A Message From the President - We Stand with APIA Communities
March 22, 2021 - 02:00 PM
A Message from the President - We Stand in Solidarity with Our APIA Communities
On May 13, 2020, the Board of Trustees and I endorsed Resolution 19-26 “Denouncing Xenophobia and Anti-Asian Sentiment Arising Due to Fears of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Affirming Mt. San Antonio College’s Commitment to the Well-Being and Safety of Asian-Pacific Islander Communities.” A year ago, we were hearing remarks from the leadership of our nation denouncing Asians, especially Chinese, as the fault for the pandemic, calling it “Kung Flu” and the “Chinese Virus.” I want to reiterate that the Board of Trustees and I stand united in our outrage and sadness about the progressive violence and discriminatory treatment of Asian Americans in our country, evidenced by the recent killings in Atlanta.
Our Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) students and employees contribute significantly to the excellence of Mt. SAC. We recognize that nationally and locally, including at Mt. SAC, there has been mistreatment of the APIA community be it intentional or through acts of unconscious bias and racial micro-aggressions. We must recognize the actions that have served to marginalize and even cause threat, harm, and pain to our APIA students and employees. We must commit ourselves to do better. We must work daily to lock arms and take a stand in our commitment to recognize both overt acts of racism as well as less obvious acts of harm.
We want all employees and students affiliated with Mt. San Antonio College to at all times be respected, valued, and treated fairly. There is no place for hate speech, scapegoating, violence, or mistreatment of any kind toward any individual on our campus and within our community. Our focus and commitment as a college is to ensure the safety of everyone associated with our College community and to ensure that our words and actions, policies and procedures, curriculum and teaching, services, and interventions are fair, unbiased, and harm-free. We have zero tolerance for anything less.
As we continue our work to become a safer, more open, more accepting campus that deeply values and practices diversity, equity, and inclusion, I urge you to join together in support of our Asian and Pacific Islander communities both on campus and in the larger community. To those amongst us who have been harmed in any way, we offer our collective and heartfelt apology with our promise and continued commitment to work toward creating and sustaining a community that is respectful and appreciative of our diversity.
Dr. Bill Scroggins
President and CEO Mt. San Antonio College
