4 : Faculty Focus, October 2004, Vol. 37, No. 7 Structural Racism at UBC? Stephen Petrina, Executive Member-at-Large O ne highlight of the new Framework Agreement between the Faculty Association and the University of British Columbia is an Employment Equity clause: In keeping with the re- quirements of the Federal Contractors Program, to which the University is committed, the University and the Association agree to the principle of employment equity for all groups as may be designated in Federal and Provincial legislation, or as agreed to by the partners. This principle ensures opportunities in hiring, promotion and tenure for members in designated groups and ensures that no systemic barriers exist to the full participation of these groups in the workplace . However, it is not clear how the principle of employment equity for all is protected and regulated at UBC. UBCs Equity Office was created in 1994 as a merger of four concerns: employ- ment equity, multicultural liaison, sexual harassment and woman and gender relations. One of the Equity Offices key mandates is to implement and monitor Canadas Employment Equity Act and the BC Human Rights Act. The four equity groups named in the offices mandate are women, aboriginals, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities. As indicated in the Framework Agreement, the Faculty Association and the Uni- versity are obligated to act on systemic barriers to racial equity, anti-racism and multiculturalism. To what degree can faculty mem- bers and librarians, through the Faculty Association, inf luence UBC to act on this clause of the Framework Agreement? It is difficult to acquire data on diversity at UBC. The Equity Office collects and compiles aggregate data on gender and racial equity but, regretfully, has not dealt with racial equity at the department level. The Office of Planning and Institutional Research (PAIR) collects racial equity data for faculty, staff and students, but does not disaggregate these data by faculty. Faculties also prioritize gender over racial equity. In the Faculty of Educations admissions process, for example, students are not asked to volunteer racial data upon registration but are encour- aged to volunteer their biological sex. With access to lists of sec- ondary teacher education majors, graduate students and faculty, I made a count of minorities based on names and my knowledge of the Faculty of Education (Sources included lists of faculty in directo- ries and the Faculty Research Handbook). While informed counting may not be perfect, these are in fact the best data we have at this time. A check with a central administrative office in the Faculty of Education confirmed the count of teacher education minority students. The data are reliable and the margin of error produced will result in an underestimation of minorities in all samples. The margin of error should be no higher than self-identification techniques. The intent is to pro- vide an example of where the Framework Agreements employ- ment equity clause breaks down. Racial minorities for this report included but were not limited to Afro-Canadians, Arab- Canadians, Asian-Canadians, First Nations, Indo-Canadians and Latin-Canadians. The visible minority population in the prov- ince of British Columbia is 21.6%. Currently, many school districts in BC such as Burnaby (42% ESL), Richmond (60% ESL), Surrey (36% ESL), and Vancouver (61% ESL) have enrolments where over one-third to nearly two-thirds of the students speak ESL. Of course, this reflects the demographic changes in the Lower Mainland and provides a backdrop for racial equity at UBC and its Faculty of Education. Like most faculties on cam- pus, the Faculty of Education (FoE) does not ref lect the diversity of its students and several units within are comparatively less diverse than the aggregate faculty ...continued on page 5 See Racial Minorities One highlight of the new Framework Agreement between the Faculty Association and the University of British Columbia is an Employment Equity clause...however, (in this clause) it is not clear how the principle of employment equity for all is protected and regulated at UBC.