A Shared Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Tuck

While these early actions—including the recent appointment of Dia Draper as the first Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—are important steps, they are just the beginning of what will be an ongoing, collective effort to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the Tuck community.

Progress on the Tuck School’s DE&I efforts will be delivered by Draper via a monthly update beginning November 2020 and via an annual report. A comprehensive strategic plan and goals will be shared publicly with the entire community by spring 2021.

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Dear Students, Faculty, Alumni and Staff, 

With our historic 2020 fall term at midway, we are writing jointly to update the entire Tuck community on how our school is addressing systemic racism – and other important issues of diversity—as well as to share our emerging plans to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the Tuck community in this academic year and beyond.

As the world and our nation continue to grapple with recent tragedies that stem from too many instances of systemic racism in the U.S., we at Tuck have a responsibility to act and drive meaningful change. Our intention as administrators and student and alumni leaders is to undertake an active and conscious effort to work against multidimensional aspects of racism – and to do so together. This work is central to our mission and true to the type of leadership our school teaches. To be certain: wise, decisive leaders who better the world raise people up by taking harmful and discriminatory structures down. 

Over the last few months, students, alumni, faculty, and staff have had extensive conversations, with each other and with many in our community, about what Tuck can do differently. This includes identifying and addressing racism when it surfaces in our own hallowed halls and classrooms. Treating one another with dignity, respect and empathy, we are embracing this moment to be better, expect better and do better. 

Some of the actions that we have already taken include:  

• Official statements and community-wide messages condemning systemic racism and violence from the Deans’ Office, Black Students Association at Tuck and the Consortium, the Student Board, and the Tuck Association of Diverse Alumni (TADA).
• A student-led Ahmaud Arbery Ask Me Anything event where students shared with peers their own experiences with racism and injustice.
• “Race, Equity and Conspirators in the Workplace” Tuck Alumni Summer Session by Professor Ella Bell Smith to look at the essential role business leaders can take in fighting racism and building a future that promises opportunity for all.
• The convening of hundreds of student, faculty and staff through the student-led Tuck Allies through Leadership and Knowledge (TALK) summer program which brought reading groups together to discuss The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
• An update to the first-year orientation program, Tuck Launch, to incorporate programming which prepares students on how to approach issues of diversity and reflect on the opportunity to make meaningful change. The session, “Race, Diversity and Your Life: Now What?” was led by Dean Slaughter and Professor Ella Bell Smith.
• The appointment of Dia Draper as the first Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Tuck School.
• A virtual relaunch of TADA following months of focused listening, research, and information gathering to better understand and respond to the needs of Tuck’s diverse alumni and students.
• A DE&I student info session and kickoff event co-hosted by Student Board DE&I Chair Roderick Milligan T’21. During the kickoff we introduced the institutional framework for beginning the strategic planning process, plans and ideas for student-focused programming in the year ahead, and reintroduced TADA to the student community.
• A virtual panel session “In Pursuit of Equitable Justice in Your Community” co-hosted by Net Impact, the Center for Business, Government & Society, and Alumni Engagement to inform the Tuck community on the work taking place in criminal justice reform and how individuals can influence change and combat systemic racism.
• A special reprise of the highly rated T’22 Tuck Launch session especially for T’21s, “Reckoning with Race & Racism in America, Real Talk with Professor Bell Smith and Dean Slaughter.”

These are just a few of our early actions and decisions. There is much more work to be done, and meaningful change will take sustained efforts and commitment from all of us. 

In the coming weeks, under Dean Draper’s leadership and in close collaboration with teams across our school, recommendations will be made for Tuck’s Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Dean Draper will share progress on our DE&I efforts via a monthly update beginning November 2020.

Our strategic plan and goals will be shared publicly with the entire community by Spring 2021, and we will track our progress and document our accountability through an annual DE&I report. 

As we work to overcome the deep wounds of racial injustice, let us continue to learn from one another, support each other, and take steps toward positive lasting change. We invite you to engage with us and share your time, talent, ideas and interests as DE&I at Tuck evolves. 

Contact Dean Draper to learn more about how you can get involved and share your ideas, suggestions, and questions. 

Standing together, 

The Deans’ Office
The Tuck Student Board (represented by Teo Gonzalez T’21 and Roderick Milligan T’21)
Black Students at Tuck (represented by Erukana Kazibwe T’21, Ike Amakiri T’21, Leah Jack T’21)
Tuck Association of Diverse Alumni (represented by Joyce Cadesca T’13 and Lisha Davis T'10)