Appendix B: Statements of Support and Commitments to Action to Advance Diversity and Inclusion at Brandeis University by Department, School, and Program
Nov. 28, 2015
Note: List to be updated on a weekly basis.
Signed, The Faculty of the African and Afro-American Studies Department Brandeis University
The Department of Anthropology stands in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015 in calling on the university to fulfill its commitments to social justice and inclusion. We are grateful for the students' courageous actions, which are inspiring dialogue and pushing for concrete changes. We note that the tools to confront racism, exclusion, and othering in the university and in our societies– including the discourse and bureaucratic practices of “diversity” – have only partly addressed the intransigent problems at Brandeis and other institutions. In fact, these tools have sometimes contributed to a continuation of the status quo and a bracketing of possibilities for change. We affirm our continuing commitment to concepts, methods, and information that challenge both structures and institutions of power and the inscription of privilege, violence and exclusion on individual bodies and habits in the U.S. and beyond. We look forward to participating as members of the campus community in the imaginative work of creating new approaches to address these problems. We call upon the senior administration and the Board of Trustees to take concrete steps (both immediate and long-term) toward transforming Brandeis into a fully inclusive university.
The Department of Classical Studies supports the students of #FordHall2015. We ask Brandeis to fulfill its long-standing commitment to social justice and inclusion on our campus. We appreciate the courageous actions of the students to bring about dialogue and seek positive changes. Clearly prior efforts to establish diversity on campuses have not been sufficient to eradicate the current status quo concerning many troubling issues, such as racism and exclusion, on our campus and on campuses everywhere. We strongly urge the senior administration at Brandeis and the Board of Trustees to take both immediate and long-term steps to transform Brandeis into the fully inclusive university that we have always aspired to be.
Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, Professor and Chair, Maša Culumovic, Assistant Professor,
Patricia A. Johnston, Professor, Andrew J. Koh, Assistant Professor and Kay Fellow,
Cheryl L. Walker, Associate Professor, Delande Justinvil, Academic Administrator,
Heidi McAllister, Academic Administrator
The Department of History supports the recent calls for greater diversity within the Brandeis community. Our department and all departments will greatly benefit from the presence of more professors and students of color. We are committed to doing our part to making this happen. We further support a safe learning environment for all our students. We recognize the importance of the issues raised by #FordHall2015 and efforts to engage our community in an open discussion of pressing questions of racial justice and inclusion on our campus and in our society.
The Brandeis Education Program supports the recent calls for greater diversity within the Brandeis community. Our faculty, students and university will greatly benefit from the presence of more professors and students of color. We are committed to doing our part to making this happen. We further support a safe learning environment for all our students. We recognize the importance of the issues raised by #FordHall2015 and efforts to engage our community in an open discussion of pressing questions of racial justice and inclusion on our campus and in our society.
As educators we also ask: What should faculty and students be reading and discussing together? What structures would provide safe settings for serious and critical discussion? How can our students play a leadership role in these conversations? These issues are especially salient for us as educators concerned about the quality of public education and troubled by the persistent inequities in our schools and society. We will to continue our work to raise and answer these questions with our students and colleagues.
The Politics Department
As Brandeis faculty, it is imperative that we listen to and address claims of injustice expressed by members of our university community. When the aggrieved are our students who belong to an underrepresented and historically oppressed minority group, and when the harms involve claims of current, systemic injustice — as is the case with the FordHall 2015 activists — we must listen carefully and respond effectively.
The Department of Politics fully supports efforts to achieve greater diversity within our community and to increase support for students, faculty, and staff of color.
The faculty of the Department of Politics commit ourselves to:
- Reviewing current practices and formulating new ones regarding our departmental curriculum and pedagogy and extra-curricular programming as it relates to inequality and racism inside and outside of our campus.
- Expanding our efforts to recruit students from underrepresented groups into our M.A. and Ph.D. programs, as this is the best way to build an increasingly diverse group of political scientists and political analysts for the future.
