Antiracist FSU Commitments

FSU Statement on Antiracism

 At Framingham State University, we recognize the damaging effects of systemic racism on the experience and success of minoritized communities.

  • Antiracism involves supporting antiracist policies and practices by actions or expressing ideas that racial or racialized groups are equals in all their apparent differences and that there is nothing right or wrong with any racial or racialized group (Kendi, 2019).
  • Racism consists of supporting racist policies and practices by actions or inaction or expressing ideas that one racial or racialized group is inferior or superior to another in any way (Kendi, 2019).
  • Racialization is the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group (Omi and Winant, 1986, p. 111).
  • Race consciousness signifies being mindful of the impact of policies and practices on different racialized groups in our society. Race-consciousness can motivate a desire to become informed about how injustice occurs and to be intentional about seeking redress (Bell, 2016). Race-consciousness contradicts color-blindness through actively seeking to perceive, understand, and challenge racism. It also paves the way for imagining a more just and inclusive society that affirms diversity rather than reducing it to a white normative ideal” (Bell, et al., p. 138).

FSU has begun an intentional process of evaluating and restructuring policies and programs to be race conscious to ensure inclusion and equitable success. We ask all members of our community to reflect on the historical racist policies and actions of our country and the biases created by them. With this knowledge and continual learning, our community strives to actively work together to ensure the physical and psychological safety and success of all members of our community, with particular emphasis on racialized identities.

 “No one becomes a racist or antiracist. We can only strive to be one or the other. We can unknowingly strive to be a racist. We can knowingly strive to be an antiracist” – Ibram X. Kendi

Approved by Executive Staff, March, 2023

 

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Racial Equity Principles

Racial equity:

  • Will be achieved when race no longer determines one’s outcomes in the Massachusetts public higher education system
  • Is the top policy and performance priority for the Department of Higher Education
  • Must be embedded system-wide and permeate the Department’s structure, culture, and policies
  • Requires the use of asset-based language to minimize the threat of harm, deficit, and stereotype reinforcement “Asset-based language” defines people by their aspirations and contributions, rather than the systemic barriers and challenges they face
  • Requires acknowledgement, remedy, and repair of policies and practices which have excluded or created barriers

We must:

  • Recognize that clarity in language, goals, and measures is vital to racially equitable practices
  • Promote culturally sustainable campus climates in which all students can thrive and are regarded in the totality of their human dignity “Culturally sustainable” means recognizing, maintaining, and developing cultural identity and diversity, as they are assets, not weaknesses (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Paris 2012)
  • Create and cultivate an inclusive environment to encourage the support and participation of relevant stakeholders
  • Acknowledge the experience and knowledge of people of color, and seek to engage people of color in the pursuit of racial equity in meaningful ways
  • Incentivize the development and support the implementation of equity-minded, evidence-based solutions
Bell, L.A. (2016). Telling on racism: Developing a race-conscious agenda. In H.A. Neville, M.E.

Gallardo, & D.W. Sue (Eds.), The myth of racial color blindness: Manifestations, dynamics, and impact (pp. 105-122). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Kendi, I.X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. One World: New York.

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Equity Agenda. https://www.mass.edu/strategic/equity.asp

Omi, M. and Winant, H. (1986). Racial formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge.
Departmental Statements and Commitments (to be updated periodically):