- Mailing Address
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4101 University Dr
Anchorage, Alaska 99508 - Phone
- (800) 252-7528
- Email address
- admissions@alaskapacific.edu
- Website
- https://www.alaskapacific.edu/
- School Information
- Alaska Pacific University (APU) provides a world-class, hands-on, culturally responsive educational experience in collaboration with our students, communities, and Tribal partners. The 175-acre Alaska Pacific University is tucked into the forest, among Anchorage’s trail system. It’s on the perimeter of an intellectually vibrant section of town, in a state ripe with cultural and geographic diversity. With a remote educational center on a 900-acre private farm, APU is the landing pad for a rigorous, educational adventure.
- General Information
- Alaska Pacific University has taken steps to infuse anti-racism into its university functions. Its director of admissions has experience at other universities promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. She explicitly advocates increasing diversity at APU by increasing the enrollment of students of color. APU’s President issued a statement after the death of George Floyd condemning the U.S. for systemic racism and oppression. She committed the university to conducting workshops and trainings dedicated to DEI. One of these workshops was a BIPOC-only art display in August 2020. This event described the U.S. as systemically racist, endorsed Black Lives Matter, and promised to use its position of “privilege” to uplift BIPOC art. APU’s library is vocally supportive of anti-racism, providing an Anti-Racism Resources database complete with links to books, articles, and videos advocating critical race theory. The library defines racism as purely a product of power and prejudice. There is currently no evidence Alaska Pacific requires critical race theory-related training for its students or faculty. See below for more information:
Actions Taken
- Admissions Policies
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Toni Riley, Director of Admissions at Alaska Pacific University, is an "Experienced educational professional with a demonstrated history of working towards college enrollment with low-income, first generation, and students of color. Skilled in increasing the diversity of populations at post-secondary institutions and strategically implementing resources on campus to support and retain historically underrepresented populations." She previously served as the "Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" at Loyola University Maryland.
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- Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
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APU President Valeri Davidson has "started to line up a series of workshops and other learning activities to help us, as individuals and a community, address issues of racism and privilege." She added, "We are also exploring ways to make such training an accessible, ongoing, and integral element of our collective work."
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- Resources
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APU joined with Alaska Anchorage to provide a comprehensive guide to "Anti-Racism Resources," which offers "resources that discuss combatting racism and oppression in the United States."
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In APU's "Anti-Racism Resources," it defines "racism" as "prejudice + power." It adds, "Anti-racism refers to actions taken to combat racism, protect the marginalized, and tear down systems of oppression. It is more than being not racist, which can be accomplished through passivity and inaction. Instead, the term anti-racist describes a person who is taking direct action against racism."
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APU's "Anti-Racism Resources" provides links to books such as "Good White People," "Me and White Supremacy," "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race," "White Fragility," "The New Jim Crow," "How to Be an Antiracist," and "Whitewashing Race."
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APU's "Anti-Racism Resources" provides links to an article titled, "Critical Race Theory and Social Justice Perspectives on Whiteness, Difference(s) and (Anti)Racism."
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APU's "Anti-Racism Resources" provides YouTube videos decrying "color blindness," explaining "Oppression 101," and "Systemic Racism."
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- Symbolic Actions
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APU President Valerie Davidson issued a statement to the community after the death of George Floyd. She decried the "old wounds of racial division and oppression in the United States." Davidson added that APU was "founded on the bedrock concept of racial equity." She later wrote, "Our Black relatives should not bear the weight of fighting for justice, ending systemic racism, and addressing a sad national legacy of anti-blackness alone." "Alaska Pacific University commits to ensuring that equity, justice, and anti-racism, are critical components in our efforts to create a safe, inclusive learning environment on campus and in the world around us."
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On August 7, 2020, APU held an "In Solidarity Online Exhibit and Zoom Event." The event offers a description, writing, "Throughout the world we are calling for justice. Since western contact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have experienced systemic colonialism resulting in racism, loss of land, violence, and the severing of cultural ways of being." It adds, "...movements such as Black Lives Matter...are addressing these issues through education, visibility, policy change, and understanding." The APU Gallery, led by curator Melissa Shaginoff, used the month of August 2020 to only exhibit "BIPOC" art. "We want to use our institutional privilege to life the voices of BIPOC individuals in equity."
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