LGBTQ FSA Response to Recent Justice4Viv Action

April 29, 2022

The LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Association is aware of the recent activism on our campus that has brought further attention to the death of Vivien Barrett, a former staff member at AOK Library and a very important member of the LGBTQ community at UMBC.

For more information about the recent student protests and a thorough summary of the circumstances surrounding this action, we suggest reading Simone “Scone” Loysen’s (they/them and he/him) article originally published in the print edition of The Retriever; they have made the article available online via their blog: https://teawithscones.com/2022/04/27/justice4viv-student-protests-revive-calls-for-firing-of-aok-library-circulation-manager/

The current objective of “Justice4Viv” calls for the immediate termination of Paula Langley, AOK Library’s Circulation Manager. We are not certain about the reasoning or intent behind using Viv’s story beyond the fact that Viv’s identity as a trans woman provoked behavior that Viv felt was harmful and creating an unsafe work environment. Additionally, we are unsure of how Viv’s loved ones have been involved in this movement, though they seem to be supportive as they were present at the recent rally. 

Regardless, the LGBTQ FSA is strongly aware of the complicated impact that Viv’s death and this sudden revival of her story have had on faculty and staff. We also hold complicated sentiments. On the one hand, there is new attention brought to Viv’s story and it is provoking action that--at the very least--raises awareness about anti-trans discrimination and a pattern of institutional silencing and betrayal. On the other, Viv’s life and death by suicide are being leveraged without her consent for political means.

We don’t know exactly what Viv might have wanted, but we do know that she loved working at UMBC even though it was not always a safe place for her. We know that transgender pain is often a result of systemic violence perpetuated by individual prejudice. We know that people’s stories and their lived reality can quickly become minimized or abstracted for political gain. We know that suicide is not solely self-inflicted but something motivated by the relationships we have in the world and with the world. We also know that trans people are twice as likely to die as cis people and that the life expectancy of trans women is far lower than that of cis women. 

We grieve Viv--and that grief looks different for each person. We can support Justice4Viv and acknowledge the pain that this work brings up for us. 

To the LGBTQ faculty and staff community at UMBC, especially our transgender faculty and staff members, we see you and we are here to support you.

To the LGBTQ students at UMBC, we support your activism and your passion for justice. We appreciate the work you have done to bring further awareness to trans issues at UMBC and beyond our campus. Many of us are also in pain, navigating our own experiences of injustice and discrimination, and working through grief. We hope that you understand why faculty and staff may need space and time to grapple with the feelings and memories that come with this revisitation of Viv’s story. 

We are in ongoing discussions with the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Darcie Adams (current Inclusion Council student representative, member of LGBTQ Student Union) and other campus leaders to address this thoughtfully and compassionately. We are hopeful that there will be more avenues to improve our campus and thereby create a climate of inclusive excellence and social justice. 

If you have questions, concerns, or would like to talk with the LGBTQ FSA about our next steps, please email lgbtqfsa@umbc.edu and/or Amelia Meman at meman1@umbc.edu. Darcie Adams is also available at dadams4@umbc.edu.

If you’d like to report an incident of discrimination to the Office of Equity and Inclusion, you can do so via this online form. Please note that this form has the option of making an anonymous report. The UMBC Sexual Misconduct (Title IX) Policy and Anti-Discrimination Policy applies to all UMBC students, student employees, faculty, staff, interns, contractors, volunteers, guests and visitors. Do not use this form to report an immediate threat. If you or someone you know is in danger, immediately call UMBC Police at (410) 455-5555 or call 911.

Health and Wellness Resources (On- and Off-Campus): https://oei.umbc.edu/health-and-wellness-resources/

Anjali DasSarma graduated from UMBC in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Media and Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism and is now pursuing her Master’s in American Studies at Brown University. She will be graduating from Brown University in May 2022 and will be attending the University of Pennsylvania to pursue her PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication in the Fall of 2022. She eventually wants to teach in higher education and has a passion for teaching and loves to talk with people. 

I had the opportunity to talk with her about her experience at UMBC and the MCS program. Her experience was a positive one, and she highlighted the course content and the professors especially. She says that one of the best parts of UMBC for her were the MCS professors. 

“They’re amazing. I think they were the best part of my time at UMBC as a whole.” 

She found the faculty to be extremely helpful as they taught her in classes as well as with finding internship opportunities. Anjali was able to find an on-campus internship with the help of Dr. Snyder. This internship was with the Division of Professional Studies where she was able to gain experience in digital marketing. She was the Editor-in-Chief for the Retriever and interned at the Baltimore Sun, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Newseum, UMBC Magazine, and Atwater's. She mentioned that she appreciated the flexibility of MCS and that she was able to earn credit through her internships. Additionally, the MCS coursework and material gave her a good foundation as she approached these different internships. Anjali says, 

“MCS helped me think critically about the work that I was doing which led me to want to do that on a professional level.” 