- Intensifying outreach to groups in our university community that are under-represented in both our courses and our undergraduate major.
- Bringing to a successful conclusion our current efforts, in conjunction with AAAS, to hire a tenure-track political scientist specializing in race and American politics and seeking authorization to hire additional Politics faculty of color this academic year.
The Department of Economics supports the recent calls for greater diversity within the Brandeis community. The senior faculty has met and commits the Department to the following actions:
For our undergraduate program, we will:
a) increase our outreach to communities within Brandeis that are under-represented in our courses and our major,
b) broaden the charge of our existing taskforce on gender inclusion within the major to include under-represented groups, and
c) critically examine our existing curriculum to identify areas where the analysis of race, discrimination, and inequality can be incorporated and expanded.
For our Ph.D. program, we will expand our efforts to recruit talented students from diverse backgrounds to build the pipeline of future researchers and teachers.
We are re-doubling our efforts to identify and recruit a more ethnically and racially diverse faculty.
America’s racial legacy plays a key role in today’s economy. Research done by Brandeis faculty makes this abundantly clear. As Professor Katy Graddy‘s research has found, even when income and cost differences are taken into account, fast food restaurants charge more in African-American neighborhoods. And as our colleagues at the Heller School document, the median white household had $111,146 in wealth holdings in 2011, compared to $7,113 for the median black household and $8,348 for the median Latino household. Of course, the issues facing African-Americans are more than just monetary.
We strive to build a community in which all are included and all can learn, create and do research free of artificial constraints based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other human distinction.
We recognize that such support requires more than just words.
The faculty of the Brandeis University Department of English stands in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015, and with our colleagues in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, in calling on the university to fulfill its commitments to social justice and diversity. We applaud the courage and determination of the Concerned Students. We accept our responsibility to educate ourselves and our students to confront racism on our campus and in our world. We call upon the senior administration and the Board of Trustees to take immediate, concrete steps toward transforming Brandeis into a fully inclusive university.
The Fine Arts Department expresses solidarity with the students participating in the #FordHall2015 protest, with their supporters and with our colleagues in AAAS and throughout the University. We share the commitment to make Brandeis a more diverse, inclusive, and intellectually dynamic place, and admire the determination of the protesters to bring about positive change. We concur with the goals of broadening the curriculum and cultivating a more diverse student body and faculty. As artists and scholars of art we recognize the unique power of art to challenge the status quo and enact social change, and thus feel a profound connection with our intrepid students. We hope that the administration devises concrete actions toward both immediate and long term remedies that enable Brandeis University to fulfill its social justice mission.
Members of the Department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature (GRALL) stand in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015.
We are inspired by the powerful statement of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies (AAAS) and support Interim President Lynch in her commitment to unite our community in fulfilling its mission of social justice and inclusion.
We pledge to do our part as a department and as individuals to make Brandeis a truly inclusive and diverse university that lives up to its mission statement. Brandeis must back up its declared commitment to diversity with concerted and compassionate action.
Stephen Dowden, Irina Dubinina, Matthew Fraleigh, Hisae Fujiwara, Xiwen Lu, Robin Feuer Miller, Yukimi Nakano, David Powelstock, Kathrin Seidl, Harleen Singh, Sabine von Mering, Pu Wang, Jian Wei, Curt Woolhiser
The faculty of the Health: Science, Society and Policy (HSSP) Program express our solidarity with the vision expressed by the students occupying the Bernstein-Marcus Building. The issues to which they call our attention are serious and urgent. Increasing the diversity and inclusiveness of the University are goals which we share.
We commit ourselves to working as partners with all constituents of the University to realize these goals. We recognize that many of our shared aspirations cannot be accomplished in a short time frame. We appreciate the efforts of our colleagues to move forward with policies and programs to increase diversity and inclusion on campus. We applaud the progress that has been made in recent years, even as we recognize that there is still much work to be done.
