Jennifer Lokash

The Department of English denounces anti-Black racism and racism of all forms, and commits to doing the necessary work to create a more diverse and just community for our faculty, staff, and students. We will start with the following immediate actions:

• We invite our faculty, staff, and students to participate tomorrow, June 10th, 2020 in the #STRIKE4BLACKLIVES (https://www.particlesforjustice.org), during which Black academics can take a break and others are able to reflect on the ways they can eradicate anti-Black racism on campus and in their communities. Our instructors will make accommodations for students in the Department who wish to participate, and faculty and staff from the Department will attend a special Faculty meeting on the subject of anti-Black violence and how HSS can build capacity to make necessary change.
• We will initiate a thorough curricular review and reform to ensure our programs and our courses are adequately representing a diversity of Black and other racial voices. We will prioritize and make the case for hiring a Critical Race Studies and/or Literatures of the Black Diaspora scholar as well as an Indigenous Studies scholar at the earliest possible opportunity.
• We will continue—and build upon—our commitment to promoting racialized scholars and artists through our many engagement initiatives, such as our visiting writers programs, the SPARKS Literary Festival, and the Pratt Lecture.