June 6, 2024
Dear SRJC Community,

I want to share with you a portion of the comments I made during the President’s Report at last night’s June Board of Trustees meeting as well as some expanded thoughts for those of you unable to attend or participate in the meeting on Zoom. 

I want to acknowledge there are conversations happening within SRJC and externally regarding how we are creating a safe, healthy, and supportive learning and working environment for students and employees. 

As a reminder, the District investigates reports of discrimination and harassment through Board Policy 2.7 and Administrative Procedure 2.7P and conducts effective, informed, and thorough investigations. When confidential personnel issues are made public, such as in a recent article in our local newspaper, there is often a demand for more information. However, it is the District’s responsibility to protect the rights of all parties in a complaint so we do not jeopardize the integrity of our processes and willingness for others to come forward in the future. I want to underscore that all parties received due process. There is no additional information to provide on this matter. 

What is important to communicate now is that we will need to commit to an intentional cultural shift in the norms of our workplace for equity and justice to occur. I recognize cultural change requires significant effort and time to examine and affect deeply ingrained norms, values, and behaviors that have developed over time and reinforced by the status quo. Changing these established patterns requires all our collective energies, so that we may truly embody SRJC’s vision, mission, and values. 

I particularly want to emphasize one of SRJC’s values, which is to develop a healthy and resilient college grounded in kindness, innovation, collaboration, and restorative justice that identifies and removes oppressive structures. 

Over the past year, we have embarked on a District-wide effort to build community and excellence by creating a culture of belonging for all students and employees. This is work that must be done across the District, at all sites, and is not due to one department or one issue. This is in response to a systemic culture rooted in oppression that undermines our core values and hinders our ability to grow and innovate. It is our collective responsibility to challenge and change these ingrained systems and practices in thoughtful and collaborative ways, beginning with our own personal reflection on the role we may have played to maintain the status quo. From our individual departments to our sites, we need to ask ourselves, “how have I/we contributed to maintaining divisive and oppressive actions, practices, policies, and procedures?”. 

I understand and can see how it may appear on the surface that nothing has changed, or nothing is happening.  I want to share context for the iterative process we are in, which involves listening to students, employees, and the community. We have begun this work in the spaces that are designed and appropriate for the level of discussion required, which is not over email.  We must address these issues on a broader, systemic level and I invite all our colleagues to participate.

We have held College Forums on IDEAA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti Racism, and Accessibility), solicited participation for a new IDEAA Taskforce, evaluated our processes and functions in Human Resources, including revising and implementing annual evaluations for managers and comprehensive evaluations every three years. During the SRJC Voices listening sessions in the fall, I heard about experiences that called for me to move the recruitment of the Vice President of Human Resources from Fall 2023 to Fall 2024 to recruit a colleague who can lead us through critical changes needed. We have made great strides in our analysis and future revisions to our shared governance structure, launched the Campus Climate Assessment, implemented the EEO grant for Cultivating an Ecosystem of Belonging, and more. 

We will also begin listening sessions and facilitated conversations this summer and continuing through fall semester across the entire District and at all our sites. I want to reiterate that this type of thoughtful, engaged conversation cannot occur over email, and I do not wish for this email to continue that type of interaction. I believe that we need to re-connect as colleagues, and in our humanity, so that we can honor the experiences of one another, and create the inclusive community we all deserve. 

This is a cultural issue, rooted in historical racist, sexist, and classist structures. It is not a site-specific issue. It will take work on all our parts. We must follow through on our commitment to dismantle systems of oppression and evaluate our own behavior and actions that may contribute to this culture, so that we may engage in meaningful connections with one another.  I am committed to engaging in this work in systemic spaces that have privileged a predominantly male, predominantly white, and predominantly heteronormative perspectives. These perspectives are the precise opposite of my lived experience and those of many in our community. 

Our Board of Trustees has also shown a deep and true commitment to support SRJC and the work that lies ahead to fully realize our values for this District and this community.

I invite all our colleagues to choose to dialogue, participate, and help to create a more inclusive and equitable college community. 

In community, 

Dr. Garcia

Angélica Garcia, Ed.D.
Superintendent/President
707-527-4431, angelicagarcia@santarosa.edu