Brandeis International Business School
Anti-Racism Plan
Dec. 2, 2021
Brandeis International Business School believes that engaging diversity, equity and inclusion is integral to success in academics, business and society. Brandeis University was founded on these principles and they continue to guide our mission. We acknowledge, value and are committed to making these principles come to life for all members of the International Business School community.
This anti-racism plan was conceived by Brandeis International Business School's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, in response to the tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. The actions below have now been circulated within our community and amended with input from students, faculty and staff. (Our DEI committee was formed initially by our staff members partly in response to the discriminatory, inequitable and disturbing practices experienced by students on the Brandeis University men's basketball team. One of the original purposes of the committee was to ensure that staff and faculty at the International Business School treat all students fairly and with respect. The committee has met regularly since its formation and attracts participation from both staff and faculty.)
Antiracism in the context of this plan will be defined as actively opposing racism in our community through proactive actions and policies to combat institutional and societal racism.
What actions can we take as a school?
Measurement
We will measure our success in this endeavor by keeping track of the following metrics:
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The number of community members in each of our categories at the business school that come from historically underrepresented groups.
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The number of diverse outside speakers invited by the business school.
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The number of diversity, equity and inclusion-related incidents (e.g., microaggressions) that staff, faculty, and staff report to the university, either formally or through a university-directed climate survey.
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The number of staff and faculty that have participated in diversity training provided by the University’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
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Rates of participation in diversity, equity and inclusion-related activities at the business school.
Additional Discussion across the University
We would like to recommend the following for university-wide consideration:
Anti-Racism Plan Framework
Expand All
Faculty
- Increase underrepresented faculty at the business school and support university-directed training of faculty to be antiracist.
- Encourage senior faculty and administrator commitment to university diversity, equity and inclusion training and being visible models for anti-racist behavior.
- Continue to support and expand faculty hiring committees in receiving implicit bias training.
- Increase communication and transparency around training in hiring committees within the entire business school community.
- Increase funding — research or otherwise — for diverse candidates.
- Research best practices at business schools and our peers in higher education on other action items that could help increase the diversity of the faculty, with a focus on tenure-track and multi-year hires.
- Connect with internal Brandeis resources along with professional business school organizations to discuss best practices.
Staff
- Increase underrepresented staff at the business school and make the business school, in partnership with the Office of Human Resources, an employer that is constantly working to be antiracist. Working in conjunction with our diversity, equity and inclusion office and the central University, support and encourage university diversity, equity and inclusion training for all staff members.
- Increase recruitment efforts by supporting university training for hiring managers in implicit bias, reviewing job description language and content and create partnerships that increase diverse candidates in our applicant pool.
- Support all functional areas in the school to examine, reflect and analyze departmental practices to identify barriers to access and success at our institution.
Students
- Increase the number of underrepresented students and strive to be a supportive environment for these students in the graduate and undergraduate business school programs.
- Research undergraduate support systems and best practices in supporting underrepresented students and brainstorm scalable programs for the business school.
- Collaborate with GSAS, Heller, and Arts and Sciences on programs and community building.
- Continue (PhD project, ALPFA, Reach OUT MBA, DEIS scholarship, Prospanica) and expand partnerships with organizations that advance educational opportunities for students underrepresented at the business school.
- Ensure that our student workers come from diverse backgrounds.
- Support the education of our students about the history of racism in the United States and give them the tools to manage issues of racism and identity in our community and in the U.S. workplace.
- Support student-led initiatives of education and provide resources.
- Ensure that invited speakers are from diverse backgrounds.
- Create a structure to explore ways that the business school can support diversity, equity and inclusion programming throughout the school.
- Define committee’s mission and support the business school’s commitment to equity across all demographics.
- Actively encourage faculty and staff to participate in diversity, equity and inclusion-related efforts.
- Clarify the committee’s role within the university and actively support the business school and central university in all diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracist efforts.
- Identify achievable goals within the business school and goals that require support from the central University.
- Diversity, equity and inclusion fellows work closely with each unit of the school to help identify and implement diversity, equity, inclusion best practices relevant to each specific functional area.