2020 started as a year of disruption owing to COVID-19. The pandemic itself and the murder of George Floyd has forced everyone to confront inequities that are systemic in society and our educational system. As a start, and it is only a start, SCS is taking the following actions:
- After discussions among the board and committees about diversifying governance by implementing designated, elected board seats and diversity targets, the board has concluded that SCS governance needs to be revised at a fundamental level with a rethinking of our processes of elections and nominations and board and committee composition in order to achieve greater equity.
- SCS will conduct an evaluation of all its programs in order to identify structural racism and other inequities and to remedy them.
- SCS will be reallocating funds to support students and contingent faculty, and in particular BIPOC classicists. We will be seeking input soon on how best those funds could be allocated. As a reminder, the WCC-SCS COVID Relief Fund is still accepting applications. Thus far the fund has supported over 100 scholars.
- The SCS office will provide administrative support for the Mountaintop Coalition to assist with membership services and fundraising.
- SCS will keep up to date this ongoing list of antiracist resources that links out to many excellent bibliographies.
- SCS will be seeking grant funding for, and collaborating with institutions and scholars on, the following two different tracks: (a) projects that promote racial equity in the field; and (b) initiatives that advance the study and teaching of race and ethnicity in the field. These will include applications for grant support for summer institutes and research fellowships.
- Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarships: The SCS office commits to outreach to a greater number of institutions to reach a larger number of potential applicants. We will update the page and scholarships deadlines soon.
- We will be offering for the upcoming membership year free membership renewals for anyone renewing in the student / unemployed, K-12 teacher, and earning under $20,000 member categories. More information about this program will be forthcoming later in the summer
As announced on June 25, the 2021 annual meeting will now be a virtual event.
We realize that many members are under great financial pressure at the current time and that those with funds available to donate are likely to have been prioritizing social and racial justice causes recently. For these reasons, SCS did not issue an annual giving campaign letter in Spring 2020 although we did solicit contributions to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Members who are able to do so can donate at any time on this page: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/classicalstudies/AnnualGiving.html
Donations to the COVID-19 Relief Fund, Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarships Fund, and unrestricted donations are particularly welcome. At this time, unrestricted donations will be used to offset the costs of upcoming free membership renewals for student / unemployed, K-12 members and those earning under $20,000 per year. We have already received pledges of over $12,500 for this purpose.
