EXPERIENCE
Social Justice WRITING EMMA BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY EMMA BROWN
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ocial justice. A phrase that has From there she began focusing on a been steadily growing as a con- broader spectrum of injustices hapstant in our everyday conversations. pening within K-12 education systems. However, it can be difficult to grasp “It really spread out into understanding what exactly social justice is and why that I really wanted to work with and it is important. This is where Jane work across all identities and work Waite comes in as the director for the deeper in the system around equity for Social Justice Education Initiative all students and so that’s what’s really driven me,” said Waite. With her extenhere at OSU. sive background in social justice eduWaite has been involved with social cation, she then got appointed by the justice for as long as she can remem- president of the university, Ed Ray, to ber. She began her practice in the field be on the Board of Visitors. by working with tribal organizations, focusing her work on implementing At OSU, the Board of Visitors has a resources and “looking at ways to sup- mission based around inclusion for port educators to teach to and about any and all students. According to the Native students with quality materials Board of Visitors page on the OSU website, “The purpose of the Board of and curriculum and pedagogy.”
Visitors for Community and Diversity is to assist Oregon State University in developing strategies to recruit and retain Native American, Hispanic American, Asian American and African American students, faculty, staff, and administrators.” From her time there, Waite realized OSU could do more to implement this mission into the classroom and beyond, where students spend most of their academic life. She realized that simply having a mission wasn’t enough; faculty and staff needed support and training in specific areas in order to make the vision a reality. This is where the Social Justice Education Initiative came to fruition.
FALL 2017 // 19