Boston University Office of the President

Dr. Robert A. Brown, President
One Silber Way
Boston, Massachusetts 02215

September 29, 2020

Dear Members of the Boston University Community,

Over the past several days, the University has taken additional steps to make good on our pledge to promote antiracism and ensure that our community is a place of diversity and equity, and one where all students, faculty, and staff feel welcome and fully participatory. As witnessed by the continuing acts of injustice and racial hostility across the country this summer, the sense of urgency and need to align the University with just and moral principles has never been greater.

To that end, I am pleased to announce the establishment of two groups that will be in the forefront of the University’s ongoing efforts to promote antiracism and a safe, diverse, and inclusive community.

In the first, the BU Board of Trustees last week voted to establish a Diversity & Inclusion Committee whose chairperson will also be a member of the Board’s Executive Committee. This new committee will ensure that issues of diversity, inclusion, and antiracism are prominent at the highest level of the University’s governance structure, adding importance and accountability to our efforts. Next month, the Board will announce the committee’s membership and specific charter, and I will share that with you.

Simultaneously, I have created the Antiracism Working Group (AWG), which will be a permanent committee, chaired by Andrea L. Taylor, the University’s new Senior Diversity Officer. Reporting to the President, the AWG is responsible for examining our institution’s racial climate, biases, and progress, and identifying best practices to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. The AWG’s first meeting, to be held in October, will focus on developing a work plan for the remainder of the year. Over time, I expect the Working Group to study all the major units of the University and to interact with student, staff, and faculty organizations across the University, as well as with the Boston University Alumni Council and the Black Alumni Leadership Council. It will also have considerable interaction with the Trustee Diversity & Inclusion Committee. I have attached the AWG’s membership for your information.

As you know, we have taken other steps this year to advance our antiracist, diversity, and inclusion efforts; this summer’s appointment of Ms. Taylor, Crystal Williams’ recent promotion to Vice President and Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion, June’s Day of Collective Engagement, the creation of the Community Safety Advisory Committee, and the appointment in July of Professor Ibram X. Kendi to found BU’s new Center for Antiracist Research. These are all important steps.

I also want to applaud all those members of the BU community who have raised their voices to express support for these important efforts. While institutional steps are critically important in the struggle for equality, your activism and civic demands for justice are indispensable, too. Systemic racism and bias remain ruinously engrained in our society, and it is up to us, both institutionally and individually, to end it.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Brown
President

Boston University Antiracism Working Group

Andrea L. Taylor, Chair
Senior Diversity Officer

Kecia Ali
Professor of Religion
College of Arts & Sciences

Craig S. Andrade
Associate Dean for Practice
Activist Lab Director
School of Public Health

Evan Apfelbaum
Associate Professor, Management & Organizations
Questrom School of Business

Judith Austin
Associate Professor, Advertising
College of Communication

Steve Burgay
Senior Vice President, External Affairs

Stephanie M. Curenton
Executive Director, Center on the Ecology of Early Development
Associate Professor, Education Leadership & Policy Studies
and Counseling Psychology & Applied Human Development
Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Kenneth Elmore
Associate Provost and Dean of Students

Kenneth Freeman
Vice President ad interim, Human Resources
Professor of the Practice

Carrie Landa
Director, Behavioral Medicine
Associate Director, Clinical Services
Student Health Services

Karen J. Pita Loor
Associate Dean for Experiential Education
Clinical Associate Professor of Law
School of Law

Luz M. López, Representative of Faculty Council
Clinical Professor
Associate Director, Dual Degree Program in Social Work & Public Health
Global Health Core Director, Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health
School of Social Work

Christine W. McGuire
Vice President and Associate Provost
Enrollment & Student Administration

Maureen A. O’Rourke
Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs
Dean Emerita & Professor of Law

Hee-Young Park
Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs
Professor and Chair, Department of Medical Sciences & Education
School of Medicine

Tracy Schroeder
Vice President for Information Services & Technology and Chief Data Officer

Linda Sprague Martinez
Chair of Macro Practice & Associate Professor
School of Social Work

Crystal Williams
Vice President and Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion
Professor of English