Annual Report on Diversity

On November 29, 2016, I accepted the principal recommendations of the Final Report of the Presidential Commission on Race and Diversity (“Commission”) and established the Presidential Diversity Council (Council). The Council, which I chair, addresses how most appropriately to implement the recommendations of the Commission. The Council, consisting of senior University leaders who are tasked with promoting and encouraging the University’s race and diversity initiatives, began our work December 20, 2016, and spent our first year engaged in a systematic review of the Commission’s recommendations concerning leadership, faculty, students, staff, and campus climate. We continue to make incremental progress in quantitative metrics. Reporting for 2017 will be released soon after as we harmonize our data with federally reported data.

We are a values-driven institution. We are committed, among other values, to diversity, meaning respect for all students, faculty, and staff regardless of their race, religion, national origin, intellectual beliefs, gender identity, sexual orientation or veteran status. Everyone deserves a safe place to live, work, and learn, free of bias, hate, and discrimination. Our University is immeasurably better and stronger because of its diversity. Our transgender, gender nonconforming, and gender non-binary students, faculty, and staff add to the rich diversity of our campus community and contribute in significant ways every day. The University is committed to being inclusive for all.

The tragic events in Charlottesville and elsewhere have demonstrated once again how much we still must do as a nation to bridge the racial and cultural divides that beset too many of our communities. The University of Rochester remains unequivocally committed to a diverse and inclusive culture of mutual respect and support.

On September 5, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum to rescind and phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by March, 2018. We are both a global university and the Rochester family where we value and support one another, even under challenging circumstances and uncertainties. The University of Rochester reaffirms its unqualified support to its undocumented students and employees who are here under DACA. The University will closely track this issue in the coming months, and University officials will continue to work with our Congressional delegation and with higher education associations to continue to express our strong support for DACA within the limits of the law.

As we embark on a new academic year, I ask each member of our University community to continue to work to ensure that our institution is one where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and respected every day. I look forward to working together as we continue to create an ever more diverse and inclusive community.