[bioundgrd] Incident regarding BSU/BGSA student speech

[Amy E Keating]

 Dear Biology Community,

I was upset to learn about an incident that occurred this week when banners that were hung in Lobby 7 by the Black Student Union (BSU) and Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) as part of BlackHack were defaced. On one of the banners, words were crossed out and new ones were written over them.  The BSU/BGSA put up flyers after the banner was drawn over that explained its purpose and their message. The first time these went up, they were inappropriately removed. President Kornbluth is actively engaging with the leadership of the BSU and BGSA and the Bias Response team<https://idhr.mit.edu/our-office/brt#:~:text=The%20Bias%20Response%20Team%20(BRT)%20is%20a%20working%20group%20of,education%20and%20outreach%20as%20appropriate.> has been involved. This behavior directly contradicts MIT guiding principles, including those articulated in the Values Statement and the Free Expression Statement. It also violates MIT policies on expression that are laid out in the Mind & Hand Book.<https://handbook.mit.edu/expression> Defacing a banner and removing posters from student groups are not allowed.

This set of actions was hurtful to those who were using the celebration of Black History Month to make their perspective more visible, as part of an important and ongoing dialog about race and representation on campus. We should all reflect on this event and what it says about how our community is falling short of our aspirations for inclusion and respectful dialogue; we must do better by one another. I invite you to think about what actions you can take to engage your colleagues in dialogue about freedom of expression and race on campus. Through critical inquiry, we can improve our climate together.  Below, you will find resources for support, and I encourage you to reach out to me or our DEI Officer Hallie Dowling-Huppert (halliedh at mit.edu<mailto:halliedh at mit.edu>) if you would like to discuss this or related issues.

MIT Grad support<https://oge.mit.edu/student-support-development/gradsupport/>
Office of Minority Education<https://ome.mit.edu/>
MIT mental health<https://medical.mit.edu/services/mental-health-counseling>
ICEO link to a range of MIT support services<https://iceo.mit.edu/mit-programs-and-services/>

Best regards,
Amy





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