2020-21 Updates: Visit meredith.edu/staying-strong for more details.
Meredith College is working to address the racism that is affecting BIPOC students, faculty, staff, and alumnae who are valued and respected members of our community. This effort will be inclusive, action oriented, and root focused.
To that end, in June 2020, President Jo Allen announced a college-wide initiative on anti-racism. This effort, inspired and informed by Meredith’s Black Student Union, Latinx students, alumnae/i, and many more, is being conducted with transparency to reflect our commitment to strength, integrity, and effecting change through education.
BECAUSE BLACK AND BROWN LIVES MATTER.
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Meredith is working with other institutions in pursuing the truth of their histories through the Universities Studying Slavery initiative. This group of scholars is working not only to understand history and its contexts, but also seeks to understand and dismantle the ways that racism continues to work in higher education.
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Meredith, like many other institutions throughout the country, is weighing what should be done about individuals who have made positive contributions to their university but also may have a history of racism.
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Board leaders created a Task Force on Historical Context and Naming at Meredith to develop a series of principles to lead the Meredith Board of Trustees through these conversations and decisions. The Task Force began its work on August 12, 2020.
The Board-led Task Force on Historical Context and (Re)naming at Meredith has concluded its work, resulting in some guidelines for moving forward with the next steps in this important process. The Task Force’s work shows great sensitivity to the impact of context and (re)naming of buildings at Meredith. Based on the work of the Task Force, honorees will be considered holistically, with both positive and negative aspects of their legacy taken into account.
The 16-member Task Force was led by the Board of Trustees’ Chair Carolyn Leith, ’85, and Vice Chair Dr. Yvette Brown, ’90, and included other trustees, faculty, staff, and alumnae, who represented a variety of races, ethnicities, genders, and ages.
The Task Force provided the information gathered to the full Board, and the Executive Committee of the Board will develop a rubric of characteristics to apply to the historical context of those for whom buildings at Meredith are named. We anticipate this work to occur throughout the spring semester, with results being offered to the full Board at its Spring or early Summer meeting.
Any decision to rename a building at Meredith is entirely at the discretion of the Board of Trustees.
Students in Meredith’s Pre-Health Post-Baccalaureate Certificate program have engaged in a number of service projects to support both patients and healthcare providers in the Triangle area.
Meredith College faculty and staff participated in the Racial Equity Institute’s Groundwater Training this fall. The educational program was part of the College’s initiative on anti-racism.
Meredith College’s Department of Music is taking a number of steps to address a desire for change by music students and alumnae, who have expressed concerns about race and equity following the death of George Floyd and as a part of the consequent increase in racial justice advocacy efforts. The music department’s efforts are part of a larger anti-racism initiative being undertaken by Meredith College.
Meredith College values diversity in all its forms and recognizes the richness that those diversities create within our learning environment.