The Point: This Friday’s Teach-In and Memorial
3/20/2023
Greetings, Colleagues,
This week's Point consists of materials related to the Teach-In planned for this Friday in commemoration of the life of our Student Sayed Arif Faisal and the necessary conversations we must have in the aftermath of his tragic death. The FSU Executive Committee wants to thank the organizers of the event, and encourage all unit members to attend as much of the day’s events as possible. For your information, please also see the attached Call for Transformative Justice and list of signatories.
Sincerely,
Jeff Melnick
Vice President, FSU
Colleagues,
In January of this year our student, Sayed Arif Faisal, was killed by the Cambridge Police in a violent response to a mental health crisis. Following months long efforts and planning our community will come together on Friday March 24 to confront the multiple and ongoing crises of health, belonging, policing and racial injustice that resulted in Arif’s murder. Thank you to all who responded to and signed the Call to Transformative Justice. Please join us on March 24 and consider modifications to your teaching schedule to enable your students to participate in the day’s events, detailed below.
Prof. Elora Chowdhury (Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies)
Prof. Sana Haroon (History and Asian Studies)
Prof. Keith Jones (Africana Studies)
Campus Teach-In and Day of Remembrance
March 24th, 2023, UMass Boston Alumni Lounge
9 – 10 Structural Racism’s Impact on Public Health
A panel discussion followed by Q&A with Prof. Devin Atallah and Prof. Evan Auguste (UMB Clinical Psych) and Prof. Suha Ballout (UMB College of Nursing)
Facilitators: Prof. Tahirah Abdullah (Psychology) and Prof. Keith Jones (Africana Studies)
10-11 Justice for Faisal Student & Cambridge HEART
UMB students and community organizers who will present their ideas, efforts and ideals for the Justice for Faisal campaign.
11-12 Beyond Policing: What to do Instead of Calling the Cops When Someone is in Crisis
An interactive, skills focused workshop where participants learn about and build tools for supporting loved ones in crisis without involving law enforcement led by Prof. Chris Barcelos (UMB WGSS)
12-1 Lunch
1-2 AANAPISI and Asian American Student and Community Voices
A panel discussion including Prof. Sara Hoang (Director of the Asian American Resource Office at UMB) and Karen Chi (Associate Director, Asian American Resource Office at UMB), Carolyn Chou (Asian American Resource Workshop)
2-3 International, Immigrant and Student Lives in Boston
UMB Students will talk about their lives and experiences as young international, immigrant, Muslim, PoC.
3-4 Campus Health and Campus Belonging
Panel discussion on presenters’ ideals for an anti-racist pedagogy and curricular interventions opening up to Q&A, including Prof. Tony Vandermeer (Africana Studies), Prof. Pratna Kem (Asian American Studies), Prof. Helen Poynton (School for the Environment)
Facilitators: Prof. Patrica Krueger-Henney (Urban Education, Leadership and Policy Studies), Prof. Keith Jones (Africana Studies),
4-5 Educators, Activists and Community Solidarity
Fatema Ahmad (Executive Director of Muslim Justice League), Prof. Urmitapa Dutta (Dept of Psychology, UMass Lowell), Prof. Pratyush Bharati (Management Information Systems, UMB), Prof. Nafisa Tanjeem (Worcester State University Interdisciplinary Studies)
Facilitator: Prof. Elora Chowdhury (UMB WGSS)
This is a panel discussion of Boston educators and activists in the area about community activism, the challenges facing our students and communities across the city.
5-5.15 Closing Remarks
5.15-7 Memorial Panel
7-9 Dinner
