AAC&U is pleased to share statements and letters from several college and university presidents in response to recent current events regarding issues of racial and social justice. We hope you will use these letters as resources as you craft your own responses to these important issues. See related AAC&U resources on diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence, including a video of Lynn Pasquerella’s recent interview on Difficult Dialogues.   

AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella signed a letter urging members of the US Congress to pass legislation that expands background checks and closes loopholes in our laws that make it easier for dangerous people to purchase guns. The letter was submitted to Congress on July 13 by the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense and notes that, “As we continue to mourn the losses from gun violence everywhere, we urge [Members of Congress] to give voice to the concerns of your constituents and honor the memory of the 33,000 Americans killed by gun violence every year and enact real, meaningful, and responsible solutions that can help prevent gun tragedies, and make our communities safer places to live.” On November 12, 2015, AAC&U also signed a joint statement opposing “campus carry” laws issued by the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

AAC&U mourns the loss of Alison R. Bernstein, a longtime leader in higher education and philanthropy who passed away on June 30, 2016. Bernstein was an especially gifted scholar and liberal educator, a tireless promoter of diversity and inclusion, an early champion of the field of women’s studies, and a strong supporter of this association. AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella noted that “Alison had a profound impact on higher education. Her lifelong commitment to liberal education, equity, and social justice resulted in enhanced access to higher education for those at the lowest socioeconomic rungs and to new models for ensuring that the contributions of women and people of color are not consigned to the lower shelves of history. Her legacy will continue to shape the next generation of global women leaders, and we are so grateful to have been beneficiaries of her wit, wisdom, and passion.” Read AAC&U’s full statement here.

Over the past year, college students have joined communities across our nation to protest systemic racial and social injustices. As our campuses respond to the voices of students seeking to speak truth to power, all educators within our colleges and universities must play leadership roles in promoting racial and social justice and educating today’s students to be informed and inspired to help build more just and equitable communities. The 2017 AAC&U Annual Meeting and Pre-Meeting Symposium will provide a space to explore our educational responsibilities around these challenging issues. See resources and campus tools designed to help in this work, including a recent interview done by AAC&U’s President Lynn Pasquerella regarding today’s movements on and off campus to address racial and social injustice.

After eighteen years as president of AAC&U, Carol Geary Schneider becomes president emerita on July 1. In a message to the AAC&U community, she extends thanks to colleagues across AAC&U’s member institutions, reflects on the last two decades of work, and calls for continued shared commitment to ensuring that a high-quality liberal education is available to every student. Schneider writes, “It will take an educational community—supported by a vigorous, smart, and creative AAC&U—to help overcome the reality that deep inequities stand in the way of underserved students’ successfully gaining access to the most empowering forms of college learning.” Click here to read the full message. 

In covering the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, the Christian Science Monitor quoted AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, "Creating a diverse campus is a first step... Preparing students to work productively across difference … is the next critical frontier in higher education’s long-term efforts to make excellence inclusive." Her comment was made in the context of a strongly worded statement issued on June 23 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. In her statement, she affirmed AAC&U’s strong commitment “to helping our members succeed in the long-term work of educating and graduating students—from all backgrounds—who will be both prepared and inspired to work for a more just and equitable democracy in the United States and for the expansion of human dignity and opportunity around the world.” In a news release announcing the statement, AAC&U’s President-Elect Lynn Pasquerella also noted that “our nation’s historic commitment to educating for democracy cannot truly be fulfilled until racial equality is achieved around access to excellence in higher education. The Supreme Court’s decision highlights the significance of AAC&U’s commitment to championing equity and inclusion in liberal education.” In covering the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, the Christian Science Monitor quoted AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, "Creating a diverse campus is a first step... Preparing students to work productively across difference … is the next critical frontier in higher education’s long-term efforts to make excellence inclusive." See the full statement and news release.

In a recent issue of Liberal Education, AAC&U senior leaders shared their perspectives on the future of accreditation. AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider noted that, “unless faculty and other campus leaders want to hand accreditation over to ROI calculators, we—the higher education community—must move to persuade our accreditors that we can no longer keep our goals for quality learning hidden from view.” In addition, AAC&U Senior Vice President for Academic Planning and Public Engagement Debra Humphreys joined with co-author Paul Gaston noting that, “If policymakers take this issue seriously, avoiding hackneyed sound bites (“accreditation ignores student learning”; “accreditation inhibits innovation”) in favor of serious analysis, it may be possible to develop a more productive approach to quality assurance and a better system of accrediting institutions of higher education as guarantors of quality and vehicles for student learning and empowerment.” See also President Schneider’s presentation at the Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference Presidents’ Program titled “Liberal Education and the New Frontiers of Quality Assurance.”