On Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 1 PM PROMISE and the Graduate School at UMBC will be hosting our annual talk with Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III!! He has graciously provided his time for this event since 2004! This year the conversation will have a twist, we'll center it around PERSEVERANCE. Everyone is invited to attend

Click Link for Registration Page 

    If you are looking for an opportunity to recharge this semester, have found yourself in a difficult position during the pandemic, or would like to join a group and have a laugh, please join us! We are very looking forward to seeing you and reconnect. Everyone is invited to attend! Dr. Hrabowski has been talking about leadership skills and career paths for graduate students with this group for years and we appreciate his time. This conversation has always included a Q&A for students to connect with the campus president and share their points of view.

   Dr. Hrabowski has been the president of UMBC since 1992. "At age 12, Freeman Hrabowski marched with Martin Luther King. In his 20+ years as an educator, he has work to create an environment that helps underrepresented students, specifically African-American, Latino, and low-income learners, get degrees in Math and Science."

   Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by the TIME (2012) and one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report (2008), he also received TIAA-CREF's Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence (2011), and the Heinz Award (2012) for contributions to improving the "Human Condition." UMBC has been recognized as a model for inclusive excellence by such publications as U.S. News, which the past eight years have recognized UMBC as a national leader in academic innovation and undergraduate teaching.

Baltimore County residents who want to be vaccinated should complete the below form.

Completing this form does NOT schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment. This form is intended to create a registry for those interested in receiving the vaccination as vaccine becomes available.

After completing the form, you will be contacted by Baltimore County staff once you become eligible AND when vaccines are available, with additional information about how to schedule your appointment.

If you are unable to complete the survey online, please ask a friend, neighbor, or family member for assistance.

If you are a health care provider and you have already completed the provider registry, you do not need to complete this form.

The information that you give us will only be used to schedule a vaccine appointment. It will not be shared outside of Baltimore County Department of Health.

Please note: There is limited supply of vaccine nationwide. Please be patient as we work to provide everyone in our priority groups with an opportunity to make a vaccine appointment.

Click Here for Pre-Registration Form

This is a repost on behalf of the Asian & Asian American Faculty & Staff Council. Original event post here. 

Please join other members of the Asian & Asian American Faculty & Staff Council for an open conversation on the recent tragedy in Atlanta and anti-Asian racism. We'll hold a space to reflect and to discuss ideas for how to best support our Asian American student, faculty, and staff community.

TODAY, Monday, March 22nd from 5-6pm

Join Webex meeting

ID: 1205902736

Password: JSRRJYmG

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(US) +1 202-860-2110 (toll)

Access code: 120 590 2736

This is a repost on behalf of the Asian & Asian American Faculty & Staff Council. Original post here.

On the surge of hate crimes against Asian, Asian-Americans and Pacific-Islanders (AAPI), we want to share updated data and resources with our community.

According to Stop AAPI Hate’s March 2021 national report, 3,795 incidents of discrimination against AAPIs were reported from March 19 to February 28, 2021 via the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center. Below are a few highlights. Visit https://stopaapihate.org/reportsreleases/ for the full national report and other reports.

Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (i.e., the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans) make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported.

Physical assault (11.1%) comprises the third largest category of the total incidents. Civil rights violations — e.g., workplace discrimination, refusal of service, and being barred from transportation — account for 8.5% of the total incidents.

Chinese are the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that report experiencing hate, followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%), and Filipinos (7.9%).

Women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men.

Businesses are the primary site of discrimination (35.4%), followed by public streets (25.3%), and public parks (9.8%). Online incidents account for 10.8% of the total incidents.

Below is a list of action items and resources to address the current racism pandemic against AAPI.

1. Report Hate Crimes against Asian Americans

https://stopaapihate.org/ (12 languages)

https://www.standagainsthatred.org/report (5 languages)

Local and other reporting sites: https://movementhub.org/get-help/

2. Assistance with legal and social services through the Stop Hate hotline:

(Asian Americans Advancing Justice partnered with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and their Stop Hate project)

 1-844-9-NO-HATE

3. Know your rights

(1) Legal rights to be treated fairly and without discrimination: Federal and State laws and government sites to file a complaint (organized by states)

https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.69.231/a1w.90d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Stop_AAPI_Hate_Public_Accommodation_Law_Survey_200920.pdf

(2) Your rights if you are stopped by police, immigration agents, or the FBI (Resource provided by American Civil Liberties Union).

https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/know-your-rights-discrimination-against-immigrants-and-muslims?redirect=feature/know-your-rights-immigration#immigration

4. Bystander Intervention training (against harassment)

https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/events

5. Self-defense and Personal safety training

https://www.impactbayarea.org/online_classes

6. Civic Engagement: Collective justice and shared liberation

https://movementhub.org/make-change/

7. Culture Surge: an artists and culture makers’ coalition for justice, care and connection.

https://www.culturesurge.com/about-us

8. Other action ideas: Host a panel discussion, lead a community safety audit, create a survey for research, create Mud Stencils, hold a Chalk Walk, create a Guerrilla-Style Video about Street Harassment, organize a Protest or March, initiate legislative advocacy, host workshops, host a film screening, host Fund raising

https://www.ihollaback.org/holla-how-tos/

9. Donate

STOP AAPI Hate:  https://stopaapihate.org/actnow/ 

Asian Americans Advancing Justice: https://advancingjustice-aajc.org

AAPI Civic Engagement Fund: https://movementhub.org/donate/

Hollaback https://www.ihollaback.org/

American Civil Liberties Union https://www.aclu.org/

10. Share additional resources with others

https://www.thewechatproject.org/post/stopping-aapi-hate-resources (English/Mandarin)

https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co

https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/covid19

The current list of resources above in Korean:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dWbBGqptvB0Q-UzKpd7S15mx3A2DG-QZ/edit#

The Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff Council (AAAFSC) condemns any form of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination including hate crimes against AAPI. We continue our commitment to support Asian and Asian American students, faculty, and staff on campus and their families and communities.

In solidarity and support,

The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla, Fan Yang, Soonhee Lee, Aditya Desai, Shuyan Sun