Seeking change beyond the contract

Despite both the BSC and BEU agreeing that students of color need representation in their teachers, negotiations have reached a stalemate. Throughout this, many in PSB, like Ehrenberg, are advocating for change.

“Students are the ones who experience it the most powerfully. Students of color need to have teachers who look like them,” Ehrenberg said. “The larger student body is well-served by having a diverse group of teachers. Students are the ones who we should be making decisions for.”

Cawthorne said having more teachers of color is essential to creating a better environment for teachers speaking out. When he initially became a teacher, Cawthorne said he felt wary of speaking up, and if there were more teachers of color, he would have been more willing to. For a very long time Cawthorne was one of the few teachers of color in his department, and he assumed the role of bringing a different perspective to his colleagues.

“When you have more representation, it helps you to look through different lenses and to think about history differently,” Cawthorne said.

Wender-Shubow acknowledged this problem, and similarly said that this racism needs to be addressed as there have been shortcomings in the BEU.

“It’s past due that all unions address the structural racism within our own history and within the institutions that we are part of and the larger society. The BEU has been examining the shortcomings of our own engagement with the challenge to tackle structural racism for some time,” Wender-Shubow said.

Barsky-Elnour said Brown University’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan is an excellent example of the transparency and specificity that is needed. She said that the lack of Black teachers demonstrates to Black students a lack of prioritization from the school.

“What we’re actually teaching our Black students and reinforcing is that, even in a community that supposedly cares so much and is telling us that you can be successful and Black, we can’t even show that by hiring Black teachers,” Barsky-Elnour said.