Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our work as educators. We strive to provide an inclusive environment for our students, faculty and staff and to equip our graduates with the tools, knowledge and dispositions to serve as advocates for justice in the field of education.
School of Education Statement on Anti-Racism
Authored and approved by faculty and staff, June 24, 2020
The William & Mary School of Education denounces racism in all forms.
Our mission of transforming students, schools, and communities cannot be fully realized without a strong commitment to anti-racist pedagogy and to addressing and eradicating racial and ethnic injustices.
The events of 2020, including the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks and the COVID-19 pandemic, have exposed once again the systemic racism and anti-Blackness that has plagued our society for centuries. In the William & Mary School of Education, these tragic events have been a catalyst for personal reflection and dialogues about race and equity that are long overdue. We acknowledge that racism exists in the very fabric of our society, often manifesting in unconscious and unintentional ways. For this reason, we must examine racism in all its forms — actively, continuously and vigilantly.
We strive to support and validate the lived experiences of our students, faculty, staff and partners from Black and other marginalized communities, drawing upon our collective experience in educational leadership, counseling, curriculum development, and instruction. We must move from aspirational to actionable, and we must be part of the solution.
No longer can we merely use terms that espouse cultural responsiveness but fail to act with and on behalf of Black faculty members, staff, and students whose existence is minimized and tokenized. Silence is not an option. Deep reflection followed by meaningful action is necessary to acknowledge and combat the inherent inequities in our society and our campus. We commit individually and as a community to do this work. Every member of our community will examine their own perspectives, life experiences, and biases, with the intent of rooting out race-based assumptions that help to perpetuate marginalization of Black communities.
We are resolved to explicitly and publicly affirm our identity as an anti-racist school of education, with the expectation that any value or perspective counter to this point is unacceptable and we will take every conceivable effort to remove them from our community.
We are resolved that our anti-racism commitment be reflected not only in our classrooms but also in the life and culture of the school through policies, programmatic practices, hiring decisions, and governance representation.
We are resolved to develop and work to implement strategies that dismantle racism within all aspects of the school of education, with a focus on standing with and supporting Black and other underrepresented faculty, staff, and students.
