Tufts University Takes Steps, Pledges $25 Million, to Become Anti-racist

Tufts University is pledging $25 million over five years to become an anti-racist institution, Boston.com reported.

Over seven months, Tufts reviewed five areas – campus safety and policing, public art, an institutional audit and targeted action, compositional diversity and equity and inclusion – resulting in more than 180 recommendations.

Tufts President Dr. Tony Monaco said the financial pledge goes further than financial aid and educational programming.

“In addition, we’re really going to be focusing on recruitment and pipeline programs for Black and brown faculty and students in many of our disciplines, particularly the STEM areas where we do not have many Black and brown professors,” he said. “So these are things we can invest in.”

Tufts plans to monitor its progress of these initiatives through special advisory groups and conversations with alumni and community surveys.

“At the end of the day, we really not only have to have the compositional numbers of faculty, staff, and students, but also the surveys on how those people feel during their time at Tufts,” Monaco said. “Do they feel empowered as students to get the full access to all the opportunities? Do they feel as faculty that they’re well supported and are making progress in their career goals? And do staff feel this is the place they see themselves progressing, developing, and being successful?”