Our Commitment to Antiracism

We have re-imagined, modified, and strengthened our existing college-wide council on diversity and launched a Leadership Council on Combating Racism and Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging. Led by Michelle Duguid, the college’s associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and belonging, this group comprises students, staff, faculty, students, and alumni from each school and across the college, including dean Andrew Karolyi.

Leadership council members will:

• Develop metrics and timelines for each of the action steps we create and provide regular updates to our community.
• Assess our college’s existing efforts to address racism and promote diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging.
• Address progress on specific action steps and discuss new steps in development.
• Develop specific proposals for creating more inclusive classroom environments for students and faculty.
• Identify systemic barriers and close the equity chasm.

The group will:

• Develop metrics and timelines for each of the action steps we develop and provide regular updates to our community.
• Assess our college’s current efforts to address racism and promote diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging.
• Address progress on specific action steps and discuss new steps in development.
• Develop specific proposals for creating more inclusive classroom environments for students and faculty.
• Identify systemic barriers and close the equity chasm.

Across the college, we will:

• Recruit, hire, and retain more staff and faculty of color.
• Increase the racial diversity in each of our two undergraduate programs, 14 master’s programs, and three PhD programs.
• Increase racial diversity among our guest speakers and panelists, in classes and at school and college events, and encourage student clubs to do the same.

We will support our faculty to:

• Create more course offerings that focus on the roles of race and racism in business.
• Include course content featuring positive examples of businesses led by underrepresented minorities or focused on benefiting them.
• Learn more ways to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging in class and when advising students.

Throughout our community, we will:

• Integrate conversations about antiracism, diversity, inclusion, equity, allyship, and our college’s commitment to these principles into new student orientations.
• Provide unconscious bias training for all of our students, staff, and faculty.
• Offer a variety of antiracism learning and training opportunities for students, staff, and faculty on an ongoing basis. These will focus on fostering awareness, developing strategies to address racism, and promoting diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging.
• Provide access to Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How To Be An Antiracist and facilitate community conversations about it.

• Create and fund a cross-college interdisciplinary theme that will build a community of scholars across our three schools and seven area groups with the goal of spurring on research, teaching, and outreach to businesses and community organizations focused on combating racism and the effects of racism in business.