In addition to the hands-on experience and practice she obtained through her internship and media classes, she also learned a lot about the theory and history of communication. 

“MCS really helped me develop this really strong theoretical understanding of media, which helped me a lot especially given that I’m now doing academia, and having that theoretical basis is really fundamental. And also just learning good pedagogy from these professors; the way that they teach, the way they engage with students, it is really student focused, and I appreciated that a lot when I was there.” 

The research she is conducting now at Brown University is on the topic “examining self-emancipatory advertisements related to Indigenous peoples and colonial era newspapers.” According to Anjali, 

“I wanted to spend a lot of time understanding historic violences and historic silences and erasures and obstruction of journalism disturbing communities. I do that because I do believe that journalism is really valuable, but I think that historically and in contemporary America it’s really failing marginalized communities. It was really those internship experiences that made me want to research. So I did my capstone project with Professor Yang, and I did that on connecting slavery studies and self-emancipatory advertisements in newspapers to contemporary challenges. And then when I got to Brown, now I work with a history professor looking at indigenous enslavement and how the newspaper industry contributed to the brokering of the slave trade. So it’s really intense stuff, but I feel as though it’s really important for communication historians… to be understanding history in order to move forward in repertory spaces.” 

She feels that although institutional injustices were being recognized and acknowledged, there still wasn’t anymore that was being done and it “wasn’t really going anywhere, [and] that a lot of people were doing very surface level work, and I wanted to kind of dig deeper.” 

Since graduating, Anjali has had many opportunities to grow and deepen her knowledge and go deeper into her research. She’s been able to work on different research projects such as the one mentioned previously as well as another where she is exploring the topic of historical, institutional apologies in Baltimore specifically. She is also a teaching assistant and had the opportunity to teach a class for the first time which was a new and exciting experience that she was able to have recently. 

“I’ve grown a lot as a researcher and as a thinker and as an academic. I’ve struggled with the questions of being an ethical academic, like looking at relationships between an institution that I’m at and the community that surrounds it… I do think I’ve grown quite a lot… I keep thinking ‘how has it only been a year?’ But I feel very grateful to UMBC for giving me a platform to grow and to succeed, and again, that flexibility to have been able to have all those experiences.” 

By: Elena Kim

Photo credit: Jared Lyles

1. Can you share a little about yourself and a fun fact about you? 

1. Hi, my name is Alex! I’m 30 years old and originally from Miami, FL. Fun fact about me is I’ve traveled to over 20 something countries now.

1. What are your dreams and aspirations? 

1. Fortunately, I’ve gotten to accomplish a lot of my goals in life: Travel (which I plan to do more of) be financially stable, to find love (married for 8 years now) have a dog (her name is Teagan and she’s a red heeler) Now, I aspire to make a difference by giving my time and labor back to the Baltimore community, my adopted home.

1. Why did you choose MCS as your major? 

1. I come from a video/photo background and wanted to enhance my critical thinking skills and learn how to better engage with the people around me both professionally and personally.

1. Can you share a professional experience where a skill or lesson from MCS helped you?

1. MCS is so essential and can translate to all fields, so it has helped me improve my writing and interviewing skills, which has helped me produce better content for the videos I’ve created. 

1. Do you currently have an internship or have done any? If so, can you list it/them and your position(s)? 

1. I am currently a Video Production Intern with the UMBC Alumni house. I assist the Staff producer in creating video content by documenting student events on campus where I compile footage, mix audio, use special effects and graphics to create a final product. 

1. Are you a part of any Campus Orgs? If so, how can students get involved and be a part of it?  

1.  I am a member of the Student Veteran Organization (Retrievets) which are focused on addressing the needs of our student veterans at UMBC. I am also part of the Filmmakers Anonymous And Chew-MBC. The latter clubs are easy for anyone to join. You can start by following their discord, which is available under the myUMBC groups page.

1. What are you most excited about after graduation? 

1. After graduation, I am traveling to Spain to hike the Camino De Santiago pilgrimage trail. It takes about 30 or so days, and covers nearly 500 miles. Afterwards, I plan to stay in the Baltimore area and continue producing video content. Knowing myself, I will find more reasons to keep learning more skills, so I am keeping my options open to returning to UMBC. 

1. Any advice that you learned from college that you would like to share with other students?

1. My biggest advice is to network network network! Meet and follow up with everyone and attend every student event you can. College is the absolute best time to make connections and possible lifelong friends! Don’t be afraid to try new things as that can lead you to your future. Next, prioritize your mental health! College can take a toll on you and you can easily burn out quickly. I manage my mental health by regular exercise and reaching out to the important people in my life. Lastly, get an internship as early as possible!