Deepening political polarization has contributed to an increased regularity of harassment, threats, and acts of violence against scholars and university professors. Scholars whose social identities or scholarship focus on marginalized and underrepresented groups, such as Black women and trans scholars, are subject to constant surveillance and routine attacks based not on the subject of their work but for simply doing the jobs that their institutions hire them to do. Across the country, these scholars experience threatening emails and letters, placement on watch lists, doxxing of personal information, amongst other forms of intimidation, harm, and violence. This panel discussion will explore how institutions can be better stewards and supporters of the scholars that advance institutional missions and, through their research, contribute to a more equitable and just society.


Speakers:

Trachette Jackson
Associate Vice President for Research - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives in the Office of the Vice President for Research; University Diversity & Social Transformation Professor; and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan

Elizabeth R. Cole
Director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity; University Diversity & Social Transformation Professor; and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Psychology, and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan

Nina M. Flores
Associate Professor of Advanced Studies in Education and Counseling at California State University, Long Beach; and Senior Fellow in the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement

Patrick Grzanka
Divisional Dean for Social Sciences and Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

John Lofy
Executive Director of Marketing and Communications in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan; and Co-chair of U-M Work Group on Responding to Threats and Harassment of Faculty

Moni Marcelo
Director of the Office of Threat Assessment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign


This event will have Zoom auto-transcription and an edited transcript will accompany the recording.

Sponsors: The National Center for Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research, and National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education