Dear students,
Recent events call our collective attention more insistently than ever to the inequities and discrimination, and the efforts to eliminate them, at the heart of our society. The US Supreme Court decisions barring workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and blocking the dismantling of DACA are a welcome counterpoint to the executive order restricting work visas and to the acts of police brutality and murder against Black people that have led to widespread protests across the country. Newcomb-Tulane College condemns anti-Black racism, prejudice, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia and affirms our support for our students affected by these events. We are committed to working together to create a more just society and to make our campus truly equitable for all.
Learn and Engage
Our Reading Project selection, The Yellow House by National Book Award winner and New Orleans native Sarah Broom, helps us communicate our values to our incoming students; Broom's tender and searing book is at once a deeply personal memoir and a trenchant analysis of the insidiousness of systemic racism. We recommend that all students, not just our incoming first years, read her story. The NTC Core Curriculum includes requirements for courses in Race and Inclusion and in Global Perspectives to foster an understanding of our mutual responsibility to stamping out prejudice and racism. As you fulfill these requirements, I urge students to embrace the opportunity these courses provide to increase their knowledge and understanding of U.S. and world history and cultures. This requirement will help prepare NTC students for life after college in the increasingly diverse communities and workplaces which you will inhabit.
Support and Community
I encourage students to connect with the NTC offices that are here to support you and help you build connections with your campus community. Some specific initiatives include: The Center for Academic Equity hosts Equity Thursdays, a weekly program to promote conversations and to help students build relationships with their peers, faculty and Tulane staff. CAE has a number of initiatives to serve BIPOC students, first-generation college students, DACA- and undocumented students, and LGBTQ+ students, and I encourage all Tulane students to engage with the Center and welcome the new director, Dr. Paula Booke. We are excited to work with Dr. Booke to realize her strategic vision for CAE. The Office of International Students and Scholars works closely with international students and helps to build connections and support. The TUPals program connects continuing Tulane students with first-year international students to ease the transition to a new country and the weekly Global Café brings international and internationally-minded students and scholars together. The First Year Experience team works closely with faculty to provide TIDES courses, many of which focus on the rich history and current culture of our city. Our success coaches and academic advisors are here to help all students plan a path to success and to navigate all the personal and academic challenges that you face during your time in college.
NTC also works closely with many University partners, including the Carolyn Barber Pierre Center for Intercultural Life, the Title IX office, the Center for Public Service, Undergraduate Student Government and more. We are here to support and encourage our students to do their best. And, when necessary, we step in to advocate for student needs and protections. We are also thrilled that NTC Senior Associate Dean Kelly Grant, a former College Track and Posse mentor, is serving as a co-chair of President Fitts’s Commission on Race and Tulane Values. Her experience as a first-generation student and mentor will ensure we can advocate for the experiences and concerns of students who may feel marginalized or underrepresented at Tulane.
Looking to the Future
I view this time of national turbulence with sadness and anger that deep-rooted injustice still plagues our society but also hope that at long last we can do better. The protests across the country in response to George Floyd’s death have forced all of us to examine ourselves and the society we live in to identify behaviors and systems that hold some people down while elevating others and to rectify those systems. It allows - even impels - us to create change. My hope is that NTC is the place to support you, educate you, and to create a space where you feel inspired and empowered to bring about the change we need in this world. You are the future and we support you.