California State University, Fullerton, sought to make students feel less defeated about being placed on academic probation, so administrators banished “probation” from the institution’s official lexicon.
“You can’t just celebrate what one would deem justice in this particular situation when there is no justice for the Black woman in the political science department with her very racist department chair,” said Shaun Harper, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center.
Harper is cautiously optimistic about the racial progress that has occurred in higher education since Floyd’s murder. The painful incident was a catalyst for student activists and faculty members of color who d long advocated for racial equity on their campuses and pointed out systemic and structural racism. It was eye-opening for many white faculty members and administrators who were blissfully unaware of or dispassionate about the repeated and systemic injustices Black people face. It propelled movements led by Black students and their white and multiracial allies to correct those injustices. College administrators, some openly acknowledging institutionalized racis