History: The Bellevue College AAPI Employees group was originally created by Rachel Solemsaas, VP of Finance in 2012, who is now currently the chancellor at the University of Hawaii System. Her goal was to meet quarterly to network, address API issues. It is an employee led organization. We are open to all college employees and adhere to all Bellevue College policies/procedures. The affinity group regrouped in August 2016.
Who Are We? The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs defined Asian-Pacific Islander as “A person with origins in any of the original peoples of the FarEast, Southeast Asia, South Asia, or the Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Samoa; and in South Asia,includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.”
We are classified staff, exempt, faculty and administration.
How we advance the college’s mission:
•Serve on hiring committees and governance councils •Support and attend various campus events on diversity issues •Provide mentoring to students and employees •Promote career & professional development •Provide feedback and contribute to the college’s commitment to diversity, pluralism and inclusion •Learn about racial literacy, intersectionality, power and privilege •Continue questioning power and privilege •Challenge our own internalized oppression •Challenge our own complicity with white supremacist agendas and policies
How can the college support us:
•Safe working environments for people of color in a predominately white institution •Intentional inclusive and fair hiring practices/policies for POCs
•Understanding of how cultural taxation impacts the health (social, mental, physical, behavioral) of APIE
•Sustainable policies that ensure well being of APIE and other POCs
•Training to learn about implicit bias, for racial literacy, power,privilege and microaggressions against AAPI communities
•Professional development opportunities that are compensated
•Stipends for advisors of student clubs/programs and serving on governance.
•Space for APIE and other POC groups to meet, away from white colleagues
•Equitable pay
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