Dear Students,
As local and national news continues to share unfortunate news of unacceptable hate crimes, I would like to assure you that Laney College remains committed to providing a welcoming learning environment that celebrates the diversity that you and our employees bring to our great institution. We condemn the rise in racism, violence and hate toward Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities and want you to know that bigotry, racism and violence have no place at Laney College and in our community!
To support you during this time, we continue to offer the following:
- Our Asian Pacific American Success (APASS) Program which provides AAPI counseling and peer mentoring services in several languages including Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Lao and Mongolian. The Laney APASS Contact Page on our website include information, including names and hours of APASS counselors. – https://laney.edu/apass/contact-information/. For further information on APASS, email apasslaney@peralta.edu
- For mental health services, the Laney College Health Center offers services to support you, including crisis counseling. The link to the center’s website may be found at https://laney.edu/health_center/mental-health-service/. In addition to offering crisis counseling, the professionals in the center can also offer referrals for mental health services in the community, and mental health related workshops throughout the year. Claire Crosetti, Laney’s mental health counselor, may be reached for an appointment at ccrosetti@peralta.edu or at 510-464-3175.
- All of our services for students may be found on the Student Activities and Campus Life page on our website, which contains our Campus and Community Resources Guide (https://laney.edu/student_activities/).
We remain fully committed to serving and welcoming all of our students, and during this time of most unfortunate events in the news, we grow stronger in our support of our API community at Laney. If you are in need of support, we encourage you to contact any of us in senior administration. Additionally, Dr. David Lee heads our Asian Pacific American Student Success (APASS) program, and he may be reached at apasslaney@peralta.edu.
Laney College is proud to be an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution where AAPI students are safe and supported. We stand strongly in our support of the AAPI community against hate #StopAAPIHate. Over the past few months, the College has re-established its relationships with more than 25 business and local leaders in our Asian & Pacific Islander community, and all of us are committed to your success by having a learning environment that supports and empowers you. Additionally, we are so pleased to be supporting our students through a $1.5 million grant as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander – Serving Institution.
Laney College welcomes all students and employees and celebrates our differences. We do not tolerate racism or acts of hate on any level, as we are an institution devoted to welcoming and empowering all students as they engage the learning process and achieve their educational goals.
Sincerely,
Rudy Besikof
Laney College President
rbesikof@peralta.edu
Derek Pinto
Vice President, Administrative Services
dpinto@peralta.edu
Vicki Ferguson
Vice President, Student Services
vferguson@peralta.edu
Mark Fields
Vice President, Instruction
markfields@peralta.edu
