Jan. 14, 2021: Task Force on Racial Equity recommendations

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Dear MSU Community,

Just more than a year ago, I announced a comprehensive planning process focused on MSU’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. A DEI Steering Committee has been working ever since to identify barriers to a fuller realization of these values at MSU and to develop a comprehensive DEI strategic planning framework. I look forward to sharing that framework later this semester.

But as protests erupted last year in reaction to the tragic loss of lives and concerns about systemic racism, I asked the steering committee co-chairs and the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives to appoint a Task Force on Racial Equity to offer insights and recommendations for more immediate action.

I identified three areas of focus for the task force: campus climate and safety, policing, and faculty and staff diversity. Those task force working groups delivered their recommendations, and I’ve formulated some initial responses. I believe many of those recommendations are worthy of adoption or further consideration.

Later this month I will discuss the recommendations with each of the task force co-chairs and will post those conversations to the task force website. I will let you know when those become available. In the meantime, I welcome questions and invite you to submit them for consideration using the form available on the task force webpage linked above.

I want to thank the task force members and co-chairs for their work and contributions. A culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion is foundational to the success and well-being of everyone in our university community and essential for everything we want to accomplish together. We can do better.

Sincerely,

Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D.
President