California University Posts Ad for Staffer to Host Climate Healing Circles and Lead Transgender Backpacking

The concept of education continues to evolve.

Not long ago, school was a place where kids learned reading, writing, math, science, and history.

Though courses at the college level broadened, they generally sprung from the above or focused on an employable skill.

These days, it seems, education is the process of acclimating to engineered cultural mores.

Furthermore, it’s a place of political and social consciousness.

Apropos, at the University of California Berkeley, they’re looking to hire a Wellness and Environmental Justice Coordinator.

The new staffer will be in charge of student environmental programs such as:

Wellness collaboration days

Meet-ups with Bay area QT+ (Queer, Transgender, Plus) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People Of Color) climate activists

Climate healing circles

What’s the job qualification?

Intention.

Plus more:

Knowledge of or ability to gain knowledge of common campus-specific and other computer application programs. Analytical/problem-solving skills.

Strong communication and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with all levels of staff; both verbally and in writing.

Ability to multi-task with demanding timeframes.

Ability to use discretion and maintain all confidentiality.

Knowledge of current social and environmental issues

Critically engagement and intention of justice and liberation over status quo/reformation.

The college sets it up thusly:

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are committed to creating a community that fosters equity of experience and opportunity, and ensures that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel safe, welcome and included.

UCB makes clear its mission:

[Berkeley] is one of the world’s leading institutions of higher education, distinguished by its combination of internationally recognized academic and research excellence; the transformative opportunity it provides to a large and diverse student body; its public mission and commitment to equity and social justice…

Hence, the university’s “looking for equity-minded applicants who represent the full diversity of California and who demonstrate a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community.”

“When you join the team at Berkeley,” the ad guarantees, “you can expect to be part of an inclusive, innovative and equity-focused community that approaches higher education as a matter of social justice that requires broad collaboration among faculty, staff, students and community partners.”

Equity is certainly the word of the day. It’s surprising how quickly “equality” was replaced.

The school’s evolution is notable as well.

Once home to the Free Speech movement, it’s taken a decisive turn.

Amid the shift, last November, a professor encouraged students to burn a book:

Since some ppl have misunderstood my tone, and censorship is an important matter and as a public educator I have a duty to be precise, let me clarify:

🚫 I do NOT advocate defacing library books.

✅ I DO encourage followers to steal Abigail Shrier’s book and burn it on a pyre.

— 🌷🤡💋🌷🤡💋Prof. Grace Lavery💋🤡🌷💋🤡🌷 (@graceelavery) November 14, 2020

Plz make sure you use a safe pyre, and that you have an extinguisher to hand. Be safe, when you are burning books.

Remember: all you’re doing is removing a commodity from circulation—much as one might destroy a contaminated crop, or take action if a distributor failed to do so.

— 🌷🤡💋🌷🤡💋Prof. Grace Lavery💋🤡🌷💋🤡🌷 (@graceelavery) November 14, 2020

Later, the teacher got saucier:

god you people are a bunch of pathetic snowflakes. suck on my shrinking free speech balls, classics libs

— 🌷🤡💋🌷🤡💋Prof. Grace Lavery💋🤡🌷💋🤡🌷 (@graceelavery) November 15, 2020

Back to the job opening, here are a few more duties:

Creating and maintaining active space and discourse surrounding the intersection of mental health and student advocacy

Implement and lead programs focused on fostering wellness and collectivism.

Implement and lead community outdoor education trips/activities, focused on environmental justice and climate wellness

Reinvigorate and maintain SERQueer and SERC (Student Environmental Resource Center) POC groups

And as for those healing circles, there’s also backpacking:

Centering under-served and historically marginalized populations on campus, this position will execute programming* (climate healing circles, wellness collaboration days with Berkeley Free Clinic and Tang, and planned meet-ups with Bay Area QT+ and BIPOC climate activists) that will support SERC BIPOC, Students of Color Environmental Collective (SCEC), and CNR Students of Color. Simultaneously, the position will reinvigorate SERC QTies and create QTies for Climate Justice, a student organization focused on the empowerment and wellbeing of Queer and Trans community members that are engaged in environmentalism. Outdoor education through camping and backpacking trips will be provided to these communities and will create space/opportunities for BIPOC and QT+ populations to reconnect with their communities through healing activities/reconnection with nature. These projects will be focused on empowering both undergraduates and graduates that are most vulnerable to the impending climate crisis and impacting the broader campus community through coalition building and resource sharing with similar groups across campus and in our surrounding communities.

For those wishing to apply, the institution wants to ensure you’re on the same team:

In deciding whether to apply for a position at Berkeley, you are strongly encouraged to consider whether your values align with our Guiding Values and Principles, our Principles of Community, and our Strategic Plan.

Good luck.

And if you’d like to know more about BIPOC (and its place in education), below is a video discussion from Pacific Lutheran University: