The University of Oregon campus in Eugene is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, the Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the U.S. government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, Kalapuya descendants are primarily citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
We acknowledge that our Portland campus is located on the traditional homeland of the Chinook, Clackamas, Kalapuya, Kathlamet, Molalla, Multnomah, and Tualatin people, in addition to other tribes and bands. We express our respect for all federally recognized Tribal Nations of Oregon, which continue to make important contributions to their communities, the UO, Oregon, and the world.
Statement of Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Antiracism, and Anti-Oppression
The UO School of Journalism and Communication aims to foster responsible citizens, scholars, and professionals who understand the value, richness, and strength of a diverse community. Our humanity demands we continue progressing toward those goals to create a more just, equitable, and inclusive society. As a community of media and communication scholars, journalists, strategic communicators, and content producers, we believe in the importance of diverse representation, antiracism, and anti-oppression as vital components of education and communication. We commit to continue building a more inclusive learning and professional working environment for our students, faculty, and staff.
In 2021, the SOJC offered more than $600,000 in scholarships, including over $221,000 to students from underrepresented backgrounds. In 2020, donors launched the SOJC Diversity Excellence Scholarship fund to support students from underrepresented populations as well as the school’s commitment to building a stronger and more empowered community through a more inclusive and diverse student body. Students can use the scholarship to pay for all educational expenses, including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board.
The SOJC Diverse Alumni Mentoring Network is a collective of SOJC alumni who volunteer their experience and time to help students of diverse cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds adjust to the UO system and the school’s culture. They also mentor students in how to navigate professional fields that do not look, write, or sound like them and their communities. The program uses multiple entry points to facilitate one-on-one connections between students and alumni of color, as well as women, LGBTQ+, and first-generation college attendees.
SOJC Common Reading
The SOJC’s DEI Committee recommends the following books to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members.
Reason for recommending: Allissa Richardson’s award-winning book Bearing Witness While Black is a moving and provocative look at the history of Black witnessing of police brutality, up through the murder of George Floyd. It speaks directly to the relationship between journalism and racial inequity.
Reason for recommending: Given the SOJC’s investment in science communication, through initiatives such as Science & Memory, the Center for Science Communication Research (SCR), and our science communication minor, books that advance diverse perspectives on climate and the environment are essential to our work and our school. Braiding Sweetgrass shows how to approach science via past and current indigenous knowledge, broadening the lenses through which we view the world.
Reason for recommending: Lewis Raven Wallace dives deep into the history of “objectivity” in journalism and how it has been used to gatekeep and silence marginalized writers as far back as Ida B. Wells. He calls for the dismissal of this damaging mythology to confront the realities of institutional power, racism, and other forms of oppression and exploitation in the news industry.
Reason for recommending: Ahmed addresses how diversity comes to be integrated into institutions, such as higher ed, and how this work is often performative rather than transformative. She also addresses how diversity workers generate strategies and knowledge for overcoming these challenges and continuing to work toward equity and inclusion.
Reason for recommending: Under increasingly intense newsroom demands, reporters often find it difficult to cover the complexity of topics that deal with racial and social inequality. This path-breaking book lays out simple, effective reporting strategies that equip journalists to investigate disparity’s root causes.