Understanding how structural inequalities affect human bodies, often leading to stark inequities in population health, is a central concern of our program. The issues raised by #ConcernedStudents2015 are important to us as scholars, teachers, and members of this community. We look forward to participating in ongoing education, dialogue, and policy formulation to make Brandeis University the inclusive and diverse community that it is meant to be.
The undersigned faculty, staff and researchers of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University stand in solidarity with the students who have occupied Bernstein-Marcus. They are seeking immediate action to align the University’s activities with its historic social justice mission. To the University’s shame, most of the student demands are not new and have been part of the campus conversation for years, but talk has trumped commitment, resources, and resolve. We, the undersigned faculty, staff and researchers at the Heller School, appreciate the students’ commitment to ensuring that the University’s actions are aligned with the vision of Justice Brandeis, our namesake. We believe it is our intellectual and moral obligation to support our students in their struggle to transform Brandeis into a truly 21st century university.
The students have eloquently articulated that Black faculty, staff and students face serious inequities on this campus, and ongoing efforts to improve these conditions are falling far short. We, the faculty, staff and researchers of the Heller School, concur that serious shortcomings in equity, diversity and inclusion prevent the Brandeis community from fulfilling its mission. New energy and a new vision are required. The students’ actions offer the University an opportunity to have an honest conversation about these issues and put forward mutually agreed upon tangible solutions. Echoing the social activism of the University’s founders, the students are demanding immediate action. We acknowledge that the slow pace of change is not acceptable, and that both meaningful structural and attitudinal changes are urgently needed to create a more inclusive and equitable Brandeis community.
We urge the University’s administration to take immediate steps to build a University community that is fully inclusive, and honors diversity in deed as well as word. We respect the students’ initiative to seize this historic moment, and offer the entire Brandeis community an opportunity to start a series of both corrective and proactive actions to end racial inequities at our university.
Susan Parish, Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Thomas Shapiro, Anita Hill, Stephen Fournier, Michelle Techler, Lynn Davis, Larry Bailis, Margot Davis, Leah Igdalsky, Susan Curnan, Amity Quinn, Jack White, Joan Dassin, Larry Simon, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Maureen Stewart, Carol Prost, Sheryl Seller, Diana Bowser, Constance Horgan, Eric Olson, Anju Joglekar, Monica Jordan, Maria Torres, Alexandra Rubington, Nina (Cornelia) Kammerer, Theodore Johnson, Dave Reynolds, Naomi Porper, Ilhom Akobirshoev, Simone Parker, Della Hughes, Lindsay Rosenfeld, Ashley Brooks, Wu Zeng, Michael Doonan, Josh Ellsworth, Sharon Reif, Rosella Carelli, Lisa Dodson, Alain Lempereur, Marc Kiredjian, Henan Li, Tatjana Meschede, Clemens Noelke, Jessica Santos, Walter Leutz, Janet Boguslaw, Suzannah Scanlon, Mary Jo Larson, Joanne Beswick, Sandra Jones, Susan Lanspery, Dominic Hodgkin, N. Moring, Palmira Santos, Ravi Lakshmikanthan, Michael Appell, Linnea Lof, Tam Emerson, Mary Brooks, Marion Howard, Sharra Owens-Schwartz, Peter Kreiner, Laura Sullivan, Jill Marcus, Gretchen Rowley, Norma DeMattos, Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Iona Crisan, Jon Chilingerian, Bethany Romano, Andrea Acevedo, Cristina Espinosa, Lanni Isenberg, Susan Eaton, Clare Hurley, Christine Bishop, Mary Brolin, Moaven Razavi, Cathy Burack, Nancy Pratt, Vicki Corpian, Don Shepard, Alison Earle, Ruslan Nikitin, Robert Tannenwald, Rajesh Sampath, Faith Paul, Adam Motenko, Jeffrey Prottas, Gail Hall, Amy DiMattia, Joseph Assan
The Latin American and Latino Studies Program stands in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015 in calling on the university to fulfill its social justice mission and create a more fully inclusive campus community of students, staff, and faculty. The courageous students who have taken action have inspired real dialogue and change on campus. As faculty we look forward to participating in and out of the classroom to enact change and bring about a more open and welcoming community for people of color. We also call on the administration and the Board of Trustees to respond constructively and quickly with concrete steps to bring about the transformative goals of making justice and inclusion at Brandeis true in word and deed.
