Posted by Natasha Martin, JD, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion on Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 4:14 PM PDT

Dear Seattle University Community,

Thank you for your support of the University’s first Racial Equity Summit – Activating for Change: Affirmation, Allyship for Solidarity, and Action. I appreciate those who were able to join in community and co-create space for reflection, analysis, and renewal as we position to further the aims of LIFT SU and our inclusive excellence work more broadly – all efforts anchored in and animated by our Jesuit mission and values.

If you attended, you have received an invitation to complete a short survey. Your completion of the survey will assist us in understanding the impact and value of the Summit for our campus and future planning.

We know that many units and departments aim to debrief and continue the discussions including further exploration of The New Jim Crow and Michelle Alexander’s generous engagement with us at the Summit. We draw your attention back to the following:

- The collaboratively developed Racial Equity Summit Guide led by Dr. Holly Slay Ferraro. This guide is a suggested tool to explore racial equity and mass incarceration, concepts that undergird the summit, as well as future engagement and collaboration on campus.

- The Reflection Questions from the various segments of the summit. 

- The RES Faculty Resources Guide is offered by the Lemieux Library as an additional tool.

- The Racial Equity Summit webpage pre-work section contains materials, readings, and recommended media including 13th, a documentary on mass incarceration, in which Michelle Alexander appears and discusses the country's history of racial inequality, mass incarceration, and its broad impacts.

- We will pursue additional opportunities in the fall to continue engagement, build on the Summit, and activate for change.

Heartfelt gratitude to all of those were instrumental to making this Summit possible including every participant, panelist, and all those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes including Marquinta Obomanu, Amber Larkin, Victoria Carr-Ware, Morgan Frost, and Laura Knote, just to name a few! This was an ambitious endeavor, which came to fruition through the generosity of all of those who contributed and the nearly 1000 participants in this virtual summit.

We are in this together.

In solidarity,

Natasha Martin, J.D.

Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion