Dear C4L colleagues,

I'm writing with a request for your consideration in contributing to the
University of Texas iSchool Alumni Scholarship for BIPOC Students.

We have just $8,000 to go! We've raised $45,850 of $50,000 funds to create
an endowed UT iSchool scholarship to help more BIPOC scholars enter the
profession, and if we raise the remaining funds by the end of this month
(just a couple days away!), we'll be able to begin awarding the scholarship
to students in fall 2023.

Donations between now and the end of March will be matched, up to $3,500
total! We're getting so close and are very hopeful we can begin providing
financial support to students next year!

*Please consider helping us meet our goal and being part of the
scholarship's success*! You can visit the scholarship's website (
https://fundutischoolbipoc.wordpress.com/) or its donation portal (
https://www.texasexes.org/iSchoolScholarship). A full press release about
the scholarship is below.

With gratitude,
Alison Clemens, for the UT iSchool BIPOC Scholarship Team

*UT iSchool alumni step up to create an endowed scholarship for BIPOC
students*

Graduates of the University of Texas at Austin School of Information have
started a grassroots fundraising campaign to create an endowed scholarship
to help more BIPOC scholars enter the profession

The grassroots fundraising campaign was formed in response to a 2020
petition by UT iSchool students
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ucP6DehuxRRJTaAu73lWku2EFFooQ2QQxNo_QL3g8SE/edit?usp=sharing>.
The petition stated “BIPOC students, who face additional obstacles to
academic success and personal well-being, should have pathways for
education at the iSchool through accessible and available funding,” among
other demands for antiracist action. The call prompted UT iSchool alumni
Alison Clemens and Michelle Keba Knecht to organize planning for an endowed
scholarship to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color)
students.

The “iSchool Alumni Scholarship for BIPOC Students” will be administered by
Texas Exes, the UT Austin alumni association, and supporters can donate
through www.texasexes.org/iSchoolScholarship. Meeting the initial goal of
$50,000 will create a recurring yearly scholarship of $2,000. Fundraising
began in October 2021 and raised $8000 in the first month.

*The scholarship is a concrete step towards the University of Texas’s, and
the School of Information’s, goals of greater diversity, equity, and
inclusion. It is the only scholarship specifically for UT iSchool students
of color, who are underrepresented both in the information profession and
the iSchool -- Emma Hetrick, MSIS expected 2022*


BIPOC communities are under-represented in the information professions. In
2017, surveys of both the American Library Association
<http://www.ala.org/tools/research/initiatives/membershipsurveys> and
the Society
of American Archivists
<https://www2.archivists.org/aboutarchives/resources/factsandfigures/wars-saa-salary-survey>
reported
that the library and archives fields are roughly 87% white, while the U.S.
population <https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219> is
currently 76% white. Significantly, fewer than 5% of individuals in both
professions reported identifying as Black or African American, compared to
13% of the country as a whole. Results from an informal 2020 survey of
iSchool students by the petitioners showed that “89.3% of respondents want
action to be taken to increase scholarship and funding opportunities for
BIPOC students and to hire more BIPOC faculty and staff.”

The UT iSchool BIPOC Scholarship Team began meeting in December 2020. The
team is led by Michelle Keba Knecht and Alison Clemens in collaboration
with Lauren Algee, Hannah Calkins, Martha Horan, Kathi Isham, Dana Sagona,
Elliot Williams, Rachel E. Winston, student representative Emma Hetrick,
and faculty representative Dr. Loriene Roy.

*Press contact*: Alison Clemens, [log in to unmask], 203-432-9029
*Website*: https://fundutischoolbipoc.wordpress.com/
*Related press*: “School of Information creates scholarship for BIPOC
students <https://thedailytexan.com/2021/10/14/dt-10-15-21/#3>,” Daily
Texan, October 15, 2021