DiversityEdu Course Announcement—January 11, 2021

Dear members of the Bowdoin community,

When I started the draft of this email, my intention was to begin with a wish for a happy new year and, with enthusiasm, to invite you to participate in our first campus-wide diversity education program. But, given the events of last week—during which we witnessed our Capitol building under siege by a group of insurgents, incited by a president and other elected officials who refuse to acknowledge and support a legitimate and legal democratic election process—I could not begin this message with what felt like a hollow “Happy 2021.”

While my original excitement about the new year could not help but be somewhat dampened by these events, the importance of the work ahead and our need for vigilance has become even more clear.

On Monday, January 18, you will receive another email from me, detailing the rollout of the baseline diversity course being supported by our consulting partners DiversityEdu.

As Clayton and I have said previously, this step is a starting point to establish a common diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) understanding across our community, an understanding that is at the heart of the work we are pursuing in this moment. The DiversityEdu online course will be rolled out to the entire Bowdoin community—students, faculty, staff, and trustees—beginning January 18.

Many events of the past year have reinforced a necessity to inform and educate ourselves about important challenges facing our nation, particularly with respect to race and equity. I hope the shared elements and experiences of this course will provide us with a set of tools to aid in acknowledging and working through our differences toward a common understanding and acceptance of each other.

Thank you in advance for supporting this endeavor. I wish you well during these challenging times.

Sincerely,

Michael Reed

Senior Vice President for Inclusion and Diversity