Sandy Alexandre

Assistant Professor
Literature

“Only if we “stop talking about it (racism)” can we actually ever rid ourselves of it, Freeman rationalized. Controversial though that solution may be, the logic, which undergirds it, is at least based on sensible— if ultimately wishful— thinking. For if to speak an evil is to make it real, then the converse must also be true— to speak no evil is to abolish, disclaim, and preempt it outright.”

John M. Deutch

Institute Professor
Chemistry

“Organizations or parts of society that try to erase or denigrate differences are, to some extent, devaluing the individual in America.”

John Harbison

Professor of Music
Institute Professor

“At times it has seemed that the quest for racial understanding and justice has gone into reverse.”

Ellen T. Harris

Class of 1949
Professor of Music
Chair of CCRR, 1994-1999

“I am not alone in the white community in having stood for a number of years outside the discussions and arguments on race.”

“When my work comes up in casual conversations with seat mates on long distance flights the response is nearly always… You have to be kidding, bronze was developed in the Americas? You mean before the Europeans invaded?? How could they be so advanced?”

Steven R. Lerman

Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Chair of the Faculty

“While we have largely eliminated legalized racial discrimination in our laws, widespread racial bias is still manifest in housing and employment practices. We continue to have large, and in some areas growing, racial inequities in the quality of public education, family income, health care, criminal justice and other aspects of everyday life that are central to a society's well-being.”

Thomas L. Magnanti

Dean, School of Engineering, and Institute Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Management

“I suggest that we continually ask ourselves that simple question, ‘How would I feel?’ and use it to guide our thinking and actions.”

Melissa Nobles

Associate Professor
Political Science

“Rather than viewing race as only a social problem or moral dilemma, race is viewed as political in its origins and consequences.”

Robert Redwine

Professor
Physics

“I believe it is an important enough issue that we must engage it. We owe it to ourselves, and especially to our students.”

Donald R. Sadoway

Professor and MacVicar Faculty Fellow
Materials Science and Engineering

“When people of different races and cultures are brought together suddenly in an MIT classroom, the teaching staff has a special responsibility to be sensitive to the diverse sets of feelings and viewpoints brought to the table by all members of the group, not just by those in the numerical majority.”

Phillip A. Sharp

Institute Professor
Biology

“MIT welcomes students of any race, religion, culture or gender and helps them share their talents with others.”

Sheila E. Widnall

Institute Professor
Aeronautics and Astronautics

“[At MIT,] we celebrate diversity and the absolute belief in the inherent worth of the individual. We are all strengthened and enriched by this commitment. These values bind us together as a community and may be the single most valuable thing that our students take with them when they leave.”