Current students in Chico State theatre program question alumni demands
The current students of the CSU Chico Theatre Department’s Theatre Diversity Committee do not stand with the CSAC group and their efforts to malign our current administration. We fear this group will cause lasting damage to our educational environment and does not seek to bring about positive, constructive change as they claim is their purpose.
A significant grievance from the current student body with CSAC is their lack of outreach to diversity campaigns and organizations already in place within the department.
CSUC Theatre Diversity Committee was created in Spring 2018 in order to address concerns from both students and faculty about the systemic eurocentrism in our department. It was then that current students were able to express their concerns about the department as it stood and the committee became very productive. Changes were made immediately. For example, the department chair reached out to the Theatre Diversity Committee in order to amend the casting policy that was brought up as a concern at that meeting and within a week the casting policy was revised to reflect progressive and equitable values.
In a private, current student only Town Hall Meeting, the committee quickly worked to establish new programs and curriculum designed to meet the needs of students of color and LGBTQ+ students who had previously felt sidelined in regard to class reading lists, cast lists, season selection, etc... with the wholehearted support of the current theatre faculty.
An immediate falsehood in the article posted was the notion that the town hall meeting for alumni was not moderated. In fact, the first town hall was moderated by the department chair, an understandable problematic use of their position of power. However, it begs to mention that this meeting still allowed the voices of all with grievances, particularly alumni from many years prior, to be heard in a respectful manner. Current students in attendance noted multiple alumni’s pointed remarks and direct attacks on the current administration, especially from those who had graduated far before the department chair arrived as an associate professor.
It was not until the alumni group began targeting the department chair directly that the conversation shifted from constructive criticism towards future work to a direct attack on our faculty and department.
In one quotation, a supporter has said that the department chair has claimed since the administration’s workforce has largely been turned over since the alumni’s time here, that the problem has been solved.
This is grossly false.
The faculty have repeatedly acknowledged the necessary work towards antiracism that needs to, and is, taking place on campus and particularly within our program. When many members of CSAC were introduced to the current department chair as students themselves, he didn’t hold enough power to make the changes he has been working towards present day.
The creation of Theatre Diversity Committee sprang forth from a noted issue with diversity in the casting of shows in Spring of 2018 as well as a whitewashed classroom reading list. The president of the committee, an open Queer, Indigenous Person of Color, was contacted very briefly once about a vague meeting taking place, but was never contacted again to speak with CSAC.
The current student perspective is a critical factor missing from CSAC’s programming. They claim their inability to reach current students, however the current student body is heavily aware of the group and their campaign. Many of the current students who have been reached out to are being preyed upon by this group, being pressured to come forward or to align themselves with the group. Others have been left out of the conversation entirely, most notably the executive board of the Theatre Diversity Committee. It begs the question: why has this group ignored the students most vocal in advocating for antiracism in our department? Why have they consistently negated the efforts put forth by students working to better their own education?
Current students are bearing the weight of the consequences of CSAC’s actions. Students have expressed feeling gaslit, anxious, and overwhelmed by the “work” this group believes to be so righteous. Fear for the quality of our education as a result of CSAC’s demands has been widespread and shared among many current students. The emotional toll and consistent trauma that this group has imposed on current students are entirely antithetical to their purported cause.
We also need it to be recognized that the department we are in now is nothing like the department that even current senior students were a part of their freshman year.
Coming into this department as freshman, many current seniors and juniors felt bullied and put down by upperclassmen, many of whom are the most prominent members of this organization. The issues they raise feel to us as though they have arisen from a vendetta against an administration that sought to protect our peers from their bullying, along with older alumni’s genuine grievances against a past administration.
Complacency on the part of this group in their time at this institution does not constitute disrupting our educational experience, especially when much of the work is being done by current students to better our situations. They didn’t care about us so ardently in the past, and no apologies or openness about unifying for change have been communicated to us since. Why would we assume they want change for us besides these new statements?
In the years since, the current student body has consistently fostered a culture of caring, a community which seeks to uplift especially among its most underprivileged and vulnerable populations. With this culture of caring a fight for equity unprecedented in our department’s history has emerged.
CSAC has continually looked beyond the efforts made by faculty, staff, and current students including but not limited to active decolonization of syllabi and curriculum, equitable casting policy updates in regard to race, gender, and sexuality, consistent masterclasses from a wide variety of guest lecturers to provide mentorship for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students, and a pledge to produce at least 50% of our productions written by BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ creators. Engaging in our Book In Common at California State University, Chico “How To Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi has also made major contributions to the faculty’s efforts of educating themselves and their students. This book has led to many personal and professional conversations in the rehearsal room and classroom alike. This work alone is only a small example of the work being done in the department.
How can we gain more exposure to BIPOC communities and expand our diverse student body when this image is posted by such a big name as OnStageBlog? It’s disheartening to know that the voices of BIPOC students does not matter to a group like CSAC. This group refuses to look beyond their personal experiences and educate themselves while they demand our faculty to do so. Part of being able to demand equity and education starts within yourself and the group you align with. Having facts to fall back on, especially current voices, would allow for a more impactful approach on real change that can be accomplished.
The Theatre Diversity Committee of California State University, Chico does not seek to silence this group or their experiences. We recognize the trauma and lasting damage that white supremacy and systemic racism in our department has caused. However we are tired. We are tired of the constant negation of the work we are doing from the inside. We are tired of the lies this group has spread about our faculty. We are tired of the mental duress this group has put many students under as a result of their refusal to collaborate. We are tired of their intimidation and scare tactics. Their decision to go public has forced our hand to go public as well in defense of our home.
We hope that this rebuttal serves as a lesson that good intentions can easily be misguided. We understand the position of hurt these alumni are coming from but we will not sit idly by as they chip away at and destroy the foundation of our education. We respect the alumni wanting change for us, but since we have not been reached out to at all, their requests do not speak for us.
We are taught that collaboration is the heart of theatre, and this group’s utter unwillingness to collaborate has created a rift that cannot be crossed between our ideologies. Combating systemic racism and promoting diversity is a collaborative process, and the utter lack of communication and finger-pointing is completely counterproductive. Our thinking is not dissimilar to theirs, however, their aggression, tactics, and overall demeanor could not be more contrary to the work our department has been undertaking.
As theatre practitioners, our education has taught us to stand up to bullying, intimidation, falsehood, aggression, and lies. We are taught that we have a right and an obligation to demand better for ourselves, our peers, and the generations of theatre practitioners who will follow us.
Our institution is not perfect. We have felt the sting of white supremacy and racial prejudice in our own safe spaces. And, at the end of the day, we the current student body have stood up to these issues and are fighting this fight for ourselves. We want to be in control of our education and future and although we appreciate CSAC’s attempt to help, at this moment in time it is very evident that we should do it on our own terms.
There is no excuse and no defense for the blatant, widespread racism of the theatre industry. Especially in a post-COVID society, we have seen the call for the highest levels of the field to radically change the way that we think and operate in the theatre. This is vital, necessary work.
It has lasting implications on the lives of all theatre lovers and participants, onstage and off. It is unfair, cruel, damaging, and a complete misdirection of the antiracist movement to decry a university which has protected its most vulnerable students by refusing to negotiate with hate, aggression, and flat out lies.