The pandemic rages, days blend and springtime is sweet in Chapel Hill
During this devastating pandemic, our collective commitments to excellence in public health, equity and compassion inspire and connect us.
Topic: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity
Public Health
Zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment
I’m proud that our Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health ASPPH has a new policy that states that we have zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment. As the organization that represents academic public health, our commitment to zero tolerance is important. It also should be a message to any faculty or staff member whose behavior is less than honorable. Zero tolerance means no tolerance.
Government
Can’t stop thinking about the children
Consequences of maltreatment at the border are immediate, severe and long-lasting I woke up about 3 o’clock Sunday morning. I just could not stop thinking about what our government is doing to immigrant children at the southern U.S. border. According to a recent interview with Jack Shonkoff, professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard...
Gun Violence
Decrying anti-Semitism and all violence motivated by hate
Six months to the day after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and on the last day of Passover, a horrific shooting at Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego on Saturday has us again grieving the senseless loss of precious life, terrible injuries and untold trauma. We condemn the anti-Semitism at the root of this unspeakable...
Global
Lamenting devastating attacks in Sri Lanka
As many were celebrating Easter Sunday and Passover under a beautiful blue Carolina sky and elsewhere, a horrible tragedy unfolded halfway around the world, in Sri Lanka. We are saddened and sickened at the scale of the tragedy in Sri Lanka, where more than 300 people died and another 500 were injured when churches and...
Public Health
Responding to Anti-Semitism
On Friday, April 12, we learned about a video from a musical performance at a three-day "Conflict over Gaza" conference held on campus in March 2019. We co-sponsored the conference, just as we co-sponsor many campus conferences for which we are not responsible (i.e., don't participate in planning; don't see the speaker list or agenda).
Higher Ed
Guns and threats of violence have no place on this campus
On two of the past three weekends, members of pro-Confederacy groups have visited our campus to continue to protest the toppling and removal of the Confederate soldier monument. I did not write after the first incident because one event, although deplorable, could be an anomaly. When the second event occurred, I felt compelled to respond. Two events could be the beginning of a trend.
Public Health
Human Rights Day 2018
Human rights are a public health issue I was reminded recently that today, December 10, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The person bringing it to my attention was Benjamin Meier, JD, LLM, PhD, adjunct professor of health policy and management in the Gillings School and past chair of the APHA...
Gun Violence
In response to more violence and hatred
Do we turn inward to retreat or say ‘Enough’? Over the weekend, in reaction to the awful events of the past week, a woman I know well, an immigrant to the U.S. and now a citizen, asked me, “What is wrong with your country?” She was being facetious, because it is her country, too –...
Government
Transgender is not a binary issue
Why does the administration want to make it one? After I finished my MPH program, I worked in Detroit at Wayne State University School of Medicine for two years. Wayne State was a center of excellence for people seeking sex reassignment surgery. I audited a fascinating course on issues around transgender surgery, taught by a physician in the department of psychiatry....
North Carolina
I voted. Hope you will too.
Early voting must stay I voted early. That way, whatever happens, it’s done. I cannot imagine not voting. It’s not something we should take for granted, especially as the world is experiencing a drift from democratic principles. Whoever you vote for, please vote. Some people say they didn’t vote in an election because there were no good candidates to choose from or the outcome didn’t matter. Outcomes matter. There are...
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