Legal Studies has been following current campus events during an intense period of discussion on matters of race and justice. We support the aspirations of Concerned Students 2015, and other students, in provoking a more concrete debate on these issues. And we share their vision for a more inclusive campus environment. There is every reason to hope that respectful dialogue can lead to tangible improvements in the months and years ahead. As a field of study, Law confronts broad questions about justice, approached by way of critical thinking and practical action. Our experience of working with Brandeis students gives us confidence that their energy and skills can contribute to a better future not only for the campus, but for our larger society.
Richard Gaskins, Director of the Legal Studies Program
The Brandeis Multifaith Chaplaincy stands with #fordhall2015 in its quest for justice. All people are created in God's image and we are committed to buildingand supporting a community which reflects that mandate. We thank the many students who have placed their own needs on hold in order to raise all of us up. We pray for the day in which no student, faculty or staff member feels marginalized on our campus and we can pursue truth even unto its innermost parts side by side.
We, as faculty members of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, stand in support of the spirit of activism and goals of the #FordHall2015. The idea of inclusivity has been a pillar of Brandeis since its founding even as its realization has remained elusive. The Concerned Students have acted with courage and caused us to reflect further upon the state of racial affairs at the university. We are committed to hearing the thoughts of these students and working with them, other student groups, and the administration toward the shared goal of confronting racism and eradicating it from the Brandeis campus and our world more generally. We call upon the senior administration and the Board of Trustees to treat this issue with the utmost seriousness and to continue efforts to make Brandeis a beacon of inclusivity and justice. “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16:20)
Guy Antebi, Bernadette Brooten, Jonathan Decter, Carl Sharif El-Tobgui, Sharon Feiman-Nemser, ChaeRan Freeze, Sara Hascal, Ellen Kellman, Reuven Kimelman, Jonathan Krasner, Jon Levisohn, Kanan Makiya, Yehudah Mirsky*, Ari Ofengenden, Bonit Porath, Sharon Pucker Rivo, Eugene Sheppard, Esther Shorr, Ellen Smith, Ilana Szobel, David Wright
*Further statement below
The pursuit of racial justice, like all justice, is as urgent as it is often complex, especially in large institutions. The student protestors have raised our awareness and for that we must be grateful. Now begins the hard, detailed work of change, not in place of awareness but as its realization. I hope that in this process the students and administration and faculty will work constructively together to build sustainable change. Today's students are tomorrow's faculty and administration. The system is not the enemy, it is, in the fullness of time, one of the crucial vessels you will use to change the world.
—Yehudah Mirsky
The Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program (PAX) stands in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015. At the heart of PAX is the mission to teach students how to analyze structures and processes of injustice, how to interact nonviolently with the world around them, and how to work effectively to improve it. We enthusiastically endorse the Concerned Students’ call to “seek to investigate the nature of power, political participation, release from domination and exploitation, and the self’s relation to all this.” We join them in efforts to make Brandeis more fully sensitive to race, gender, class, and other issues of oppression. With some expertise in conflict resolution and its many applications and nuances, we offer to be as helpful as possible in any of the phases of the work ahead where we would be welcome to take part in this most urgent and promising dynamic under way.
