Yale president responds to student demands
In response to the list of demands issued by NextYale, a group of students of color and their allies, last week, Yale University President Peter Salovey announced Tuesday that the administration will take a number of steps to improve the campus environment in regards to race relations.
Salovey directly responded to most of the demands and met the students’ deadline of November 18, though notably omitted their demand to remove Nicholas and Erika Christakis, the faculty members whose emails about Halloween costumes angered much of the New Haven campus.
Salovey did, however, announce the formation of a multidisciplinary center. The university will hire four new faculty members to address the “histories, lives, and cultures of unrepresented and under-represented communities,’’ he said.
“Recent events across the country have made clear that now is the time to develop such a transformative, multidisciplinary center drawing on expertise from across Yale’s schools; it will be launched this year and will have significant resources for both programming and staff,’’ Salovey said in a statement. “Over time, this center will position Yale to stand at the forefront of research and teaching in these intellectually ambitious and important fields.’’
In the meantime, he said the university will add additional teaching staff to address these topics starting in the spring of 2016. Yale will also launch a five-year series of conferences on issues of race, gender, inequality, and inclusion.
Another notable addition to the faculty will be a “deputy dean for diversity,’’ who will create a new committee to advise the faculty about diversity issues and strategies for inclusion. For the time being, Salovey said the staff, himself included, will receive training on recognizing and combating racism and other forms of discrimination.
The university will also address diversity within the student population. Starting next school year, the program budgets for the university’s four cultural centers will double, which Salovey said will allow the centers to better address the needs of graduate and professional students. He also said financial aid policies for low-income students in Yale College will see improvements next school year, and the details will be announced soon.
The students demanded more mental health professionals on staff, especially mental health professionals of color. Salovey said in his statement that the university will build on the existing mental health fellows program, as well as make a renewed effort to increase the diversity of staff members.
Another one of the demands from the students was that the administration rename Calhoun College, a residential college at Yale named after presidential candidate John C. Calhoun, who was vehemently pro-slavery. Salovey said he’s asked a senior fellow from the Yale Corporation to organize meetings with other community members where they can express their views both about names for two new colleges opening in August 2017 and about Calhoun.
“In my 35 years on this campus, I have never been as simultaneously moved, challenged, and encouraged by our community — and all the promise it embodies — as in the past two weeks,’’ Salovey said. “You have given strong voice to the need for us to work toward a better, more diverse, and more inclusive Yale.’’
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