News from Executive Board
Dear DWCERs,
The DWC Executive Board (EB) has been engaging in conversations around anti-racism, diversity and inclusion, white privilege, and other topics related to racial justice. As mentioned in the #BlackLivesMatter #SayHerName Special Newsletter CFP statement, the DWC EC is committed to intersectional social justice and is actively discussing ways our organization can meaningfully respond to systemic racism. This email serves as an update to highlight some of the recently approved initiatives from your DWC EB.
While we view the Special Issue Newsletter as an important step, your EB is also committed to moving beyond symbolic and performative allyship. This includes reflexively looking at DWC to address our current structure and taking steps to address the lack of diversity and inclusivity across DWC leadership roles. Relatedly, the DWC is currently reviewing our organization’s constitution and we have asked the Constitution Review Committee to include proposals to address systemic racism and white privilege within the DWC’s revised aims. Moreover, we have asked the Constitution Review Committee to consider adding an additional board member with dedicated responsibility for Diversity and Inclusion. Overall, the DWC EB recognizes that for long-term change, we must institutionalize and prioritize diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism within our mission, and within the organization’s membership and leadership.
In addition, the EB has reallocated funds to financially compensate our members who are doing feminist inspired racial justice work. We understand that this work is extremely valuable to academe and communities at large, but also requires intense emotional labor and is often uncompensated. Specifically, the EB will be redirecting the 2020 Chairs’ Conference Stipend to provide stipends in the amount of $50.00 for member activities which are unpaid and focus on feminist inspired racial justice (e.g., contributions to the #BlackLivesMatter #SayHerName Special Issue Newsletter, invited talks, teach-ins, panel participations, webinars, etc.). To apply for a stipend, please send a brief description of your work undertaken or forthcoming during 2020 and the (intended) audience (including place/time) to the DWC Chair, Elaine Arnull (e.arnull@gmail.com). The total pool of money for stipends is $2500; stipends will be “first come, first serve”, and are open to all current DWC members (e.g., graduate students, faculty, and practitioners). We will feature stipend recipients’ work on DWC’s social media platforms in an effort to highlight the important contributions of our members.
The DWC EB has been meeting bi-monthly to develop a series of initiatives many of which are directly related to institutionalizing diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism efforts within our organization. We look forward to sharing additional efforts from our committees, and an invitation for participation in a new member-proposed working group soon.
Best wishes
Elaine Arnull
Chair
DWC
