Greetings Davis Joint Unified School District Leadership:
We write as University of California, Davis, anti-racist scholars who support Ethnic Studies at the State and local levels.
While Ethnic Studies shares some pedagogy and methodology with Jewish Studies, Women’s/Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Whiteness Studies, Ethnic Studies since its inception in 1968 has focused on the experiences and histories of the following core racial ethnic groups of color: Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latinx communities. Ethnic Studies Courses, with their anti-racist curriculum and their critical and intersectional approaches, have been shown to be effective at teaching students about systems of power and oppression, an important topic that extends beyond issues of racism and impacts all aspects of our lives. For students of color whose histories and experiences are often invisibilized or marginalized in mainstream curricula, Ethnic Studies provides an important opportunity for developing greater knowledge as well as self-esteem. In addition, Ethnic Studies courses facilitate and promote the cultivation of critical thinking and problem solving, civic and cultural awareness, collaboration, adaptability, and resilience through a curriculum that is centered on the perspectives of historically marginalized groups. The pedagogy embodied in Ethnic Studies is one that necessitates culturally responsive teaching and encourages students to seek pathways for their communities to break from systems of oppression and inequity. This is more urgent than ever given the climate of racism and xenophobia stoked by the Trump administration.
Given the importance and potential of Ethnic Studies to enrich the K-12 curriculum, we are deeply concerned with the anti-Ethnic Studies statements that a few UC Davis faculty have recently published in the press and have communicated to the State Department of Education. These statements are inaccurate, ignore the value of gold-standard research methods and approaches in the social sciences and are arguably racist. We are strongly disappointed that a few UCD faculty circulated anti-Ethnic Studies views in the local community and that the local “high performing” 
school district has resisted recognizing the four core racialized ethnic groups, defined historically and legally, in their DJUSD Ethnic Studies Task Force. It has derailed real efforts to implement a robust K-12 Ethnic Studies curriculum in the local schools.
As University of California, Davis, anti-racist scholars who support Ethnic Studies at the State and local levels we wholeheartedly support: first, the presence of Ethnic Studies curriculum in schools is a civil right; and second, Ethnic Studies is intrinsically anti-racist as it addresses systems of oppression, and employs critical and intersectional approaches; and third, Ethnic Studies must be taught at DJUSD.
Truthfully,
UC Davis Anti-Racist Faculty
CC: Provost; Vice Chancellor; and Chancellor
Signatures
Raquel E. Aldana, Professor of Law, UC Davis
Natalia Caporale, Assistant Professor of Teaching, UC Davis
Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Professor in Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Christian Baldini, Associate Professor of Music, UC Davis
Dawn Sumner, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Chair of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Feminist Research Institute, UC Davis
Charles Walker, Professor of History, UC Davis
Alissa Kendall, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Carole Hom, Academic Coordinator, UC Davis
Karen Zito, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, UC Davis
Elva Diaz, Professor of Pharmacology, Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program
Colleen Sweeney, Professor & Vice Chair of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine
Bruce D. Haynes, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis
Yvette G. Flores, Professor Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Eleonora Grandi, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, UC Davis
Gregory Downs, Professor of History, UC Davis
Sunaina Maira, Professor, Asian American Studies, UC Davis
Kimberly D. Nettles-Barcelón, Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and Faculty Director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (CAMPSSAH)
Karen Bales, Professor of Psychology; Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
Archana Venkatesan, Professor, Religious Studies and Comparative Literature, UC Davis
Julie Bossuyt, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Chair of Molecular Cellular & Integrative Physiology Graduate Group
Margaret Laurena Kemp, Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance, UC Davis
Juan Diego Diaz, Assistant Professor of Music, UC Davis
Stacy D. Fahrenthold, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Beenash Jafri, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies
Jonathan K London. Associate Professor, Department of Human Ecology, UC Davis
Seth L. Sanders, Professor of Religious Studies, UC Davis
Lynna Dhanani, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, UC Davis
Ofelia Ortiz Cuevas, Assistant Professor Chicana/o Studies, Director of Beyond the Barriers, UC Davis Initiative
Baki Tezcan, Professor of History
Kalindi Vora, Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies and Director of the Feminist Research Institute
Jann Murray-García, MD, MPH – Associate Health Sciences Clinical Professor, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and Director of Social Justice and Immersive Learning in the Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at UC Davis Health
Kimberlee Shauman, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis
Denneal Jamison-McClung, Director, Biotechnology Program, UC Davis
Aldrin V. Gomes, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, UC Davis
Anne E. Todgham, Associate Professor of Animal Science, UC Davis
José Juan Pérez Meléndez, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Marian E. Schlotterbeck, Associate Professor of History, UC Davis
Lorena V. Márquez, Assistant Professor, Department of Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis
Linda F. Bisson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
Mariel Vázquez, Professor of Mathematics and of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science
Theanne Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology & Membrane Biology, UC Davis
Jeanette B. Ruiz, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Communication, UC Davis
Fernanda Valdovinos, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis
Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, Professor Emerita of Nursing, UC Davis Health
Titus Brown, Associate Professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Gina Dokko, Professor, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Justin Leroy, Assistant Professor of History, UC Davis
Darnel Degand, Assistant Professor, School of Education
Cecilia M. Tsu, Associate Professor of History, UC Davis
Annaliese Franz, Professor, Department of Chemistry, UC Davis
Shennan Hutton, Continuing Lecturer in Classics, UC Davis
Elizabeth Montaño, Associate Professor of Teaching, UC Davis School of Education
Danny C. Martinez, Associate Professor, UC Davis School of Education
Sally McKee, Professor, Dept of History, UC Davis
Michael Saler, Professor of History, UC Davis
Michael Rios, Professor, Department of Human Ecology
Michal Kurlaender, Professor, School of Education, UC Davis
Corrie Decker, Associate Professor, History, UC Davis
Ian Campbell, Associate Professor, History, UC Davis
Omnia El Shakry, Professor, History, UC Davis
Jonathan A. Eisen, Professor, Dept. of Evolution and Ecology, Dept. of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis
Kyaw Tha Paw U, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dept. of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis
Benjamin D. Weber, Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies, UC Davis
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