An op-ed from Jerlando Jackson was published by Cuma Management on Jan. 13 and it examines the recent influx of chief diversity officer (CDO) positions, and the challenges they face.
Jackson is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education and the chair of the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He is also the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
While CDO positions are becoming more common at big companies, few are given the resources and support necessary to be successful, writes Jackson who highlights four challenges that need to be addressed as companies reconsider infrastructure to support diversity and inclusion.
These challenges include the newness of the position, the low business priority of diversity, unrealistic responsibilities, and insufficient data collection. Jackson explains that this suggests “more effort is needed to position CDOs for success.”
He recommends that businesses make diversity and inclusion a key business priority, as well as empower CDOs with the authority and resources to implement comprehensive and successful strategies.
To learn more about Jackson’s thoughts on this topic, including four opportunities to position CDOs for success, visit this Cuma Management web page.
Thompson: Advice for faculty members in a turbulent time
Mindi Thompson wrote an op-ed that was published by Inside Higher Ed on March 19.
Thompson is an associate professor with the School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology, and a coach and academic director of faculty programs at the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity.
In response to an educator concerned with transitioning to online instruction and making sense of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Thompson shares that it’s “normal to experience a range of emotional reactions.”
She reminds readers that now, more than ever, people should make mental and physical health a priority. Thompson outlines strategies to do so, starting with creating boundaries around media, by scheduling blocks of time each day to engage with media and news, and being thoughtful and intentional about the media outlets one uses.
Thompson also recommends keeping active, whether that means exploring new resources for physical activity or simply revisiting leisure activities that contribute joy and relaxation.
In her op-ed, Thompson also suggests maintaining connections with others, exercising patience and kindness, paying attention to feelings and thoughts, and creating structure and routine.
One thing Thompson has been doing every day is writing, which is an easy activity that can support overall health and wellness. It may be difficult to be productive at this time, Thompson says, but even completing minor goals can contribute to wellness.
To learn much more about Thompson’s thoughts on this topic, read her op-ed via this Inside Higher Ed web page.
Moeller: Gates Foundation’s tactics to remake public education during pandemic are undemocratic
Kathryn Moeller co-authored an op-ed published May 18 by The Chronicle of Philanthropy headlined.
Moeller is an assistant professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies, and the author of “The Gender Effect: Capitalism, Feminism, and the Corporate Politics of Development.” The op-ed is co-authored with Rebecca Tarlau, an assistant professor of education and labor and employment relations at Pennsylvania State University.
The op-ed from Moeller and Tarlau begins: “During one of his recent daily press briefings, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that his state will work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ‘reimagine’ its school system. Cuomo presented this as a grand opportunity to transform learning through technology and significantly alter ‘the old model of everybody goes and sits in a classroom and the teacher is in front of that classroom and teaches that class … in all these physical classrooms.’
“While there is a place for educational technology in U.S. schools and classrooms, Governor Cuomo’s announcement, including a call for greater reliance on virtual classrooms, reflects the power of foundations to propose technical solutions to high-stakes political debates on educational equity and quality. As a nation, we must be wary of foundations capitalizing on political opportunities created by crises such as Covid-19 to assert their influence over public education.”
The two close their op-ed by writing: “While reimagining and redistributing educational resources and opportunities is imperative, research shows that philanthropic experts often work to find technical solutions to systemic inequities without addressing their underlying causes. If we are to truly transform our nation’s inequitable educational system, turning to philanthropists with a track record of failing to improve public education is not the answer.
“Many teachers are already engaged in collective discussions about their working conditions and student learning during and after the pandemic. In response to Governor Cuomo’s announcement, a group of New York City teachers organized an #ImagineSchools Facebook campaign, which calls for small class sizes, culturally relevant instruction, and black and ethnic studies. Educators, students, families, and communities are the ones with the most to lose, and they must determine how to develop our shared future after the pandemic. At the very least, they deserve to be at the table to choose who leads these efforts rather than hearing about it in a daily briefing after the deal has been closed.”
To learn much more about this important, nuanced topic, check out the full opinion piece from Moeller and Tarlau via this Chronicle of Philanthropy web page.
Stern: To move ‘Forward,’ we must confront the troubled past
Walter Stern authored a guest column that was published in the Wisconsin State Journal on June 26.
The op-ed was written after protestors in Madison on June 23 brought down the “Forward” statue outside the State Capitol.
Stern writes: “Those condemning the toppling of the ‘Forward’ statue during Tuesday’s Black Lives Matter protest overlook the troubling message at the heart of the monument’s symbolism. While the statue — and the state motto it embodies — represent progress, their vision of progress does not extend to all. That is because the ‘progress’ that ‘Forward’ celebrates is the advancement that white settlers achieved through the subordination of indigenous and Black people.”
Stern is an assistant professor and historian with the Department of Educational Policy Studies.
Not long after the “Forward” statue was brought down, a statue celebrating Hans Christian Heg came down.
Stern concludes his column by noting: “As significant as they are, statues rarely affect people as much as policies do. For that reason, local and state officials should focus on protecting the lives of Black people, indigenous people, and people of color. They also should forego punishing the protesters who took down the ‘Forward’ and Hans Christian Heg statues. If anything, we owe these protesters a debt of gratitude. They have asked us to reckon with the past, to confront historically rooted systems of oppression, and to redress inequality. That is where the real work lies.”
The previous week, on June 19, Stern was interviewed by New Orleans Public radio after the statue of John McDonogh, a slave owner, merchant, and real estate developer, was pulled down by protestors. Stern, who is the author of a book about race and education in his native New Orleans, discusses McDonogh’s role in creating a white supremacist public school system, and the importance of taking a deep look at the history behind a monument or statue.