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Dear School community,
The School of Architecture Racial Equity and Environmental Justice (REEJ) Task Force was established about a year ago, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and in response to renewed calls by different groups within and outside the school to address racism. We were mandated to look across different areas of the school to make recommendations to changes and commitments towards equity and environmental justice. While necessary changes cannot happen instantaneously, there needs to be immediate action as well as ongoing commitment so that efforts can be sustained into the future.
The REEJ Plan, included below, is shared as a living document that charts the work ahead so that we collectively take it as our responsibility to place equity and environmental justice at the core of everything we do. The Plan is in two volumes:
Volume 1. Commitments to Racial Equity and Environmental Justice
Volume 2. Plan for Implementation
We hope everyone will take the time to review at least the first five pages of Volume One, which should give you a good summary of what the two volumes include.
These documents represent the work of the Task Force, its Advisory Board, and the Working Groups that were brought together in November and December to address specific sections of the plan. It also includes input from students, staff and faculty made either through the community survey (August and September 2020), the all-school meetings (June 9, September 29), or through the school’s anonymous feedback form.
We are inviting everyone to join us on Thursday May 20th from 12:30-1:30pm for a meeting to discuss the plan and our next steps. The meeting will be an opportunity to offer a brief presentation of these two volumes, followed by time for feedback and questions from students, staff and faculty.
We look forward to discussing this with you,
On behalf of the Racial Equity and Environmental Justice Task Force:
Tara Bissett, Adrian Blackwell, Anne Bordeleau, Simone Delaney, Jane Hutton, Fiona Lim Tung, Vic Mantha-Blythe, Poorna Patange, and Salman Rauf