<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-b953458d-7fff-6a1e-1257-57547e54107d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">On June 2, 2020, the Tech published a</span><a href="https://thetech.com/2020/06/02/letter-bsa-bgsa-recommendations?fbclid=IwAR03WkgujU8XDrCPSZxuxPTMOfaZ1yoUhgNZW1W1vmEwRrxdo9AYk55MLm4" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">student-led evaluation of the progress of the 2015 BSU/BGSA recommendations</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. This evaluation found that while some of the</span><a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/black-student-leaders-recommendations-inclusive-1209" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">2015 recommendations</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> have seen progress, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">5 years later, several of the recommendations remain at 0% completion</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. The evaluation points to the lack of an institute-wide strategic plan as the primary bottleneck for the completion of these recommendations.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In this season of national and global unrest in response to the wrongful deaths of Black men, women and non-binary people, we must look critically at the ways that MIT&#39;s historical and contemporary policies and structures, or lack thereof, harm Black members of the MIT community. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The MIT BGSA Exec, BSU Exec, along with student leaders across the institute, write this petition calling on MIT leadership to be proactive in making MIT a place where Black people can exist safely and thrive.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> The objectives of this petition are two-fold to:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><b style="font-weight:normal" id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-29da38fc-7fff-af8e-bacd-0baac9d4abf7"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:27pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Objective 1:</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Establish demands for the development of a 3-year and 10-year strategic plan to address racial bias at MIT by accomplishing the remaining tasks of the 2015 BSU/BGSA recommendations AND new addendums to the recommendations</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:27pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Objective 2:</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Make MIT safe for all students by investigating and implementing new models for public safety that reduce the scale of policing and increase safety and well-being</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><b style="font-weight:normal"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(255,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The full details of the petition and a form to sign-on can be found at </span><a href="http://bgsa.mit.edu/sbl2020" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">bgsa.mit.edu/sbl2020</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(255,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> . </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><b style="font-weight:normal"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If these objectives are adopted, it will demonstrate that MIT takes the concerns of Black community members seriously, respects our needs, and values our input in making MIT a more inclusive environment. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><b style="font-weight:normal"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Please share widely.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></p></span></div>