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Through belonging, we thrive—able to be ourselves, to seek our full potential, and to freely participate in the vibrant life of a scholarly community and its pursuit of excellence.
Yale’s Ties to Slavery
News
Upcoming Events
A new exhibit, “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery” complementing the publication of Yale and Slavery: A History, opens on Friday, February 16 and is on view through the summer at The New Haven Museum.
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October 14, 2024 to April 20, 20258:00am
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December 7, 20241:30pm
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December 7, 20243:00pm
Belonging at Yale, 2020-2025
Belonging at Yale is the name for the university’s activities to enhance diversity, support equity, and promote an environment of welcome, inclusion, and respect. Activity will focus over the next five years in six areas. Action areas are based upon the recommendations of the President's Committee and are indicated with (P).
Invest in and coordinate centers for research and scholarship (P)
Sponsor antiracism programs
Add courses examining race
Invest in BIPOC faculty and postdoc mentoring (P)
Expand student pathways, pipelines, and financial aid (P)
Create staff leadership initiative (P)
Hire BIPOC vendors, contractors, and professionals (P)
Reimagine public safety and policing (P)
Support informal resolutions including restorative justice
Align responses to Title IX and other discrimination and harassment
Enhance accessibility
Offer education and training to all
Increase resources for DEI professionals
Practice having difficult conversations
Engage alumni (P)
Recognize faculty, staff, and alumni contributions
Invest in New Haven partnerships (P)
Examine Yale and Slavery (P)
Require DEI/Belonging unit plans (P)
Incorporate DEI goals in performance reviews
Collect and use data, benchmarks, and surveys (P)
Convene annual review by leadership
Launch the Center for Law and Racial Justice, an interdisciplinary hub for teaching, research, and policy work on racial equity and justice issues, using a successful Yale Law School pedagogical model that enables students to learn by doing and faculty to turn their classrooms “inside out.” Determine the best ways to ensure high levels of collaboration and project prioritization among centers, programs, and departments that conduct scholarship and research in fields relevant to addressing racism.
Sponsor educational programs and events on issues of racism, including historical context, contemporary systemic racism and privilege, successful antiracist strategies, and allyship. Highlight these and similar programs as priorities for fundraising.
Expand the number of courses that examine race and antiracism issues.
Attract and retain underrepresented minority faculty, with a focus on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) faculty. Offer focused educational programs and mentorship to postdoctoral scholars at Yale in preparation for faculty positions throughout the country and worldwide.
Attract underrepresented minority students by expanding pipeline and pathway programs, such as the Eli Whitney and First-Year Scholars Programs, and by growing resources for need-based financial aid.
Establish a Staff Leadership Initiative to further develop the pipeline of staff who will bring excellence and diversity to university leadership ranks.
Expand and diversify the vendor, contractor, and professional consultants pool through a business diversity program for schools and units.
Study and revise the model for public safety at Yale, with particular focus on policing.
Develop a university-wide program, based on restorative justice principles, to support informal resolution mechanisms in response to racist and other unacceptable behaviors.
Assess and align responses to gender discrimination and sexual misconduct (Title IX) with responses to other forms of discrimination and harassment.
Enhance accessibility to ensure community members with a wide range of disabilities can take full advantage of Yale’s resources.
Provide online and in-person programs to equip academic and administrative leaders and diversity professionals to create inclusive classroom, lab, studio, office, and department spaces. Develop online educational programs on antiracism, implicit bias, bystander intervention, and other topics and skills. Assess internal capacity for providing in-person workshops and address gaps. Provide faculty and staff with education and professional development on holding conversations on sensitive topics. Develop student co-curricular activities to train and provide opportunities to hold conversations on sensitive topics.
Prepare proposal for a center/space to increase resources such as funding, staff support, workshops, training, and facilitation, to be extended later to the entire university community.
Develop a university-wide strategy to deepen inclusive practices that encourage participation at all levels in university life.
Meaningfully engage all alumni across generations – including those without a strong connection to contemporary Yale – with the university’s excellence today, and through the study and sharing of experiences and viewpoints on complex questions being addressed on campus and in society.
Amplify faculty research and scholarship in fields relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and antiracism. Launch examinations of Yale’s connections to slavery and interactions with Indigenous peoples.
Develop additional activities and events that mutually benefit New Haven and Yale, recognizing the New Haven region as home to diverse populations who contribute to and benefit from Yale’s mission. Continue to work with New Haven retailers who rent university-owned spaces to help them withstand the impact of the pandemic on their revenues.
Launch examinations of Yale’s connections to slavery and interactions with Indigenous peoples.
