Require anti-hate, diversity and unconscious bias training for all administration, faculty, staff, and students, leveraging resources from The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Gender (CSREG), the Griot Institute, and the President's Diversity Council.

Student Safety

23. Break ties with the Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department to reduce the racial profiling and aggression that is directed towards BIPOC, and instead invest in unarmed mediation and intervention teams to respond to disputes. Please refer to the current Bucknell Student Community letter.

24. Diversify the Public Safety staff, and provide anti-racism training, diversity/bias training for all public safety officers on a quarterly basis.

25. Create an anonymous, open safe space forum for students to openly communicate with Public Safety regarding concerns of racial profiling, student safety, brutality, etc. - facilitated by trained staff.

26. Create reconciliation councils for race-based incidents using a restorative justice model that goes beyond the reporting structure of the Bias Incident Reporting Form while strengthening accountability procedures for incidents involving faculty and staff.

Activism

27. Create a Bucknell Civil Disobedience Fund that trains students HOW to become activists, by participating in protests and other forms of activism.

28. Encourage staff, alumni, and students to donate to social justice organizations, especially within communications that reference alumni activists.

Community Partnership

29. Supporting BIPOC businesses in Downtown Lewisburg. Bucknell University owns approximately  65% of the Downtown Housing/Storefront real estate. Bucknell needs to commit to supporting BIPOC businesses, allocate a determined amount/percentage of Bucknell owned commercial storefronts to minority owned businesses and create a student incentivization program to encourage students to be patrons.

30. Commit to donating to and strengthening our relationships with local BIPOC supporting groups in Pennsylvania, including organization such as Coded by Kids (Philadelphia), African American Chamber of Commerce (Pennsylvania), Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region (Harrisburg), as well as many other local and regional organizations. 

Transparency & Accountability

31. Create an annual Open Forum that facilitates dialogue between students, faculty, and the Board of Trustees.

32. Increase transparency on demographic data reporting (i.e. first year retention rates, transfer rates, and graduation rates segmented by race).

33. Evaluate Bucknell's current PR/Marketing strategies and values, such as the ideology that has prevented Bucknell from using its platform to communicate with its community and the public during this time.

34. To share updates twice/semester on short-term and long-term initiatives with the Bucknell community, and prominently with the public (updating bucknell.edu).

 

Conclusion

As Bucknell alumni and students, we pledge to withhold subsequent donations to the school until this formal commitment is made in the form of an official statement from the Office of the President and the establishment of an oversight committee for these initiatives. We encourage all those who sign to leave a comment with their school and graduation year to demonstrate broad based support. 

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the students and alumni at Vanderbilt University, who inspired us with their petition.