FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Dear Campus Community,
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been replete with grief and tragic loss for all communities, bringing into stark focus the persistent and systemic structures of racism, the use of anti-Asian rhetoric to describe the virus has been particularly damaging to the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
The alarming and well-documented increase in violence directed toward the AAPI community continues to underscore the imperative to unite in our shared commitment to ensuring equity and inclusion and to work together to facilitate a brighter and more just future for us all.
To our Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander Matadors and members of our broader community: We stand with you. We condemn racial violence in all its forms and recognize that they not only elicit tremendous fear and anxiety, but serve as a painful reminder of our country's long history of anti-Asian discrimination. We remain unequivocally dedicated to our values of equity, justice and inclusion and will continue to ensure that our campus remains a safe and welcoming environment for all.
I am grateful for the efforts by community organizations, research groups, state lawmakers and others who are calling attention to these horrific acts of racial violence and creating spaces for healing, belonging, education and action. I am likewise grateful for the efforts of our CSUN community – including the University Student Union, AAPI Social Work Collective, Asian American Studies Pathways Project, and the Asian American Studies Department – to create a "Healing Spaces" virtual event.
I encourage you to read more about the "Healing Spaces" event in the article published in CSUN Today, which also provides additional support resources for CSUN's AAPI community.
I am tremendously proud to be a member of an academic community with a long-standing history of advancing racial and social justice, and I look forward to working with each of you to continue to advance a university that is fundamentally rooted in equity and committed to inquiry, discovery and the realization of human potential.
Sincerely,
ERIKA D. BECK, PH.D.
President
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8230
(818) 677-2121
Pronouns: she, her, hers
