Beyond Tolerance is a campus program that provides support and resources for various campus clubs and organizations to promote knowledge and respect of the many diverse cultures that exist in our community. The program is sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) in partnership with the Office of Campus Community Relations.

A few of the organizations on campus that have utilized the resources offered by Beyond Tolerance include the Black Student Union, Non-Monosexual Alliance and the Youth Empowerment Program.

On the subject of her role in the program, Lori Fuller, program coordinator for Beyond Tolerance, said that the program fosters leadership development for students and student organizations.

According to Fuller, one of the most important parts of her job is helping students through those processes of event planning.

When a student club or organization wants to hold an event on campus to raise awareness about who they are and what they do to promote diversity, they contact Fuller, and she provides them with the space and equipment needed to organize their event.

“All of the student centers provide community, space and events for students and student groups to learn, grow, find comfort, make connections and get involved in issues on or off-campus,” said Lane Lewis, Campus Climate and Community outreach coordinator for the Cross Cultural Center in an email interview.

As an active member in student organizations that promote diversity, Lewis said that such events play an important role in getting clubs’ messages out to the public.

“It is important for campus clubs and organizations that support diversity to have a resource that helps them put on events … The campus needs more representation, visibility, space for diverse communities, issues, voices, ideas, etc.,” Lewis said.

Beyond Tolerance recognizes the importance of putting on these campus events and works to help clubs and organizations with the most difficult part of this process: finding a space to hold the event and the money to buy or rent equipment for production.

CSI, in partnership with the Office of Campus and Community Relations, helps to fund programs that support student activities which aim to educate the community about diversity.

One example is the Diversity Training Program. Initiated in 2006, the Diversity Trainers Institute, which consists of a volunteer staff, provides a variety of workshops on campus to promote learning about diversity.

Dr. Rahim Reed, associate executive vice chancellor of the Office of Campus Community Relations, said that the Diversity Trainers Institute was created to pay attention to those aspects of our campus that deal with issues of diversity.

“[The program is] important because the faculty, staff and students … come from all parts of the country and all around the world. We want to be able to manage the diversity that we have as an asset, to make something that stimulates creative thought,” Reed said.

As with Beyond Tolerance, the Diversity Training Institute works to emphasize the positive attributes of a diverse campus such as UC Davis, while educating the community about existing diverse cultures.

Both Fuller and Reed agree that one of the most important ways to eliminate discrimination in the daily lives of students is to communicate.

Any student clubs and organizations that wish to utilize the resources offered by Beyond Tolerance can contact Lori Fuller at ljfuller@ucdavis.edu.

JESSICA GRILLI can be reached at campus@theaggie.org. 

A group of UC Davis students has been petitioning for the reinstatement of Asian American Studies professor Caroline Valverde.

After Valverde requested tenure and was denied, many in turn blamed the tenure process.

Valverde is an international scholar and has served as an assistant professor of Asian American Studies at UC Davis since 2003.

The tenure process goes through a multi-system procedure, which includes a department vote, dean vote, CAP’s (Committee on Academic Personnel) vote, vice provost vote, provost vote and the chancellor’s vote. At any level, the request can be struck down, which gives the professor one year to leave the school.

“The tenure process is such a closed process, which leads to the corruption of power,” said Eddie Truong, fourth-year Asian American studies student. “Such hierarchy needs to be looked at and revised.”

Additionally, a general University of California policy discloses that if a professor leaves or is dismissed from a UC, he or she may not apply to another UC for five years.

Nolan Zane, head of the Asian American studies department and psychology professor, said specific tenure cases and the reason that Valverde’s tenure request was denied cannot be discussed to protect the privacy rights of those involved.

“We can … say that tenure reviews are very methodical, thoughtful and comprehensive,” he said. ”The process involves reviews by many faculty at all stages of the review. Faculty members have numerous appeal rights. We also can say that tenure decisions are not influenced by or based on gender, race nor ethnicity.”

The decision to tenure a professor should be unanimous, and goes through various administrators and ultimately the chancellor, according to Eddie Truong. Truong was not able to disclose who rejected the tenure request.

Zane said that although Valverde did not receive tenure, she has not been dismissed and as of now still has a full-time academic position in the department for a one-year period. Zane also said Valverde teaches a full load of four courses for this academic year, advises both undergraduate and graduate students, conducts her research, serves on department committees and fully participates as a faculty member in department meetings.

The protest movement is at the stage of advocacy right now, and activists have recently met with Dean Jessie Ann Owens of the College of Letters and Sciences to plead their case. Additionally, students have been reaching out to administrators to understand the reason for the denial of tenure.

“She met the standard and yet didn’t get tenure which leads us to believe she was judged unfairly,” said Iris Xie, third-year English major.

Many UC Davis professors, as well professors from around the country, are in support of having Valverde reinstated.

“What makes UC Davis an exciting place to be, especially for me as a new faculty member, is that it is poised to be at the cutting edge of Asian American scholarship and teaching,” said Asian American studies professor Robyn Rodriguez. “The University can secure a place for itself in Asian American studies by retaining Professor Valverde, who is playing an important role in contributing to the study and teaching of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian American issues. I would be disappointed if the University missed the opportunity to shape the future of the field by dismissing her.”

More information on the petition can be reached at change.org/petitions/grant-tenure-to-prof-kieu-linh-caroline-valverde.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on November 5th to reflect accurate information.

NATASHA QABAZARD can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.