The Gender Studies Program at CSB/SJU acknowledges that racism has been woven into the social fabric of the United States, from the moment Europeans first encountered the Americas. Racism and white supremacy are built into our socio-economic, cultural, and political institutions and practices, have infiltrated our individual psychologies, and thus permeate our daily experiences and interactions.

Creating real and enduring change requires that each of us works to actively dismantle racism and white supremacy, starting with ourselves and extending to our communities and our individual spheres of influence. As the beneficiaries and inadvertent reinforcers of white supremacy, white people have a necessary and distinctive role to play in creating a more inclusive community where the knowledge, oppression, and experiences of black, indigenous, and people of color are heard, validated, and addressed.

We in Gender Studies commit ourselves to the active and ongoing personal, pedagogical, and political work necessary to understand and dismantle systems of racism and white supremacy in our lives, our thinking, our research, and our teaching. We acknowledge that, while doing this work will often be uncomfortable and may sometimes be painful, it is a necessary part of the process of creating justice, healing, and the conditions for joy, for our students, our communities, and ourselves.

Specific action items in which Gender Studies is currently engaged include: carrying out our anti-racism action plan, finalizing guidelines for inclusive teaching, integrating career planning into our major so students from all backgrounds can envision majoring in Gender Studies, sponsoring student and faculty development around queer/trans studies from an explicitly intersectional perspective.