Black Lives Matter. We continue to be deeply saddened and outraged by the extrajudicial murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black individuals. We are horrified by the insidious threats that were hurled at Christian Cooper, which lay bare the harsh reality that white America explicitly understands the power and privilege that it wields over Black bodies. And we condemn the continued police brutality against Black and allied protestors.
We fully acknowledge that this message is coming far too late and falls short of where we want to be as a center. We commit to being better.
To all Black people who bear the obvious burden of consistent and persistent physical and emotional trauma at the hands and knees of a system that reinforces subjugation, we are accountable to you. The Sanger Leadership Center stands by Black students in the Michigan Ross and broader U-M community and we are committed to directing resources to people and programs that develop leaders with the knowledge and tools to drive social equity and dismantle white supremacy in the world of business and beyond. Developing current and future business leaders is a privilege and responsibility that we do not take lightly.
To that end, we are committed to the following actions:
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Amplifying and supporting under-represented voices in our leadership programming
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Continuing to be available to students to listen, learn, debrief experiences, and share resources (outside of our programs)
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Holding space for small group discussions for people to share, learn, and listen
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Providing educational resources on how our students can help lead and engage in the process of dismantling systems of white supremacy as well in leading organizations which are more equitable and inclusive
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Better integrating DEI into all of our leadership programs
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Committing ourselves to keep learning as a center on these topics, participating in anti-racism and anti-bias training, and updating our hiring and promotion procedures to incorporate cutting-edge, data-driven best practices on how to remove bias from personnel decisions
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Continuing to develop a robust action plan and programming, based on dialogue across our stakeholders, that reflects our team’s commitment to inclusive leadership development
We need to be better. We hold ourselves accountable to Black students, the Ross community, and the University of Michigan.
We welcome your opinions, thoughts, and voices. If you’d like to contact us about our action plan, please reach us on social media or at rossleaders@umich.edu.
We are accountable to you.
Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Progress Report