The Department of Psychology joins students of #FordHall2015 and all of the groups and individuals standing in solidarity with them in recognizing social inequity at Brandeis and aspiring to eradicate it. We cherish our students’ activism in reminding us of a problem that has always existed at Brandeis and is still urgent. We applaud President Lynch for her open, enthusiastic participation in dialog about Brandeis’ ongoing efforts to foster diversity. We pledge to renew our departmental diversity-building efforts. We look forward to working with our students and administration to improve coverage of the psychology of diversity and to make it universally inviting and accessible.
Statement of Support from Program in Religious Studies Faculty Members:
As scholars of religion, we support our Brandeis students who are calling upon the University to live up to its highest values. We pledge to work with Black students and Black faculty and, indeed, with all of our colleagues and the administration to ensure racial justice at Brandeis and to provide our students with an education that can help them to create a racially just world.
Tzvi Abusch, Bernadette J. Brooten, Abby Cooper, Jonathan Decter, Yu Feng, Sarah Lamb, Kristen Lucken, Charles McClendon, Ellen Schattschneider, David Wright
The Program in Social Justice and Social Policy (SJSP) stands in solidarity with the students who peacefully occupy the office of the University President.
The mission of SJSP is to develop effective social policies and encourage students to advocate for change. SJSP seeks to teach students to
“Rigorously engage with core questions of liberty, equality, and justice
Interrogate the historical, structural, and cultural contexts that shape the dynamics of discrimination and inequality in a range of institutions
Clearly communicate theories, analyses, and policy solutions, both orally and in writing
Apply generalized principles to a range of real-world issues and settings
Deploy analytic frameworks and tools to develop effective policy approaches to specific social problems
Adeptly consider and respond to objections to proposed policy solutions
Collaborate with …communities to develop policy strategies that address pressing issues.” University Bulletin.
How can we demand these educational commitments for our students and not of ourselves? Our students are now taking the lead. These are the leaders of the next generation. It is our responsibility as faculty to support the peaceful demonstration and encourage the dialogue by which they seek change.
The faculty and staff of the Department of Sociology stand in solidarity with students who have occupied Bernstein-Marcus. We strongly endorse their vision of a more inclusive and diverse university. We commend their leadership and courage in asking all of us to participate in the realization of this vision. We commit ourselves to actively engaging to deepen the conversation and to support concrete efforts to move towards a more equitable and just Brandeis.
Our discipline arose from the study of inequality and injustice, and these remain central concerns. We recognize the harms done by systems of structural inequality, which exact deadly and unacceptable tolls on the bodies, souls, families, and communities of people of color in the United States. We also know that the values and policies that have attempted to address the persistent problems of racism and exclusion in our society and our university have often fallen short, and that new discussions, new ideals and new practices are necessary to move our communities forward. We maintain an unshakable commitment to teaching and research focused on inequality and injustice, their consequences, and mechanisms for their amelioration. We support continued negotiations between the students, university administration, interim President Lynch and the Board of Trustees to find a collaborative path for addressing the yet unfulfilled social justice promise of Brandeis. We will continue to engage with our students, colleagues, and university leaders to address these issues on campus and beyond in a constructive and collaborative manner.
The Department of Theater Arts at Brandeis University stands in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015 in calling on the university to fulfill its commitments to social justice, diversity and inclusion. We are grateful to the Concerned Students for inspiring dialogue and action to end racism and discrimination on campus. We commit to an ongoing process of educating ourselves, and reaffirm the capacity of the arts to challenge oppression and enable transformation. We join our colleagues and call upon the Senior Administration and the Board of Trustees to take immediate first steps towards transforming Brandeis University into a fully inclusive University.
The Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program's faculty stands in solidarity with the students occupying the Bernstein-Marcus building. Our students have taken the lead again in calling for change, and as stated by our colleagues in the AAAS department, "it is our intellectual and moral obligation to support our students in their struggles to transform Brandeis into a truly 21st century university." We pledge ourselves to transformation and call upon the administration to do likewise. #fordhall2015
College of Arts and Sciences Division Heads
We stand in solidarity with the students of #FordHall2015 and fully support the struggle to transform Brandeis University into the excellent, inclusive, diverse, and racially just institution that it must become. We pledge to work tirelessly and immediately — together with our black students and colleagues — to eradicate all forms of racism, discrimination and oppression on campus and beyond. We call upon the senior administration and the Board of Trustees to continue the dialogue with our students and to take concrete steps towards this goal.
Gannit Ankori, Head of the Division of Creative Arts
John Burt, Head of the Division of Humanities
Sarah Lamb, Head of the Division of Social Sciences
John Wardle, Head of the Division of Science
Faculty Senate Resolution: Supporting Change, Equality and Justice in response to #fordhall2015 movement
“Truth unto its inner most parts”, the Brandeis motto embedded in the University seal, requires facing history and ourselves critically enough to recognize that Brandeis, like other universities and institutions, reflects the larger society’s enduring patterns of racism and marginalization. It is the responsibility of all of us to come together to find new tools and approaches to change these patterns.
#FordHall2015 is calling on the University to fulfill its mission and commitment to social justice and inclusion especially as it relates to the conditions surrounding our black students (see attached letter and demands, Nov. 22, 2015). The Senate applauds the courage and intelligence the activist students bring to the injustice they feel and live, we respect their voice and they deserve our attention and action. Further, we agree with our AAAS colleagues that “it is our intellectual and moral obligation to support our students in their struggles to transform Brandeis into a truly 21st Century University”. Along with standing in solidarity with students and the movement goals, as have at least 19 University Departments and Schools (see attached statements), the Senate, as the representative body of the faculty as a whole, also hopes to catalyze action and advance equity, diversity and inclusion for all marginalized groups on the campus. Past progress from academic diversity committees, though well-intended, has been slow and largely ineffective.
The Senate hereby resolves to support the ideas put forward in Interim President Lynch’s letter (attached) and, more specifically, the following strategies:
- Ensure that Black and other underrepresented faculty are nominated for the election ballot for the Faculty Senate and have the opportunity to share significantly in the governance of the University.
- Sponsor faculty forums, teach-ins, and other learning opportunities on diversity and inclusion (drawn on the #FordHall2015 “syllabus” recently produced by the students – see attached).
- Encourage assessment of curricula and syllabi to further reflect issues of race, equity and inclusion in course and curricula requirements where appropriate.
- Strongly support that teaching evaluations address race, equity and inclusion in course content and pedagogy where appropriate.
- Accelerate appointment of an Interim VP for Diversity and Inclusion while search is underway for a June 2016 appointment.
- Recommend improving the faculty search process to address diversity in the applicant pool.
- Advocate for diversifying the Board of Trustees as soon as possible.
- Mandate that all faculty (including adjuncts & part-time faculty) and staff have opportunities to learn about diversity and increase racial awareness and inclusion.
- Develop an Equity Fellows Program where a cadre of leaders knowledgeable about diversity and inclusion are supported to serve as both champions and knowledge leaders for programs, departments and/or schools within Brandeis.
This call-to-action is for University leadership inclusive of Faculty, Administrators, Staff and Trustees to join students in this historic moment to address systemic institutional change in our culture and martial the resources, respect, love and compassion to be uniquely Brandeisian change agents. In the spirit of honoring our legacy and creating a future defined by equality, justice and excellence in education, we have no alternative but to lead with the courage of our convictions and prove it is possible to transform Brandeis into a truly 21st Century University.
In the words of one of our Founding Trustees, Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Great Question,”
Remarks delivered at the United Nations in New York on March 27, 1958.
