Update Regarding Incidents of Anti-Black Racism

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

In my message to you at the end of April, I shared our collective grief and our firm stance against the anti-Black racism that has impacted our campus as well as some of our sister Claremont Colleges. Since then, I have been having conversations with students, faculty and staff leaders to begin to move our community from words of solidarity to more concrete actions.

Unfortunately, we continue to hear reports of these types of incidents on our campus—most recently, at a 5C party at Mudd. I am grateful to the students for issuing a call for self-reports under our Honor Code, and I encourage any Mudder who was involved or knows anything about this incident to come forward.

I want to acknowledge and thank our faculty for their work in developing a statement in response to the students’ message. As part of Harvey Mudd’s commitment to shared governance, the faculty is responsible for the academic program of the College. We are grateful for your commitment to critically examining your curricula, pedagogies and departmental cultures to ensure you are removing systemic barriers, fostering equity within your classrooms and disciplines, and helping students understand how inequalities are perpetuated in society. As a residential liberal arts campus, our faculty also help develop and uphold the health of our campus community beyond the classroom and lab.

I look forward to collaborating with the Faculty Executive Committee about the specific steps our faculty plans in undertaking this critical work within the academic program to help ensure Harvey Mudd is a place where every member of our community can thrive.

In addition to these important efforts, as we move into the summer and look toward the 2026–2027 academic year, the College is committing to the following initial steps to address bias and anti-Black racism on our campus and across the 5Cs:

• Improve the Processes for Reporting and Responding to Harmful Incidents that Include Bias, Hate Crimes, Bullying and Hazing: Over the summer, we will undertake a thorough review of all administrative reporting processes. We will engage student leaders in this review to ensure the student voice informs any necessary adjustments, such as the addition of faculty representation or consultancy on the Bias Incident Response Committee.
• Improved Education on Title VI, Title IX, Hazing, Hate Crimes and Bias Incident Reporting: In addition to improved processes and representation, we will expand education and training among faculty, staff and students on these important topics, including the legal requirements for reporting and how they differ from the College’s honor board and disciplinary board proceedings. We will begin this education with new student orientation and continue training for students, faculty and staff throughout next academic year.
• Student Leadership Engagement with IDEA Committee: The College’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee will engage with ASHMC student leadership to ensure that student perspectives are central to our ongoing institutional assessment and policy recommendations to strengthen our culture of inclusivity and belonging.
• CMS Athletics Educational Initiatives: The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics Title IX committee developed a plan to deliver educational programming on Title IX and will expand that training to include Title VI education, focusing on civil rights and racial equity so that every participant understands the weight and impact of the language they use. CMS head coaches also will continue mandatory workshops focused on constructive dialogue and inclusive excellence.
• Expanded Civil Rights Support: We will collaborate across The Claremont Colleges to network expertise on Title VI in order to provide education and support for racial bias incidents across the consortium.

These actions are integral to our STEM for a Better World strategic plan to create a thriving community where technical excellence meets human-centered inquiry and where every student, faculty or staff member feels empowered to bring their full lived experiences to their work and life on this campus.

We all acknowledge that there is much more work to be done by our community. I am grateful to the faculty for their statement and to the students whose advocacy continues to shape and sharpen our ongoing focus.

Sincerely,

Harriet B. Nembhard
President