The Committee on Oppression, Racism, and Education (CORE) is a group
of Community-Oriented Public Health Practice (COPHP) students working to integrate
anti-racist principles into the program. CORE provides a common language and
framework to discuss racism in COPHP. It has a twofold overall purpose: to tackle
manifestations of racism playing out in the classroom environment and in the COPHP
program structures, and to ensure all students graduating from the COPHP program are
prepared to address issues of racial equity as public health practitioners. By confronting
the underlying drivers of health disparities that plague people of color, CORE has
become a force for institutional change not just in COPHP but also in the School of
Public Health, elsewhere in the University of Washington, and in the community.
Keywords: Anti-racism, Anti-racist education, Anti-racist principles, Anti-racist
public health program, Classroom culture, Community engagement, Community
organizing, Health equity, Institutional change, Institutional organizing, Institutional
racism, Internalized racial inferiority, Internalized racial oppression,
Internalized racial superiority, Micro-aggressions, Racism, Student-driven change,
Systems of oppression, Undoing institutional racism, White privilege.
