This petition is a part of an initiative created to bring attention to the racism, racial microaggressions, and discrimination POC students are facing in the Lesley University community and demand institutional changes, including but not limited to the hiring of more professors of color, creation of curriculum specifically addressing race, and more support for the students who are most impacted by racial violence and violent rhetoric spreading across the nation.

Please share the demands as widely as possible via social media and email.
Use the hashtags: #ReclaimLesley #LUisMU #LesleyRiseUp #LUDemands

Curricula and Pedagogy

1. Multiculturally inclusive curriculum in every classroom, across all schools within all disciplines
   1. This will include at least one multicultural course as a core requirement for each school during the first year of training
   2. Creation of a Black Arts concentration and other similar courses in LUCAD
   3. Creation of Africana Studies, Race, Ethnicity and Culture courses, led by subject-specific proficient faculty
   4. This curriculum must be vetted and overseen by a board of diverse students, faculty, and staff
2. Mandatory cultural literacy, humility, sensitivity, and competency training, evaluation and awareness for all administrators, faculty, staff, and students
   1. Inclusion of a question about the racial climate of the classroom on professor evaluations
3. Increase commitment to Urban Scholars
   1. Evolve it into a fast track program where any student can enroll and become accepted in a Master’s program
      
      Recruitment and Retention of POC community members
4. Create a Diversity Center that acts as safe multicultural space
   1. Fund it with a long term sustainable budget allocated for improvements and programming
5. Create a plan for increased enrollment and retention of POC students
6. Hire an Admissions Counselor for Diversity Initiatives
7. Hire a Director of Multicultural Affairs with a dedicated office and staff
8. Increase of POC faculty and mental health counselors
   1. 10% increase in POC faculty and staff university-wide by 2018
   2. There will be the set-up of a healthy contingency fund to supplement the salaries of potential Black and POC faculty, staff, and other professionals to be used in the event that the University or a particular University department cannot meet the salary request of a Black or POC applicant
9. Orientation for new students of color
   1. Connect them to peer advisors, mentors, and other resources
10. Create scholarships for students of color and scholarships for activism in social justice
11. Coalition of all Black and POC and ALLY groups across schools with representatives from those groups attending LUDC and UC reporting on the state of POC students consistently
12. Restructuring Board meetings to include open attendance and participation by wider Lesley community members, such as staff, faculty, and students
    
    Campus Climate
13. Conduct a racial climate survey annually
    1. Provide student access to the final results of the survey
    2. Design and make public a follow-up plan for results ascertained by survey
14. Racial discrimination accountability for all Lesley community members including students, staff, faculty, and administration
    1. A clear, strong, and thorough policy in the student, faculty, staff, and administration codes of conduct delineating protocols surrounding racism, hate speech, and racial harassment or insensitivity
    2. Repercussions for students, faculty, staff, and administrators who violate the code of antiracism and inclusivity, including disciplinary action, education, and rehabilitation, and removal if necessary
15. Demilitarization of campus safety
16. Create a streamlined process for changing gender markers and names within university databases and records. And inclusion of genders beyond the cisgender binary
17. Increase unprompted public responses to racial & cultural trauma from administration
18. Student involvement in the approval of a new President
19. Public and open forum meetings monthly, to assess progress of these demands