SARAH HERNANDEZ / PROFILE
Ethics in Action Sarah Hernandez Brings Diversity to the Forefront of Academics BY S U BYRO N
Underrepresented Groups (FOCUG) at New College. She is also a co-director (along with New College Associate Professor of Sociology Queen Zabriskie, Ph.D.) of the Initiative on Diversity and Equity in Academics (IDEA). Hernandez and Zabriskie are both recipients of Sarasota Magazine’s 2021 Unity Awards, which honor individuals in the Sarasota-Manatee area who fight for social justice. The FOCUG formed in 2017 as a common-cause collective for New College faculty members, and IDEA grew out it. What’s the big idea? Creating clarity on diversity and equity, and doing so across New College’s academic curriculum. “We address those issues in a number of courses,” Hernandez explained. “But that knowledge is fragmented—in bits and pieces. We offer courses on gender studies, African-American studies and so on. What we lack is a unified, theoretical understanding across COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE NATION strive to the curriculum. To make that happen, you need a formal foster the values of diversity, inclusion and equity on their structure in place to look at the big picture.” campuses. But what does that mean in practical terms? Hernandez and Zabriskie were already doing some of that For Sarah Hernandez, Ph.D., an associate professor of work on an unofficial basis. In October 2020, the College sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies at New made it an official position. As IDEA’s official co-directors, College, it’s more than an academic question. It’s a question Zabriskie and Hernandez have been working hard ever since. of applied ethics. “We’re developing an interdisciplinary course on race and “You can’t be a detached observer when it comes to these ethnicity,” Hernandez said. “We’re mapping out which issues,” Hernandez said. “There are times you have to stand academic programs up and take sides. If you refuse to take sides, you’re already on currently deal with the wrong side.” “You can’t be a detached these subjects. What Hernandez learned that lesson early. A childhood memory observer when it comes to do we offer and what burned it on her brain. She remembers sitting in a bus in Mexico City and, outside her window, she saw a man viciously these issues. There are times are the gaps? We’ll study that, and then beating another man. The crowd stood by and watched. you have to stand up and fill in the gaps.” Nobody stepped in to help. Why not? Her young mind found take sides. If you refuse to But how can it difficult to grasp. take sides, you’re already on professors teach “That incident stuck with me over the years,” Hernandez the wrong side.” students to think said. “If you don’t intervene, you end up being a conduit to about diversity? harm. I vowed that I would never do that. I can’t stand and do Changing attitudes is only part of the equation. Institutions nothing while somebody else is being victimized. I don’t want have to be changed as well. Creating a never-ending dialogue to be a conduit, so I try to do what I can.” is a key element of New College’s mission—even when Hernandez joined the New College faculty in 1996. She diversity, inclusion and equity are hard to discuss. brought her sense of ethical engagement with her. It also “We still have a long way to go,” Hernandez said. “But we’re informs her work in two game-changing faculty groups. off to a very good start—and that really takes courage.” She is a co-creator and member of the Faculty of Color and
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