Our Commitments
The UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies acknowledges that colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley, are primarily white-led/founded institutions that have long benefited from deep-rooted systems of white supremacy and settler colonialism. We acknowledge this entrenched order to have influenced our curriculum, teaching, casting practices, and performances. We are committed to dismantling these systems and their violence (both silent and overt) within our department, and within the campus community.
As a community of researchers, artists, and educators, we have come together to articulate a vision and to enact change in service of our values on equity and inclusion. We are dedicated to the principles of anti-racism, anti-oppression, allyship, LGBTQ+ inclusivity, and a sense of belonging for BIPOC members of our community. These values insist and depend upon a climate of safety and trust for all. We reject all forms of oppression, including white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, classism, and misogyny.
We recognize that we must confront our own shortcomings and biases on this journey to racial equity and the inclusion of under-represented communities. We accept that this is a sustained effort and we are engaged in a long-term process of learning and growth. Our commitment is to be in continual dialogue with our community and to evolve and change together.
Our Ongoing Initiatives
Accessibility
We are committed to creating spaces and experiences that are welcoming and accessible to everyone. Visit our accessibility section to learn more about our facilities and accessibility features for events. For information about student accommodations for classes, please contact the Disabled Students' Program (DSP).
Equity & Inclusion Committee
Our Equity & Inclusion Committee brings together representative students, staff, and faculty to strategize on actions we can take to support the department's work in anti-racism and anti-oppression. The committee offers feedback on department initiatives in development, helps to facilitate interactions between constituencies, and supports transparency, equitable access to information, and accountability for progress in our department's work.
The committee regularly makes space for department dialogue to surface both climate concerns and promising practices via listening sessions and learning spaces where people can ask questions and share resources that help us to contribute to the department's mission of transformation at the individual, collective, and structural levels.
Communication & Dialogue
TDPS Sounding Board
We invite students, faculty, and staff to use the TDPS Sounding Board form to ask questions, to express concerns, to offer suggestions, or to affirm the things we are currently doing that help to create and maintain an environment where everyone feels valued and supported. Please note that the form requires CalNet login to ensure that we are receiving feedback from current UC Berkeley affiliates, but your name and contact information will not be recorded unless you choose to share it.
Season Planning Forum
To create a more transparent and inclusive process for planning our season of theater and dance productions, the Season Planning Committee has committed to holding a forum each academic year to solicit feedback and suggestions from all members of the TDPS community. Students, faculty, and staff may also submit suggestions at any time using this form (CalNet login required).
Curriculum & Pedagogy
Anti-Oppression Pedagogy Resources
A working group of faculty, staff, and graduate students is actively compiling anti-oppression pedagogy resources, including lesson plans, course policies, toolkits, and publications. The group will continue to update the resource page as new submissions are received from members of the department and the campus community.
Course Materials
The department invites instructors to integrate substantial and meaningful representation of BIPOC authors/artists into their course materials. The department is committed to sharing resources with instructors that will help them foster inclusivity in their classrooms.