The School of Communication at the University of Miami is a community of students, staff, and educators who value diversity, support learning about difference and shared values through dialogue, and respect the dignity of all human beings. We stand in solidarity with the Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and deplore the violence and discrimination targeting them. We understand that anti-AAPI racism has deep roots in the history of this country and vow to use our skills as communicators, researchers, and teachers to unmask harmful stereotypes, strengthen helpful narratives, and uplift the voices of AAPI community members in our university and throughout the United States. We are proud that many of our faculty, staff, and students have Asian ancestry or call Asia home. We will continue to work together to strengthen their voices and support their well-being in our classrooms and society through our teaching, media creation, and research. Among our commitments are:

  • Hiring more faculty who critically analyze media representations and race in their courses and scholarship,
  • Speaking out against prejudicial behaviors or speech,
  • Reporting incidents of bias or other harmful conduct when we experience or witness them on our campuses,
  • Learning and teaching about anti-Asian racism,
  • Responding to COVID-19 racism in our daily life (i.e., interrupt, educate, question, echo),
  • Listening more systematically to student voices through confidential focus group conversations. In groups of students with similar racial, ethnic or other social identities, SoC students can share experiences and ideas to help us ensure our community is supporting the well-being and professional growth of all its members. SoC students may click here to indicate which groups you would like to attend. We will follow up.
  • Continuing our personal growth through training and reflection on implicit and overt forms of bias,
  • Diversifying our courses and curriculum so that many experiences are valued and the dynamics of harmful systems of power, such as racism, sexism and xenophobia, are understood and dismantled,
  • Supporting student organizations, such as the UM Filipino Student Association (FSA) and the Asian American Student Association (AASA),
  • And creating more spaces in our classrooms, media, organizations, and school events where cross-cultural dialogue and learning can take place.

We encourage community members to participate in the AASA and FSA “Cultural Showcase for a Cause” fundraiser on campus March 27, the Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) event ‘Brave Spaces: Combating Violence in AAPI Communities” event on March 29, and allyship and bystander intervention training offered on several upcoming dates.

Resources, such as where AAPI students, faculty, and staff can find support on campus and how to become more knowledgeable about disrupting anti-Asian racism, can be found in the MSA Resource Guide https://www.hr.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/diversity-inclusion/training-materials/aapi-resource-guide.pdf.