daily californian logo

BERKELEY'S NEWS • NOVEMBER 18, 2023

Berkeley High School yearbooks recalled for 'offensive and racist' text

article image

SUPPORT OUR NONPROFIT NEWSROOM

We're an independent student-run newspaper, and need your support to maintain our coverage.

JUNE 04, 2015

Update 6/11/15: This article has been updated to reflect an email signed by students in Berkeley High’s Academy of Medicine and Public Service. 

Berkeley High School administrators have recalled the school’s yearbook after reports of inappropriate language on one of its pages, according to an email announcement sent by the school’s principal the evening of June 3.

The text describes Berkeley High’s Academy of Medicine and Public Service, or AMPS — a college preparatory program — as “making our future doctors, dentists, nurses, physicians, fire chiefs and trash collators of tomorrow.” A photo of the offending page was tweeted by the school’s Black Student Union’s Twitter account June 3.

In the email announcement, Berkeley High principal Kristin Glenchur called the phrase “offensive and racist” and said yearbook distribution will be halted until the language is removed. Corrected versions of the yearbook will be distributed to AMPS seniors for free.

“What occurred does not just affect the AMPS community, but has had a profound and hurtful impact on all of us,” Glenchur said in the email.

An email announcement signed by several AMPS students was sent Monday to clarify the “importance and severity” of the yearbook comment. According to the email, AMPS students have previously been the target of stereotyping. Although formerly called the Community Partnership Academy, the group was referred to as the Colored People Academy by some students.

“It is very saddening that we will spend our lives proving our worth, but it’s an even harder blow that we must prove ourselves in the institution that is supposed to protect us,” the email said. “People who cannot relate must come to the realization that racism and classism are large factors that exist on Berkeley High’s campus.”

The school’s yearbook staff, according to the June 3 email, has taken collective responsibility for not catching the error and is preparing an apology.

 

G. Haley Massara is a news editor. Contact them at [email protected] and follow them on Twitter @BylineGraph.
LAST UPDATED

JUNE 12, 2015


Related Articles

Berkeley police arrested a 21-year-old Oakland man and detained and released two juveniles who officers said came to assist in a fight between two Berkeley High School students on Wednesday.
Berkeley police arrested a 21-year-old Oakland man and detained and released two juveniles who officers said came to assist in a fight between two Berkeley High School students on Wednesday.
Approximately 400 to 500 people and 23 Berkeley police officers were involved in a series of fights that took place to the east of Berkeley High School on Friday afternoon.
Approximately 400 to 500 people and 23 Berkeley police officers were involved in a series of fights that took place to the east of Berkeley High School on Friday afternoon.
A Berkeley High School student has been suspended after allegedly being involved in the stabbing of another student on Thursday.
A Berkeley High School student has been suspended after allegedly being involved in the stabbing of another student on Thursday.