In September 2020, our Board of Trustees formed the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and charged it with overseeing BU’s efforts to identify and eliminate systemic racism on campus, and to improve the University’s culture in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The disproportionate impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people of color, and the demonstrations and outcry for social justice that took place after the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others drove BU’s decision. Diversity was already a core priority in the University’s 2030 Strategic Plan, but the events of 2020 escalated the desire among BU leaders to acknowledge the University’s role in identifying and eliminating institutional racism and to move swiftly and decisively to enact change.