UC Merced Cultural Center Guidelines
Section B: Guidelines for Nonviolence
We want this to be a space in which historically and continually marginalized student of color, which include their intersectional identities as womxn, income-insecure, LGBTQ+, non-binary, gender non-conforming, differently abled-bodied, international, immigrant, non-traditional students, etc. can feel safe expressing themselves, their lived experiences, knowledges, without being the target of oppression. We commit to remaining conscious of our own positionality in this space.
- A commitment to no weapons and no violence in this space. This is a hate free zone
- A safe space for students of color, and their intersectional identities
- We recognize that all of us make use of and benefits from some forms of privilege, and oppressive structures, such as being a part of the neoliberal university.
- A commitment not to engage in physical violence, verbal, emotional, spiritual, financial, and/or sexual abuse and/or discrimination to anyone we encounter.
- We acknowledge that all of us have experienced some form of oppression and other expressions of inequality and injustice that originate from institutional and systemic structures of white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and neoliberal capitalism.
- We recognize that we all make use of and benefit from speciesism. Our human privileges always benefit us and place us at the top of the species hierarchy. Thus, we cannot stand outside of the oppression chain of the non-human, post-human, plant and animal/object theory. We must remember that our interaction with the world must come from a place of dignity and respect to all things.
