University-wide Day of Mourning and Reflection on Friday, June 5
To The New School Community:
Earlier this afternoon, The New School’s faculty and staff came together as a workplace community to express our support for each other, to memorialize George Floyd and too many other lives tragically lost to racial brutality, and to reaffirm our university commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. I include a link to the recorded meeting here.
Black Lives Matter. And Black Lives Matter at The New School. There is a lot we need to do to truly activate and reflect those statements as a university. But first we need to acknowledge our humanity and attend to our pain. That is why I announced that tomorrow will be a university-wide day of mourning and reflection. On Friday, June 5, all university meetings are cancelled, projects may pause, and routine business can wait.
The long-haul work of confronting racism and collaboratively creating more just systems and structures requires sustained energy and attention. That is why it is important to take a breath and claim the space we all need to process, grieve, and focus on our own actions and the ways we personally want to engage in efforts to confront racism and create sustained and positive change.
Even as we are physically apart, we stand together as a community. Please use the day tomorrow to take care of yourselves and each other.