Signed,
Professor Susan P. Curnan, Chair, The Faculty Senate of Brandeis University
On behalf of The Faculty Senate of Brandeis University
Statement of support and action from the Division of Science (incorporating the departments of biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics and psychology, and the programs of biological physics, genetic counseling, linguistics, neuroscience and quantitative biology)
#ConcernedStudents2015 calls on the University to fulfill its mission and commitment to social justice and inclusion especially as it relates to the conditions surrounding our black and other underrepresented minority students. The Division of Science declares solidarity with the vision expressed by the students that occupied the Bernstein-Marcus Building. The issues to which they call our attention are serious and urgent. Increasing the diversity and inclusiveness throughout the University are goals that we share.
We are acutely aware of the lack of diversity in the Division, at all levels. This reflects, in part, the small number of black and minority students entering the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics), and the problem reaches back into the K-12 education system. For some years, we have been actively taking steps to try and change this. These outreach efforts include those listed below, and we continue to actively seek additional avenues to increase diversity throughout the Division.
- Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows teaching in the Transitional Year Program
- Science Posse (75% underrepresented minorities)
- National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU):
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center REU (goal for this year is 100% underrepresented minority students
- Molecular and Cell Biology REU (> 50% underrepresented minority students)
- Recruiting graduate students through SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science), and at ABRCMS (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students), U Mass Boston, U Mass Lowell, and other local colleges with large minority populations.
- Host six research fellows from Hampton University, an Historically Black University, in Brandeis laboratories for one year each, with the aim to transition them to tenure-track faculty positions.
- Working with students and faculty in Waltham High School (50% minority students)
- Recruiting minority undergraduates in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for fully paid summer research internships at Brandeis.
We endorse the actions and goals set out in the letter from interim President Lisa Lynch on December 1. We commit to working as partners with all constituents of the University to realize these goals. While we recognize that many of our shared aspirations cannot be accomplished in a short time frame, we appreciate and support the efforts of our colleagues to move forward with policies and programs to increase diversity and inclusion on campus. The issues raised by #ConcernedStudents2015 are important to us as scientists, teachers, and members of this community. We look forward to participating in ongoing education, dialogue, policy formulation and action to make Brandeis University the inclusive and diverse community that it aspires to be.
Interim Provost Irving Epstein and the Provost's Steering Committee on Diversity
The Provost’s Steering Committee on Diversity expresses its strong support for the principles, goals, and actions outlined in the December 1 resolution undertaken jointly by the students of Ford Hall 2015 and University senior leadership. We are grateful that, inspired by our students’ call to action, all parties worked together to lay out a path for increasing diversity and inclusion at Brandeis. We are pleased that the principles and actions the document describes reaffirm Brandeis’ founding ideals but also accelerate the pace of their realization. Further, the accord rightly recognizes that this is an ongoing and dynamic process of change that must include students, staff, faculty and administration. The Steering Committee recognizes its own roles and responsibilities in these processes. As we continue the work of the committee, we invite suggestions from all constituents for implementing specific objectives concerning recruitment, hiring, curriculum, pedagogy, student services, and campus climate. We look forward to working with President Lynch and with colleagues across the university to foster a fully inclusive faculty, staff, and student community.
We, the undersigned members of the Department of Philosophy, support the recent calls for greater diversity within our community and unconditionally oppose any form of racism and discrimination. We applaud the courage of the students of #FordHall2015 and recognize the need for change. We concur with the statement sent by President Lynch on behalf of the university and are committed to doing our part. In particular, we are committed to the following:
- Reviewing our curriculum with special attention to issues of race and diversity.
- Making a significant effort to increase diversity in our graduate program and among our majors and minors.
- Engaging in meaningful conversation about how we, as philosophers, can contribute to making our department and the university more inclusive.
We have an opportunity to move towards making Brandeis the fully inclusive university that we have always aspired to be, and we are determined not to let it pass us by.
Alan Berger, Eli Hirsch, Berislav Marušić, Jennifer Marušić, Kate Moran, Tzofit Ofengenden, Jerry Samet, Ben Sherman, Marion Smiley, Andreas Teuber, Palle Yourgrau