Coalition for Anti-Racism and Inclusion

Brie Samaniego & Sophie Bradecich

The need for an organized student advocacy group gained attention in 2020, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement. Two presidents of the Black Student Union voiced their concern over Black students at OCSA not being heard or properly recognized. 

Realizing the lack of structure ensuring student voices are heard, staff members began taking strides to fill that vacuum. Abbe Levine, assistant principal of student supervision, and Brian Stevens, director of community engagement here at OCSA, are both members of the steering committee of the Coalition for Antiracism and Inclusion. 

The Coalition is mainly driven by the Student Culture Executive Board, a collection of presidents and heads of various student unions and affinity groups. The Board advocates for the group they represent and increases the cultural competency of the school. In the two years Levine spent at the San Gabriel Valley campus, the board shrank though they still continued to meet. Levine returned to OCSA in the Fall semester, and the steering committee began to reach out to more clubs. Before students had the chance to accept their position on the Student Culture Executive Board, administration highlighted The Board’s existence in an email sent out to the entire school. 

Both Levine and Stevens recognize systemic change does not come overnight. Stevens acknowledged that “we're not going to solve racism by the year’s end, but how do we continue this work?” A main goal of the coalition is to implement a system capable of extending beyond the passion of one person. Levine understands the importance of fundamental change, believing “it needs to be built into the structures of the school and not rooted in individuals.”

During Coalition meetings, students begin the meeting by “Norm-Setting” which entails setting expectations for students to maintain respectful and productive relationships with one another. The norms established include guidelines for building a space that is safe for communication, understanding and growth. 

The board meets monthly, usually during office hours or lunch. Members are all given a chance to share their concerns about the school and promote ideas for improvement. Mixed Student Union President Courtney Hines (CW ‘24) acknowledges that the students' thoughts combined with the steering committee’s position is powerful, but there is “not enough time to finish talking about the things we disagree with happening on campus, let alone take action against it.” 

Levine and Stevens attempted to remedy this issue by hosting a meeting during block eight at the beginning of the Spring semester. This allowed more students to attend and significantly more time for club leaders to share their thoughts, and create plans for what the Coalition could look like in the future.

Students were asked about OCSA’s current partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. This partnership was chosen by the founding members of the Student Culture Executive Board in 2020, but Levine acknowledges that the school’s sentiments about  this partnership may have changed. Board members were able to share their concerns about the ADL both as an organization and a partner for OCSA. 

Though OCSA's partnership with the ADL is uncertain, Levine and Stevens are both extremely determined to continue  the work of the Coalition and the Student Culture Executive Board. The current goal of the Coalition and the steering committee is to create foundational systems, so OCSA can seamlessly implement preventative and protective practices from year to year. Levine hopes that the impact of the Coalition will one day “ripple out” to “find more spaces for even more students to be heard.”