Require all academic and administrative units to develop—as many have already— local DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and belonging plans that include actions to address needs of BIPOC staff, faculty, and students.
Establish and communicate common expectations for employees on DEI practices, to be evaluated annually.
Create a robust university-wide data hub to assist with unit and university-wide plans.
Launch an annual meeting of senior leadership to assess progress toward the goals, share best practices, review benchmarks, and consider updates to the university’s strategic direction with respect to DEI and belonging.
Invest in and coordinate centers for research and scholarship (P)
Sponsor antiracism programs
Add courses examining race
Launch the Center for Law and Racial Justice, an interdisciplinary hub for teaching, research, and policy work on racial equity and justice issues, using a successful Yale Law School pedagogical model that enables students to learn by doing and faculty to turn their classrooms “inside out.” Determine the best ways to ensure high levels of collaboration and project prioritization among centers, programs, and departments that conduct scholarship and research in fields relevant to addressing racism.
Sponsor educational programs and events on issues of racism, including historical context, contemporary systemic racism and privilege, successful antiracist strategies, and allyship. Highlight these and similar programs as priorities for fundraising.
Expand the number of courses that examine race and antiracism issues.
Invest in BIPOC faculty and postdoc mentoring (P)
Expand student pathways, pipelines, and financial aid (P)
Create staff leadership initiative (P)
Hire BIPOC vendors, contractors, and professionals (P)
Attract and retain underrepresented minority faculty, with a focus on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) faculty. Offer focused educational programs and mentorship to postdoctoral scholars at Yale in preparation for faculty positions throughout the country and worldwide.
Attract underrepresented minority students by expanding pipeline and pathway programs, such as the Eli Whitney and First-Year Scholars Programs, and by growing resources for need-based financial aid.
Establish a Staff Leadership Initiative to further develop the pipeline of staff who will bring excellence and diversity to university leadership ranks.
Expand and diversify the vendor, contractor, and professional consultants pool through a business diversity program for schools and units.
Reimagine public safety and policing (P)
Support informal resolutions including restorative justice
Align responses to Title IX and other discrimination and harassment
Enhance accessibility
Study and revise the model for public safety at Yale, with particular focus on policing.
Develop a university-wide program, based on restorative justice principles, to support informal resolution mechanisms in response to racist and other unacceptable behaviors.
Assess and align responses to gender discrimination and sexual misconduct (Title IX) with responses to other forms of discrimination and harassment.
Enhance accessibility to ensure community members with a wide range of disabilities can take full advantage of Yale’s resources.
Offer education and training to all
Increase resources for DEI professionals
Practice having difficult conversations
Engage alumni (P)
Provide online and in-person programs to equip academic and administrative leaders and diversity professionals to create inclusive classroom, lab, studio, office, and department spaces. Develop online educational programs on antiracism, implicit bias, bystander intervention, and other topics and skills. Assess internal capacity for providing in-person workshops and address gaps. Provide faculty and staff with education and professional development on holding conversations on sensitive topics. Develop student co-curricular activities to train and provide opportunities to hold conversations on sensitive topics.
Develop a university-wide strategy to deepen inclusive practices that encourage participation at all levels in university life.
Prepare proposal for a center/space to increase resources such as funding, staff support, workshops, training, and facilitation, to be extended later to the entire university community.
Meaningfully engage all alumni across generations – including those without a strong connection to contemporary Yale – with the university’s excellence today, and through the study and sharing of experiences and viewpoints on complex questions being addressed on campus and in society.
Recognize faculty, staff, and alumni contributions
Invest in New Haven partnerships (P)
Examine Yale and Slavery (P)
Amplify faculty research and scholarship in fields relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and antiracism. Launch examinations of Yale’s connections to slavery and interactions with Indigenous peoples.
Develop additional activities and events that mutually benefit New Haven and Yale, recognizing the New Haven region as home to diverse populations who contribute to and benefit from Yale’s mission. Continue to work with New Haven retailers who rent university-owned spaces to help them withstand the impact of the pandemic on their revenues.
Launch examinations of Yale’s connections to slavery and interactions with Indigenous peoples.
Require DEI/Belonging unit plans (P)
Incorporate DEI goals in performance reviews
Collect and use data, benchmarks, and surveys (P)
Convene annual review by leadership
Require all academic and administrative units to develop—as many have already— local DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and belonging plans that include actions to address needs of BIPOC staff, faculty, and students.
Establish and communicate common expectations for employees on DEI practices, to be evaluated annually.
Create a robust university-wide data hub to assist with unit and university-wide plans.
Launch an annual meeting of senior leadership to assess progress toward the goals, share best practices, review benchmarks, and consider updates to the university’s strategic direction with respect to DEI and belonging.