Group alleges Chan unfairly demoted admissions director
A grassroots organization composed of students and faculty of USC’s Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy is calling for the reinstatement of Dr. Arameh Anvarizadeh as director of admissions. Anvarizadeh was demoted while on medical leave after maternity leave in June and remains employed as an associate professor of clinical occupational therapy at Chan.
Anvarizadeh is the first African American Iranian woman to become the vice president of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the youngest woman of color inducted into the association’s Roster of Fellows. She is a founding member and chair of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity, a nonprofit organization that works with leaders in the field of occupational therapy to increase diversity, equity and inclusion. The collective credits Anvarizadeh with championing holistic admissions at USC Chan and bringing in the school’s two most diverse classes in its history.
The USC Chan Justice Collective alleges that Chan has not been transparent about the reason for Anvarizadeh’s demotion, a pattern it said has continued in Chan’s communications on the matter since her demotion.
“We have been consistently met with denial, diversion, and silencing of our voices,” the collective wrote in its pinned Jan. 30 Instagram post.
The collective has been in operation since around the time of Anvarizadeh’s demotion, said Silvia Hernandez Cuellar, a new clinician and student in the doctorate of occupational therapy program at Chan. Since then, it has released multiple statements, letters and petitions calling for “transformative justice and accountability” within the division.
On Oct. 4, the collective sent an open letter to Dr. Grace Baranek, associate dean, chair and Mrs. T.H. Chan professor of occupational science and occupational therapy at Chan, asking the division to hold a town hall for students and faculty to express their concerns and have their questions answered regarding Anvarizadeh’s demotion.
Chan obliged and held a student forum Nov. 16. A community petition detailing the collective’s grievances and requests, however, alleged that Chan refused to promote the forum on the student listserv, instead leaving its promotion to students — who were in the middle of exams at the time. The collective also said the Chan administration reserved a room with only 58 seats for the forum, despite multiple prior requests from members of the collective to use a much larger room. The Chan administration also refused “direct requests” to make a hybrid option available to those who could not make the meeting in person for various reasons, the petition alleged.
During the forum, the collective alleges, Chan used the majority of the allotted time to promote its own diversity initiatives and did not listen to participants’ concerns.
“We were subjected to 3 hours of gaslighting and nothingness,” the collective wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday.
Chan wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan Monday that it “cannot discuss individual personnel matters” as the University “must respect its employees’ privacy rights.”
“[Chan] cherishes diversity in both its workforce and student body,” the statement read. “We have met with faculty, staff, and students to hear their concerns, and will continue discussing with them how the school can build on its efforts to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity.”
Since the forum was held, the collective said that it has heard little from Chan’s administration, aside from an email sent Nov. 21 saying that the school could not disclose confidential information about employee matters.
In response, the collective is asking for the division to reinstate Anvarizadeh as director of admissions or, should she decline the offer, allow her oversight as to who will fill the position next. Demands also include the resignations of Baranek and Julie Gray, associate chair forof curriculum and faculty, from their leadership positions at Chan, a public apology, and for Chan to formally recognize those who worked on the division’s Diversity, Access and Equity programs.
A spokesperson for Anvarizadeh declined to comment for this article.
The collective has primarily relied on Instagram posts to spread its message. Posts include audio from the student forum, testimonials from Chan students and faculty, and further information regarding the situation and their broader cause.
Hernandez Cuellar said that she does not believe Chan will meet the collective’s requests, but that their work is not limited to Anvarizadeh’s demotion.
“If I’m being honest, I have no faith in USC Chan or USC, at large, that these actions will even take place,” she said. “It’s more about speaking up and taking space, because … that’s the power of organizing, and that’s the power of being a collective that these systematic barriers. These situations are going to continue occurring and sometimes there won’t be change, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to change that.”
A faculty member at Chan who requested anonymity for fear of losing their job said that they hope more people will speak out about their experiences with systemic racism at Chan and other divisions of the University. They also said that they hope the collective’s work will continue beyond this issue and highlight the greater problem at hand within Chan and the occupational therapy field.
“I hope that this decision that was made within this institution is recognized as a larger issue for the entire profession,” the faculty member said. “We need to hold ourselves accountable for allowing this to happen to one of our colleagues.”