The University of Michigan faculty’s Senate Assembly voted Jan. 23 to approve a statement condemning racism against those of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.
The resolution acknowledges growing anti-Asian racism in the United States and the aggression and hate shown in public spaces that has endangered the lives of all people perceived to be of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.
Read the resolution
The statement calls for U-M to explicitly acknowledge the escalation in anti-Asian sentiment, reaffirm the university’s own commitment to anti-racism, and develop strategies to address all forms of discrimination based on race.
The resolution cites increased anti-Chinese sentiment spurred by the federal government’s China Initiative of 2018, a Trump administration effort to counter China’s theft of American intellectual property. Amid criticism that the effort led to racial profiling, the U.S. Justice Department ended the program in February 2022.
Dinesh Pal, associate professor of anesthesiology and chair of the Committee on Anti-Racism, wrote and presented the resolution.
Senate Assembly members voted electronically to approve the statement with 35 out of 40 votes in favor, with two against and three abstentions.
The Senate Assembly is a 74-member arm of U-M’s central faculty governance system, which also includes the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs and the full Faculty Senate.
Dinesh Pal
Dear Readers and Colleagues,
Just a quick clarification. Although the above article attributed the authorship of the anti-Asian racism statement solely to me, it was jointly developed by the members of the senate committee on anti-racism. Special thanks to the committee member, Dr. Minerva Garcia-Barrio, for initiating the discussions on this resolution and to Dr. Ann Chih Lin for her critical input in the preparation of the final statement.
-Dinesh Pal (Chair, Committee on Anti-racism)