5 June 2020
Dear all,
At LSE, we feel that the horrific killing of George Floyd in the United States and the widespread feelings of injustice must be acknowledged and addressed. I want to emphasise my unreserved support and solidarity for our black colleagues, students and alumni. Although a lot of coverage has focused on events across the Atlantic, this is not just an issue in the United States. We have pervasive and entrenched racial inequality across the world, including in the UK and in higher education.
Exposing and challenging social evils like racial inequality and injustice through our research, education and public engagement is part of LSE’s founding purpose, but it is not enough. We must also ensure the practices within our School reflect this. With this in mind, I want to outline some of our actions to support our community, but also acknowledge that we need to do more.
Any actions or policies cannot be limited to responding to a single event but should be embedded into how we work all the time. While this year we’ve made progress – introducing our Inclusive Education Action Plan and anonymised hiring applications among other things, there is still much more to do, notably on improving diversity of senior academic and professional services staff and the assessment gap between white and non-white students.
At the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board we will have a particular focus on these matters, as well as how we can gather thoughts and ideas from across our community - particularly from those who are under-represented such as our BAME colleagues - to turn our longer-term commitments into reality at a faster pace.
Finally, I want to reiterate that we are stronger when we come together as a community. Being part of LSE means that we work together, and I do believe our mutual respect and deep care for one another has helped us through difficult times. We are committed and need to create an inclusive and safe environment for all.
With warm wishes,
Minouche
Minouche Shafik
LSE Director