How we support our community
Dear members of the MIT community,
As I’ve said many times, MIT is in the talent business. Our success depends on attracting exceptionally talented people of every background, from across the country and around the world, and making sure everyone at MIT feels welcome and supported, so they can do their best work and thrive.
In January of 2024, I announced that then-Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Karl Reid would lead “a comprehensive assessment of the structures and programs in his purview, to make sure they are effectively serving campus needs.” When Karl chose to step down this winter, I explained that we would complete that assessment and report back to the community.
Accordingly, this spring I asked a working group of senior faculty and staff to help me understand where we’re succeeding in supporting our community and where we’re falling short, and to suggest ways to make improvements.
Findings
Last month, following consultations with staff, faculty, students and alumni, the working group presented its key findings and recommendations to Academic Council. At a high level, the working group found real appreciation for the programs administered by the Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO) and reported that our community remains deeply committed to the pursuit of inclusive excellence. But the working group also reported a broad desire to rethink how this work is done in practice; a common refrain, matching what I’d heard myself, was that community is best built locally rather than top down.
Based on the working group’s thoughtful recommendations about the most effective ways to foster a welcoming, inclusive campus community at MIT, we are making the following changes.
Core programs will continue, but we will wind down the central ICEO.
As we shift focus to community building at the local level, we will sunset the central ICEO and the vice president role. The office’s signature programs will join other MIT units where they have a natural fit: The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty will take on the Department Support Program and the MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars Program. The Division of Student Life will carry on the spirit of popular community-building efforts for students, such as Random Acts of Kindness Week and the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund. Human Resources will take on the Community Learning Initiative and continue to administer the Employee Resource Groups, which it has co-led with the ICEO in recent years. And my office will take on the MLK Celebration Committee, launched more than 50 years ago in concert with MIT’s 13th president, Jerry Weisner.
We will establish a new Standing Institute Committee to promote connectivity, collaborative problem solving and sharing of best practices in how we support our community.
While the working group encountered enthusiasm for local-first community building, it also recommended setting up some mechanism for the people doing this work to collaborate easily and offer shared advice to the administration. This will be the focus of a new Standing Institute Committee. Staff led, it will also include members of the faculty and students and have a clear channel to senior leadership. We will work with colleagues in the schools and college to shape the committee’s charge, membership and name.
We will continue to encourage community-focused efforts at the unit level but wind down the central Strategic Action Plan for Belonging, Achievement, and Composition.
While the Institute-wide Strategic Action Plan reflected a top-down approach, it also called on academic, research and administrative units to create their own plans. I ask leaders of those units to take this opportunity to revisit, refresh and continue those plans, and share progress with their local communities. The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty is available to help. The Standing Institute Committee described above will take the place of the Council on Belonging, Achievement, and Composition, which has supported the Institute-wide plan.
As we foster efforts in the departments, labs and centers, we recognize the positive outcomes of the central plan, including the launch of the Wellbeing Lab, the creation of the Undergraduate Advising Center and programming to advance the MIT Values Statement.
We will ask local leaders to partner with Human Resources to make sure their community-focused positions reflect local needs.
The working group found that, across different units, professionals focused on community and belonging efforts were often performing different functions but with the same title: Some support students, others focus on faculty searches or professional development. These staff members themselves were eager for more role clarity. While staffing decisions will remain with local units, units should work closely with central HR to make sure these positions are well defined and reflect local needs.
We will find new ways to bring leadership closer to students in affinity groups.
The working group reported that students in affinity groups would value additional access to leadership. I have asked Chancellor Melissa Nobles and her team to work with student leaders over the coming months to determine how best to achieve that goal.
Fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment
MIT is deeply committed to fostering a campus environment that is free of discrimination and harassment. Information about MIT’s nondiscrimination and non-retaliation policies, and options for raising concerns, can be found here.
Gratitude
I end by offering my deepest thanks to the working group for its thoughtful, collaborative approach to completing the assessment and to Vice Provost for Faculty Paula Hammond and Advisor for Leadership Development Tracie Jones-Barrett, to whom the ICEO staff have reported this spring. I also want to honor the staff and leadership of the ICEO, past and present, who have made important contributions to the life of the Institute since the office’s inception in 2013.
And I want to express my gratitude to everyone at MIT who, formally and informally, and often behind the scenes, works to foster a sense of community and belonging on our campus. Your work isn’t additive to our great mission, it’s essential to it.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth
President