{"id":13206,"date":"2026-04-30T08:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/?p=13206"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:46:16","slug":"responding-to-incidents-of-anti-black-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/2026\/04\/30\/responding-to-incidents-of-anti-black-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to Incidents of Anti-Black Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A message sent yesterday to our community shared some deeply concerning reports of anti-Black racism and bias that have occurred within The Claremont Colleges and on our own campus recently. I have read the resolution shared by Black Lives At Mudd (BLAM) and our student leadership organizations. I am grateful to our students for their bravery in sharing their experiences, and I hear the pain, frustration, and exhaustion shared through your words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am deeply troubled by the accounts I have heard from our students and from members of the faculty and staff. Racism and discriminatory behavior have no place at Harvey Mudd College; they are antithetical to the shared values our community identified<\/u><\/a> through our strategic planning process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a college community dedicated to advancing “STEM for a Better World,” we recognize that technical excellence cannot exist in a vacuum. Our mission and Honor Code call upon us to be an ethical, human-centered community where every member can bring their full lived experiences to their work and life on this campus. When any member of our community faces discrimination, it undermines the foundation of what we are striving to achieve together. I call on every member of the Harvey Mudd community to join me in committing to a process of reflection and action to move our community forward toward our goal of a more equitable and just HMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to acknowledge the specific concerns that have been raised regarding our institutional processes, including the bias incident reporting system<\/u><\/a> and the need for greater support for our Black student body. While I cannot provide an immediate answer to all of the points raised in the resolution, I want to assure you that I am engaging with the Cabinet, faculty, and the board to evaluate these requests and determine appropriate steps to address the concerns that were shared. We will, of course, engage with students throughout this process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this institutional work progresses, our priority is your immediate well-being. If you have a pending concern or need immediate support, please reach out directly to VP for Student Affairs\/Dean of Students Cindy Martinez or to me. The Mudders Care for Mudders<\/u><\/a> form also remains a direct way to alert us to the needs of any community member. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To our Black students, faculty, and staff, please know that I see you, I value you, and I am deeply committed to ensuring your safety and belonging. I am very grateful for the courage of our students in speaking out about these issues and sharing their suggestions for how we might work together to address them. I also look forward to the upcoming special faculty meeting that was already planned, which provides an additional forum for our faculty to collectively discuss ways to support our students and our campus climate. Through this directness and shared commitment, I am confident that we will make meaningful progress on the systemic challenges that are facing our campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will provide further updates as our leadership teams continue their work on these critical matters. Thank you for your ongoing partnership and support as we work to sustain and strengthen a Harvey Mudd where every individual is protected, cherished, and empowered to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harriet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff, A message sent yesterday to our community shared some deeply concerning reports of anti-Black racism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"class_list":["post-13206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13207,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13206\/revisions\/13207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/presidents-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}