A crowd of nearly 200 faculty, students, staff and others gathered in Millberry Union Gymnasium on the Parnassus campus on Oct. 8 to honor UCSF’s social justice history.
“I feel it is an honor to inaugurate the work of muralist Juana Alicia. Her mural captures the spirit of diversity here at UCSF,” said Chancellor Mike Bishop, MD, who spearheaded the project which began over 10 years ago.
Led by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Diversity, the mural celebration is one of the highlights of a series of diversity related activities taking place this month. The gathering exemplified UCSF’s efforts to establish a culture of diversity on the campus, which has identified nurturing diversity as one of seven strategic visions in the UCSF Strategic Plan.
The mural titled, “SANARTE: Diversity’s Pathway,” is comprised of five different panels made out of tile and located next to the Ambulatory Care Center. The panels represent global healing traditions and highlight the unique efforts of individuals involved in furthering UCSF’s commitment to diversity.
Alicia opened her talk by saying that she wanted to pay special tribute to the labor struggle everywhere.
“I feel honored to have been chosen for this project,” said Alicia. “Each panel highlights a sacred place in the struggle and I am happy we are honoring it with this spiritual celebration.”
Sacrifice and Struggle
The “strike” panel honors the actions of those who advanced the civil rights struggle at UCSF during the “janitor’s strike” of 1970. The strike was strongly supported by the UCSF Black Caucus which presented a list of demands to University leadership at the time. Those involved in the struggle are credited with moving UCSF toward an environment of equity and fairness.
Many former leaders of the Black Caucus were present at the event. They were recognized by Dan Lowenstein, MD, a professor in the department of neurology, as being true “living legends.”
“It’s because of the sacrifices of these individuals that we are able to have much of the diversity we do today,” said Lowenstein. “They risked their jobs so that we could have a better future.”
The Black Caucus’ struggle for greater social justice, which included wanting to increase the number of underrepresented in faculty positions, was further honored with a five-minute short film produced by UCSF Public Affairs. The film sets the context of the struggle at UCSF against the larger struggle taking place in the nation at the time. Those involved in the civil rights movement at UCSF offer their insight in the film, as do Michael Adams, director of UCSF Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity, and Haile Debas, MD, former UCSF chancellor and now executive director of Global Health Sciences, and Lowenstein.
The purpose of the film is to capture a glimpse of the struggle and allow those who were a part of it to communicate to future generations.
“I thought the short film was very effective,” said Nancy Milliken, MD, vice dean of the School of Medicine. “I am hoping we can show it at outreach events so that people will have a better sense of our history.”
The celebration brought out the University’s top leadership, students and staff, including many maintenance workers. The maintenance workers were honored at one point during the program when Lowenstein asked UCSF students to present each maintence worker with a metal pin which symbolically shows appreciation for their service to UCSF.
A number of maintenance workers also voiced their concerns during the first few minutes of the program. They demanded that the Chancellor meet with them to address issues around contract negotiations between the University and AFSCME Local 3299, the union which represents the University of California’s 8,500 service workers. One worker addressed the crowd by saying he had been without a contract for two years and was facing serious financial crisis and finding it difficult to support his family.
“I think it is very important that we hear this voice today,” said Lowenstein. “Their demands show that the struggle for equity still continues today.”
The struggle for equity and fair pay struck home for Leah Brown, a dancer with the Chitresh Das Dance Company, who performed a classical dance of North India at the event. She told the audience about the personal impact UCSF had on her life.
“My mom was able to get a job at UCSF during a time when you didn’t see many African American women in administration. That’s because of UCSF’s commitment to diversity,” said Brown. “She was able to support my sister and me as a single mom and expose us to the arts because of the opportunity she had here.”
Dee Spencer, who played UCSF’ grand piano, and her jazz ensemble made the gymnasium come alive by performing foot-stomping New Orleans-style jazz throughout the event.
Spencer, who heads up the music department at San Francisco State University, noted the symbolic meaning of the celebration. “I think the event today is fantastic; this feels like such an incredible moment in history to see all the individuals here who had such a part of it,” said Spencer. “I feel honored to be playing here.”
Spencer and John Watson, PhD, professor emeritus, referred to as “the Godfather of the mural project” by Alicia, lead the crowd out to see the newly cleaned mural unveiled as the celebration continued into the afternoon.
Photos by Susan Merrell
