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Title
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Interview Clip: Committee work as advocacy
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Description
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Recorded in Studio 2 (The Berg) in the Dance Building at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
[00:00:00] PATTERSON:
I must say that I undertook a zeal. I knew the situation in Ann Arbor—
TOPPIN:
Okay.
[00:00:14] PATTERSON:
—I knew of the absence, numerically absence of a sizable, a reasonable core of African-American students. I knew of the absence in their training—because I'd been subject to it—to music of their own. And I undertook a zeal to make myself a self-designated awakening of my colleagues at the University of Michigan.
TOPPIN:
Okay.
[00:01:02] PATTERSON:
This sounds like, maybe an exaggeration, but it is not an exaggeration. I made myself available, as a musical force, to all the committees that wanted to have a representative from the School of Music, which meant a, a undertaking of many, many committee assignments, which exposed me to the remaining few numbers of faculty colleagues of color.
[00:01:50] And I visited them, and I chatted with them, and I come to find out that there was a concealed zeal on their part, which was awakened by my, uh, pledge, self-pledge, to do what I can, not only for the University of Michigan, but the city of Ann Arbor.
[00:02:24] And I don't want to, I don't want to sound, uh, over-committed to this zeal, but it did indeed overcommit me. I made myself a um, a non—a hesitant, let me say, a hesitant performer of music.
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Identifier
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PattersonToppininterviewclip3
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Creator
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Louise Toppin; Willis Patterson
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Date
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07/25/24
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Subject
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administration; activism; supporting students; BIPOC platforming
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Type
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moving image
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Format
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mp4
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Relation
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—
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Source
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, & Dance
