Tag Archives: University of California Los Angeles

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Degrading black professors

2 Comments

Depicting a black professor as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor was just the beginning. Sign my petition calling on California’s attorney general to investigate systemic racism at UCLA.

Dr. Christian Head was a respected surgeon at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). But because he is black, Dr. Head was the target of blatant discrimination — including a public presentation that featured an image depicting Dr. Head as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor.

Dr. Head fought back. After more than 100,000 people signed a petition supporting him on Change.org, his lawyers were able to secure a landmark settlement from UCLA. But Dr. Head was far from the only faculty member to experience racism at UCLA. 

In fact, a shocking new study reveals that the problem is extremely widespread. As a national board member of the NAACP who lives in Los Angeles, I am abhorred that a prestigious public university like UCLA would turn a blind eye to the systematic degradation of its non-white faculty members.

That’s why I started a petition on Change.org calling on California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, to launch an investigation into racism at UCLA to determine if civil rights laws have been violated and to recommend solutions. Click here to sign my petition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the recent campus-wide study of racism at UCLA — led by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno — said that UCLA regularly ignored complaints about discrimination and retaliation. One Latino professor reported being called a racial slur by a colleague in front of his students. He says he was told that reporting what happened to him would only “cause more trouble.”

Since UCLA refuses to take action to address systemic racism on campus, it’s time for Attorney General Harris to step in. 

As a strong woman of color in California leadership, Attorney General Harris is uniquely positioned to take swift and decisive action to address UCLA’s pernicious culture of discrimination. I know that if thousands of people sign my petition, Attorney General Harris will respond, just as a petition created key pressure to enable Dr. Head to win his settlement from UCLA.

Click here to sign my petition calling on Attorney General Harris to launch an investigation into systemic racism at UCLA. 

Thank you,

Ron Hasson Los Angeles, CA

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

VICTORY: UC Regents settles suit against UCLA Surgeon, Dr. Christian Head


changeorg

Friend,

Thanks to you, UCLA couldn’t shake the public’s outrage that nearly 120,000 Change.org signatures awakened. The late Willis Edwards started this petition to stop the discrimination and retaliation against an African American surgeon. Despite succumbing to cancer before the resolution of this case, you made his effort a success.

Dr. Christian Head, a respected UCLA surgeon who was the target of blatant racial discrimination and unrelenting retaliation, was finally awarded a settlement sum of $4.5 million from the University of California’s Board of Regents.

In fact, your signature and support for Dr. Head was so effective that the petition pressed UCLA to undertake a campus-wide survey to evaluate the university’s racial climate among its faculty.

The 5-member panel that oversaw the survey was led by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno. The results were scathing. Thanks to the Los Angeles Times, the public has learned the findings of the report reveal a shameful pattern.

The report found that UCLA’s review process “failed to adequately record, investigate, or provide for disciplinary sanctions for incidents which, if substantiated, would constitute violations of university nondiscrimination policy.” In other words, UCLA ignored complaints about discrimination and retaliation.

While Dr. Christian Head’s settlement is a huge victory, the university faces continued problems. Currently, Dr. Joel Sercarz, the only physician to have publicly substantiated Dr. Head’s allegations, is currently involved in a lawsuit against UCLA for the retaliation he faced when he came to Dr. Head’s defense. And other suits regarding unprofessional workplace conduct are also pending.

You can help reform UCLA’s racial climate. It’s time to ask the California Attorney General, Kamala Harris to step in to conduct and independent investigation on claims of discrimination and retaliation that UCLA bypassed.

Follow this link to sign the petition:  https://www.change.org/petitions/ca-attorney-general-kamala-harris-investigate-ucla-for-ignoring-discrimination-and-retaliation-complaints-by-faculty-members

UCLA has forfeited its credibility to handle such sensitive and critical matters.

Thank you so much for supporting Dr. Head in this landmark case taking on institutionalized racism. Now, let’s keep up the tremendous effort to change the toxic climate at UCLA.

Ron Hasson, NAACP Board Member