On Behalf of the Solidarity and Justice Task Force: 

Dear Art Students, 
 
In June, the School of Art’s administration put out a call to faculty, staff, graduate students, and Dodd Ambassadors to form a task force to discuss what the School of Art can and should do to ensure that we are taking concrete steps in fulfillment of our conviction that Black lives matter. The resulting Solidarity and Justice Task Force is made up of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students. Our purpose is to aggregate and submit a list of recommendations for a more equitable School of Art to our administration. The Task Force feels strongly that this cannot be done without the input of all members of our community. 
 
To that end, the Solidarity and Justice Task Force has planned a student-only Town Hall event via Zoom for students to voice their concerns about racial equity within the School of Art. This event will be moderated by student volunteers; no faculty or staff will be present. The Town Hall is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22 at 6:00 PM and will last for about 2 hours. A Zoom link to the student-only town hall will be sent via email in the days prior to the event. The Task Force is especially interested to hear from our Black students at this meeting.  
 
The Task Force has created a brief initial survey to help us identify priorities and themes to discuss at the Town Hall. Please take a few moments to fill it out!

Student Solidarity Survey

Please note that the survey closes on Friday, July 17 to give us time to process the results before the Town Hall.
 
There will be a follow-up survey sent out to the student body after the Town Hall as well as a separate survey sent to all employees of the School of Art to ensure their voices are also heard.
 
The current task force was assembled for the purpose of information gathering and it will dissolve within the next couple of months. However, we are discussing ways to create a long-term committed and diversely represented group to continue the work toward a more equitable School of Art. You can contact any of the current Task Force members with questions or suggestions about our work.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this email, to consider these issues, and to participate in the survey and town hall.
 
Members of the Solidarity and Justice Task Force:
Ben Britton
Jordan Campbell
Caitlin Daglis
James Enos
William Evans
Katie Geha
Christina Hanawalt
Ronika McClain
Jackson Mitchell
Lisa Novak
Mary Pearse
Lindsey Reynolds
Lynn Sanders-Bustle