$122k goes to anti-racism research at this public university

University of Michigan's Anti-Racism Collaborative announced that it awarded $122,000 to 27 graduate students whose projects focused on racial equity, racial justice, and racial inequality.

The Anti-Racism Collaborative promotes hiring faculty members focusing on racial justice, systemic racism, and anti-racism.

On June 21, the University of Michigan’s Anti-Racism Collaborative announced that it awarded $122,000 to 27 graduate students whose projects focused on racial equity, racial justice, and racial inequality.

The Anti-Racism Collaborative is a National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) project whose mission is to “create a truly equitable and inclusive society.”

The grants were co-sponsored by NCID, the Rackham Graduate School, and the Center for Racial Justice (CRJ) in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. 

In the announcement, former NCID Director Tabbye Chavous said she is “proud to support the training of graduate students, such as this year’s grantees, who are critical to an anti-racist academy.”

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Some of the graduate projects include: “Dating Under the White Gaze: An Examination of Black Women’s Online Dating Experiences,” “An Anti-Colonial Phenomenology of Racialized Knowledge Systems, Epistemic Injustice, and Epistemic Resistance in Graduate Education,” and “Towards a ‘Quare’ Battle Fatigue: Queer and Trans Students of Color’s Experiences of and Resistance to Queer & Racial Battle Fatigue.”

The projects were described as “inspiring” by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Director of the Center for Racial Justice and Ford School Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

“The breadth, depth, and interdisciplinarity of the proposed projects is inspiring, and I cannot wait to see these projects develop and evolve over the next year,” she said.

In addition to the award, Michigan’s Anti-Racism Collaborative will conduct university-wide projects to fight alleged racism. 

Among the projects is a faculty cluster hiring plan that would hire 20 tenure track faculty members specializing in anti-racism, systemic racism, and racial injustice. The project, initiated in 2020, will unfold over 3 years, according to the announcement. 

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UM also plans to fill four tenure track positions in the STEM fields to combat inequity. 

“The STEM faculty brought to campus will have a dedicated record of professional and civic practices that counteract bias and inequity in their field,” the announcement regarding the ”Anti-racism faculty hiring initiativeread.

Campus Reform reached out to every individual, university, and organization mentioned in this article and will update accordingly. 

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