Reflections of a BSU Co-Chair
A Voyage Toward Diversity and Inclusion at MIT
By Rasheed Auguste, MIT ’17
“How will you know when it’s finished . . . What will MIT look like?”— Professor Wes Harris
Seemingly every previous Black Students’ Union (BSU) Co-Chair has advanced at least one major innovation during his or her tenure. Ikenna Enware ’15 helped launch an annual Black pre-frosh ‘fly-in’ weekend for Ebony Affair, the Black MIT community’s flagship gala. Last year, Grace Assaye ’16 led the MIT undergraduate community’s response to police brutality and systemic racism through Black Lives Matter.
I, however, had no idea what my contribution would be when I stepped into the role of BSU Co-Chair during my junior year. And then, we witnessed a wave of events ripple across college campuses around the country — places like the University of Missouri, Yale University, and Ithaca College — that demanded collective action.
For the first time, I felt exposed. Social media posts by my personal friends now mirrored national news headlines. This wave had hit a bit too close to home. My MIT bubble had burst, and the real world came crashing in.
We decided to respond, first by forging solidarity. With the help of the BSU Political Action Committee (PAC), we organized a “Blackout” at MIT, and Chris Welch ’13, M.S. ’15 took a professional photograph of all of our supporters in front of Killian Court. Dressed in black, faces familiar and unfamiliar, we gathered near Lobby 10 and stood silently for a photo under the drizzling rain. We had far more allies than I initially thought.
Unexpectedly, an email from MIT President Rafael Reif landed in my inbox. He asked to meet with executive board members of the BSU and the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA). It was uplifting to share with the President of MIT our experiences with microaggressions on campus, the pressure to defy stereotypes, and the seemingly numb indifference of our peers in the classroom. And it was validating. President Reif’s message on behalf of the MIT administration was clear:
“[We] care deeply about the well-being of minority students.”
He left us with a clear call to action: Is there any way you can send me a list of things that I can help you with? I shared a summary of the conversation via email with Alberto Hernández ’17 (my best friend and fellow Chocolate City brother), the BSU PAC, and MIT’s minority community. The initial feedback was encouraging and honest: hire diverse mental health clinicians; expand orientation for diverse students; conduct surveys on diversity and inclusion; and issue statements by department heads to affirm the university’s commitments to student health, diversity, and inclusion.
We recognized that while other schools had developed lists of demands that called for multicultural spaces, offices dedicated to minority students, and public statements of regret from their administration, MIT had already accomplished these goals. We already had a BSU Lounge, an Office of Minority Education (OME), and an Office of Multicultural Programs (OMP). Further, we did not believe that a public statement of regret would advance the standing of minorities at MIT.
Alberto, who served on the MIT Committee on Race and Diversity, co-chaired by the Institute Community and Equity Officer (ICEO) Edmund Bertschinger, noted that the ICEO had published a comprehensive report in February 2015 titled: “Advancing a Respectful and Caring Community: Learning by Doing at MIT”. After some digging, Alberto also found the “Report on the Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity” from January 2010. This 2010 report included several ICEO recommendations and, interestingly enough, a cover letter by President Reif himself.
Why had MIT commissioned multiple studies on diversity and inclusion at the institute, yet neglected to implement the institute-specific solutions?
After conducting further research, the BSU revised our list of concrete demands and fashioned them into actionable recommendations. Alberto presented the list to the Committee on Race and Diversity (CRD) for feedback. Some of our recommendations impacted specific committee members’ offices, and Alberto left the CRD meeting with recommendation-specific feedback. We were all fired up. I remember Alberto turning to me with a determined look in his eyes:
“Bro, we gotta make sure that the things we ask for are feasible, specific to MIT, and that someone will actually be responsible for making them happen!”
The next few days became a long game of Infinite Corridor pinball. Between classes, Alberto and I bounced from office to office, asking MIT staff, faculty, and students their perspectives on how we could ensure that our recommendations to the Institute would be most effective.
A number of important meetings ensued:
Lydia Snover (Director, Institutional Research) offered clementines and other goodies along with her decades of expertise in crafting insightful questions for Institute surveys.
Jagruti “Jag” Patel (Director of Special Projects, Chancellor’s Office) laid out context for our recommendation to dis-aggregate survey responses by identity group (e.g. race, gender, sexuality) and to make the data public.
Melissa Nobles (Dean, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences — SHASS) helped us identify the existing courses at MIT that cover themes of diversity and inclusion.
Krishna Rajagopal (Faculty Chair, Dept. of Physics) helped us understand the General Institute Requirements (GIRs) and faculty influence on the Institute climate around issues of diversity and inclusion.
Elizabeth Young (Assoc. Dean, Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming) explained the planning process for Diversity Orientation.
Stu Schmill ’89 (Dean, Admissions and Financial Aid) filled us in on financial aid and minority recruitment efforts.
Abigail Francis (Director, LBGT Services) provided key insights on inclusion from members of the LBGTQ+ community.
The BSU incorporated this wealth of insight and knowledge into our recommendations, while also thinking critically on how we could hold one another accountable. Student feedback was especially important during this process. The BSU Executive Board held “office hours” in the BSU Lounge to take in-person suggestions. The BSU PAC organized a “town-hall” discussion for the entire minority community in the BSU Lounge (including not only the BSU, but also BGSA, Latino Cultural Center, and LBGT@MIT) to encourage further dialogue.
However, feedback was not always easy to receive. The day before our list of recommendations went public, I presented the recommendations to the MIT Undergraduate Association (UA) Council in the hope of receiving an official endorsement. Council members meticulously deconstructed the document, expressing opinions on everything from word choice and sentence structure to tone and rhetorical appeals. I began to question whether our statements truly reflected the needs of all undergraduate students. It was the first time (and not the last) that the ingredients of our recommendations had been called into question.
While our recommendations were still a work in progress, ICEO Ed Bertschinger asked the BSU Executive Board to formally present our findings to the Academic Council, along with those of the BGSA.
Gulp.
This was big. Presenting to the most senior leadership council at MIT — to Deans, Provosts, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, and the MIT President himself — is not an opportunity to take lightly.
Thankfully, parallel efforts by the BGSA and the Black Alumni/ae at MIT (BAMIT) — who had presented their own set of unique recommendations to the MIT Administration in December of 2015 titled “ BAMIT Platform for Diversity and the Black Experience at MIT (BPDBEM)” — ensured that advocacy for the Black community at MIT was being advanced by various community members, each with unique but critical vantage points.
Presentation day came.
I was one of five student selected to present to senior leadership at MIT. We all felt nervous, but we projected confidence, mindful that we had rehearsed our roles beforehand. Further, we were not alone. We had brought staff support with us: DiOnetta Crayton (Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Minority Education — OME) and La-Tarri Canty (Assistant Director, Student Activities Office — Multicultural Programs).
Academic Council Members asked questions to learn more about our vision and process, not to poke holes in our logic or narrative. Our reception was even warmer afterward. Associate Provost Richard Lester (former Nuclear Science and Engineering Department Head) came up to shake my hand, saying,
“Thank you for your leadership in preparing the recommendations and in explaining them. As a member of the NSE faculty, I am very proud that an NSE student is leading this very important process.”
I left feeling certain that folks in the room cared about our concerns and took our suggestions seriously. Vice President Kirk Kolenbrander later convened a subgroup of Academic Council members to address the recommendations of the BSU and BGSA. He opened the meeting declaring, “Over the course of my career at MIT, there have been a few moments when I have said to myself, ‘This is going to be really important for changing the future of MIT.’ Your presentation to Academic Council was one of them.”
The Black Students’ Union List of Recommendations for MIT Administration went public on December 9, 2015, complete with an mit.edu URL and MIT News Office story.
After publishing our official recommendations, we continued to work with offices across the Institute to implement solutions. Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart worked with Alberto, Lydia Snover at Institutional Research, and myself to expand questions on diversity and inclusion into Institute-wide surveys. MIT Mental Health hired a full-time mental health clinician specializing in African Diasporic issues. Department Heads of Math, Physics, and History began writing commitments to health, diversity, and inclusion.
Ongoing feedback on our work has been very important. During an OME Faculty Advisory Committee meeting, Professor Wes Harris politely asked the BSU Executive Board, “What does your first recommendation [on mental health] mean?” We offered him an explanation. He asked again:
“Let me rephrase. How will you know when it’s finished? How will you know when all of your recommendations are addressed? What will MIT look like?”
We struggled to produce a substantive answer. I was floored. I had been focusing on details and specific recommendations for so long, it seemed that I had lost sight of the big picture.
What is MIT supposed to look like?
I continue to struggle with finding answers to this question. Delivering a firm signature handshake, Prof. Harris warned Alberto and me: “I’ve seen students lose their minds over this. Make sure you take care of yourself.”
Supportive staff like Dean Crayton have helped to ease the burden. “How are you?” she will press. “I’m okay.” I will reply
“No, how are you doing? Really.”
Thankfully, staff members and other groups on campus have now developed their own set of recommendations to the Administration, further supporting our efforts. Through months of hard work, student leaders such as Alberto and myself have received recognition for our efforts from the MIT community, including President Reif, the MLK Celebration Subcommittee of the CRD, and the OMP.
Some describe MIT as a journey. Truthfully, this past year has felt like a voyage. Commissioned by President Reif himself, it’s as if we had set out to sea on a ship named S.S. Recommendations, with sails driven by gusts of MIT community feedback. We rode through waves of self-doubt, anchored by a trusty crew of friends, supporting staff, and faculty. Navigating through new territories and working with new people has left us with invaluable communication skills that cannot be learned in a classroom. During the entire process, we were forced to strike a difficult but fine balance between hard work and self care.
My mother always says,
“You gotta love people where they’re at.”
As MIT swiftly moves to address the recommendations of the BSU and other organizations in the Black MIT community, I remember her words as a reminder to advocate for collaboration across all levels — students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Corporation members.
MIT has the great opportunity to become the example for diversity and inclusion in research institutions and places of higher education. I look forward to Fall 2016, eagerly watching the horizon for what we, MIT, will do next.
Rasheed Auguste is a member of the MIT Class of 2017. A double major in Nuclear Science and Engineering and Physics, Rasheed is a nuclear materials undergraduate researcher, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Rho Nu Chapter, and a brother of the Chocolate City living group on campus. Rasheed is also a 2016 MLK Leadership Awardee.
