Quinney College of Natural Resources Salutes Black Lives Matter

In support of Utah State University President Noelle Cockett and the university’s commitment to inclusion and respect for all, students, staff and faculty from the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources held a short vigil Wednesday, June 10.

The vigil was to support an inclusive and racially just society at Utah State University and in Cache Valley. Approximately 20 people participated in an eight-minute and 47 second moment of silence to honor the memory of George Floyd, the Minneapolis resident who died at the hands of police and started an international movement to address issues of racial inequality and injustice.
  
Afterwards, Sidney Southers, a major in conservation and restoration, led a discussion of ways in which QCNR could expand and enhance racial and ethnic diversity in the college. Ideas included student exchanges with the USU statewide campus in Blanding, a reading group on racism and diversity issues in the field of natural resources, expanded efforts to bring speakers of color to the college to broaden student and faculty exposure to diverse voices in natural resources and environmental science.
 
“We recognize that the many fields of natural resources and environmental sciences remain excessively white, at the same time that environmental racism and inequalities continue to shape linked human and ecological wellbeing, and we acknowledge that we have a responsibility to work for change,” said Associate Dean Claudia Radel, in a statement posted on the QCNR website.

Radel will lead a task force to identify actions and avenues for fostering change in the college starting fall 2020. 
 
This statement and more information can be found at qcnr.usu.edu.