PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Two University of Maine at Presque Isle students are the first to receive scholarship funds from the faculty-supported George Floyd Memorial Scholarship.
Seniors Renee Browning, a criminal justice major, and Ines Ngoga, a biology major with a pre-med concentration, each recently received a $300 scholarship.
The AFUM statewide faculty union committed to giving each campus chapter matching funds up to $200 to help with a racial and social justice scholarship or event. And the UMPI chapter established the UMPI AFUM George Floyd Memorial Scholarship fund and was able to raise more than $500, bringing its total for the scholarship fund to $700.
In late fall, the UMPI chapter sent out a call for applications asking students to submit brief statements about how the death of George Floyd affected them and what work they have done to advance social and racial justice in their communities.
“We had a strong pool of 10 candidates and we actually had a tie for the top spot, so instead of one $500 scholarship, we awarded two $300 scholarships to Renee Browning and Ines Ngoga,” UMPI AFUM Chapter Treasurer and Grievance Officer Lisa Leduc said. “Our hope is that those who receive these scholarships will expand upon their work to advance social and racial justice.”
Last year, the university and the statewide union condemned racist acts, denouncing police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
Shortly after Floyd’s death, the university was one of the first institutions in The County to denounce Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer. About a month later, they publicly aligned the university with the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We say Black Lives Matter. Period. We recognize that to reach our goals — to be student-focused every day, to be a great university to work for, and to uphold the principles of equity and justice — we must add our voices to the Black Lives Matter Movement,” a statement last summer from the university administration read.
Scholarship recipient Ngoga, who also heads the university’s Black Student Union, said it was important for the university to back last summer’s statements by supporting students of color, and the scholarship is a good example.
“As a campus, we’ve made diversity, equity, and inclusion priority areas of focus,” UMPI President Ray Rice said.
Ngoga has participated in racial and social justice activities both in-person and online, including participating in protests, sharing information and signing petitions.
“Perhaps my greatest work has been with the Maine Policy Scholars program where I spent a year researching how to improve the University of Maine System non-discrimination policy,” she said. “I wrote a policy recommendation memo to the Chancellor and am still actively working to bring those recommendations and improvements to life on our campuses to ensure that our non-discrimination policies are implemented properly.”
Scholarship recipient Browning has traveled to different countries to work with people while addressing social justice issues.
“We worked with different forms of social justice including poverty, cultural issues, addiction, physical building needs and even restorative work,” she said. “Each time I was able to interact with people from different social groups, economic groups and ethnicities. This greatly impacted my perception of the world and of people, and through these experiences I developed a better understanding of how I wanted to work with these individuals.”
The UMPI AFUM chapter plans to fund raise within the campus union again this spring and summer so it can continue to award these scholarships every spring semester.
