To our Campus Community,
As detailed in my memo to the community on May 17, 2022, the university commissioned an assessment of the Africana Studies Department and the Trotter Institute to better understand the nuances of their unique and rich histories and make thoughtful plans for their futures. I am pleased to report the assessment by three highly esteemed attorneys with higher education and employment law expertise – Walter Prince, Ralph Martin II, and Dan Tarlow of Prince Lobel Tye, LLP – is now complete after five months of research, interviews, and independent assessment.
Given that we will use these findings to help inform our next steps and strengthen our commitment to both the Africana Studies Department and the Trotter Institute, I am openly sharing some of the review’s most salient findings here:
- The university has been consistent in its financial investments in the Africana Studies Department, even prioritizing investments in the department during “an era of budgetary crisis and cost-cutting.”
- The Africana Studies Department has experienced a debilitating high turnover among its faculty and significant internal leadership challenges. In addition, there is a “historic legacy of distrust born of earlier struggles” between the department and administration that has seemingly exacerbated those problems.
- The review and analysis of the Trotter Institute, as with the review of the Africana Studies Department, similarly identified opportunities for the university to continue to enhance its support, which the assessment found would require significant investments “for the foreseeable future” in addition to more frequent and open communications among the administration, institute and department.
- Overall, this exhaustive assessment found that we have challenged ourselves to become a leading anti-racist institution and that the administration is committed to a thriving Africana Studies Department and Trotter Institute being part of that vision.
Building upon existing commitments and the insightful recommendations of this most recent review, effective immediately the university will be making new investments in faculty, staff and in searches to fill multiple open positions. These investments will revitalize the two units so that with new faculty leadership they can continue to dedicate themselves to, and focus on, their instrumental roles in helping the university meet its mission and vision.
The full assessment completed by Prince Lobel Tye, LLP contains confidential and protected personal and situational information that cannot be distributed publicly as it would violate privilege and confidentiality of current and historical matters. As such, Prince Lobel Tye, LLP has also produced a comprehensive summary that we will share with the Africana Studies Department and the Trotter Institute prior to wider distribution.
Joseph Berger
Provost
