Dear EECS Students and Staff,
Here
in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, we stand
in support of and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and
those peacefully
protesting following the horrific killing of George Floyd in the US. We
have all been shocked and saddened by the death of George Floyd and the
historic and ongoing racism and anti-Blackness in the US, the UK, and
across the world. We want to share in expressing
our condolences to all those affected, and in condemning incidents of
racism and hate crimes. We stand with and support our Black colleagues,
students, friends, and family.
We
recognise that the systems and underlying attitudes that led to George
Floyd’s death are not unique in either time or place: racism,
anti-blackness, and inequality
are unfortunately found across the UK. We recognise the distress that
this incident has caused to staff and students, particularly Black staff
and students, and that this stress is compounded by the ongoing global
coronavirus pandemic which has also disproportionately
affected Black and ethnic minority people. As a community, we commit
ourselves to caring for each other and to being open to talk, listen,
and learn about these issues.
Many
will also want to express solidarity with those taking action at the
moment. You can join us in finding out more about the #BlackLivesMatter
movement and how
we can support it by donating, educating ourselves and others, as well
as self-care and support for Black communities here:
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
We recognise that it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.
Support is available for students and staff who have been victims of hate-crime here:
https://reportandsupport.qmul.ac.uk/support/what-support-is-available-for-hate-crimesincidents
And general staff support here:
http://hr.qmul.ac.uk/wellbeing/mental-wellbeing/employee-assistance-programme/
Although
we are striving for equality within the School, we recognise that more
efforts are needed going forwards to recruit, mentor, support and
promote BAME academics, technical and professional-services
staff. EECS is committed to progressing equality, diversion and
inclusion. Our Equalities Committee has been working to address
inequalities within our School and we will use our next meeting to
reflect on how well our Action Plan addresses race equality
and identify further avenues for promoting and supporting diversity and
inclusion for all our staff and students.
