DACA – C-VILLE Weekly

In brief: Protestors push on, police donors exposed, victims speak out, and more

Tenure trouble

UVA’s “Great and Good” strategic plan lists “recruiting and retaining excellent and diverse faculty” as a central goal. But this year, two black scholars who have been denied tenure claim the decision process was significantly flawed, possibly due to racial bias.

Paul Harris has worked at UVA’s Curry School of Education since 2011, studying identity development in black male student-athletes and underrepresented students’ college readiness. For the past six years, Harris’ annual reviews indicated that he was meeting or exceeding expectations. So he was shocked to learn in January that an all-white, college-wide promotion and tenure committee had recommended against giving him tenure. Instead, he was offered a promotion—for a non-tenure-track position.

Harris says the committee claimed his research in the Journal of African American Males in Education in 2016 was “self-published.” (In fact, the peer-reviewed journal has a 23 percent acceptance rate.) The committee also got his citation counts wrong—they’re five times higher than the committee claimed.

Sociologist Tolu Odumosu has been on the tenure track at UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science since 2013. He’s co-written and co-edited two books, and helped write a $3 million National Science Foundation grant. After his third-year review suggested he expand his editing experience, he also became an associate editor of two journals.

But the engineering school’s tenure committee did not grant him tenure this year. It claimed that Odumosu hadn’t written enough work by himself, and was not the principal investigator named on the NSF grant. Like Harris, Odumosu had not been warned that his work was not up to par.

Both men appealed the decisions to UVA’s provost, but the appeals were rejected. The scholars are now appealing to the Faculty Senate’s grievance committee—their last option.

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Quote of the week

“This is a moment to step boldly into our future…We have to work together to decide what kind of Virginia we’re going to be. I’m ready for the challenge.”

—State Senator Jennifer McClellan, announcing her campaign for Virginia governor

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In brief

Still on the march

Charlottesville activists continue to mobilize the community to protest police brutality. Large marches and demonstrations have taken place in town at least once a week since the death of George Floyd in late May. Last weekend, protesters marching downtown also directed some of their energy toward patrons of the mall’s outdoor restaurants: The demonstrators chanted “Shame” at diners who were sipping beer and chewing on burgers.

Convention contagion?

Denver Riggleman’s campaign claims that several delegates who participated in the recent drive-thru Republican convention have contracted coronavirus, reports CBS19. The local Republican Party denies the accusation. Riggleman continues to criticize the drive-thru convention format that saw him lose the congressional nomination to challenger Bob Good. “Voter fraud has been a hallmark of this process,” Riggleman tweeted on election night.

Donor debate

Community members have noticed that the Charlottesville Police Foundation—dedicated to fundraising for the “advanced training, new technologies and equipment, [and] housing assistance” that isn’t covered by the department’s $18 million budget—posted a list of donors on its website. The list featured several local restaurants and other businesses, as well as individuals, including City Council members Lloyd Snook and Heather Hill.

Exposing abuse

Tweets about allegations of sexual assault and harassment directed at dozens of UVA students and staff appeared on an anonymous Twitter account last week. The alleged incidents once again drew attention to students’ calls for reform—in April, student advocacy group UVA Survivors created a list of demands for institutional change in sexual assault policy, reports The Cavalier Daily. The list has garnered around 1,700 new signatures in the past week.

Immigration action

UVA will now allow students to enroll and graduate “regardless of citizenship or immigration status,” the university announced last week. Previously, only DACA recipients—not other “undocu+” students—had not been allowed to matriculate. The decision represents a long-sought victory for activists around the school community.

‘Back to the shadows:’ Community responds to DACA repeal

“What do we want?” shouts UVA fourth-year Jacqueline Cortes in a red rain coat to a crowd of nearly 300 students and faculty members. “JUSTICE,” they echo. “When do we want it?” “NOW!”

“If we don’t get it…” she says, and they answer, “We shut it down!”

Cortes, a biology major and Spanish language minor, is a founder of DREAMers on Grounds, the university group that organized the occupation on the Garrett Hall steps September 6, a day after President Trump announced plans to rescind a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

DACA is an Obama administration immigration policy established in 2012 to allow certain undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as minors, such as Cortes, to be eligible for a work permit and deferred action from deportation.

The Alexandria resident came to America from Mexico when she was 9 years old.

“I didn’t know what borders meant,” Cortes says. “I didn’t know the law. But I’m not throwing my parents under the bus anymore. …They brought me here, and my sibling, when he was 3, because they wanted the best for us.”

After Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act (a process to grant undocumented immigrant minors citizenship) in 2010, she says the 2012 passing of DACA “wasn’t the answer—just a little, tiny Band-Aid to the huge problem.”

But even that has been taken away from her and the approximately 12,000 young people with DACA status in the state, according to Virginia Organizing.

“Now we have to go back to the shadows,” Cortes says. “Now we have to be scared again.”

The fourth-year student calls for permanent protection for all DREAMers and their families. Locally, Charlottesville-based nonprofit Sin Barreras is assisting those with DACA status.

Sin Barreras connects the local immigrant community to health, immigration, education and banking services. It also provides low-cost legal counseling and direct help to DACA children.

“Sometimes [undocumented people] are not as sensitive to what’s happening because they’ve struggled forever. They’ve had hard lives and these things happen,” says Edgar Lara, the nonprofit’s community engagement coordinator. “But something like this, it’s really hard. …They’re scared.”

He says locals with DACA status should connect with attorneys or accredited representatives immediately, and Sin Barreras can help them do that.

DACA holders are a real strength for the undocumented community because they’re Americanized, Lara adds.

“They have a voice,” he says. “And when they’re able to express themselves, it’s such a great thing. Too often, the undocumented community doesn’t have that voice because they don’t speak the language.”

Sin Barreras is putting on the September 16 Cville Sabroso Festival at Ix Art Park, which is Charlottesville’s annual Latin American music, dance, art and food celebration.

“It’s a difficult time, but coming together isn’t just about the struggle,” Lara says. “We need to come together and also celebrate so people see another side to this community.”