Institutional Racism Endemic in Higher Education

The Black and Latinx Student Caucus at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health is challenging their school to address its anti-Black curriculum and racist practices. They wrote an open letter to demand Columbia Mailman acknowledge the multiple public health crises facing Black Americans, who are both disproportionately suffering from Covid-19 and murdered at the hands of the police. It includes specific demands to increase Black faculty and invest in small businesses and NGOs in Harlem and Washington Heights. Alumnus and co-author of this letter Dorcas Adedoja describes their experience as a transmasculine Black graduate student and the overall lack of preparedness at Mailman to speak to the needs of Black students. “If my faculty was uncomfortable standing in elevators with me, I was not at all certain they could provide competent care to my broader community members…” #publichealth,#blacktranslivesmatter, #healthcare, #lgtbi, #blacklivesmatter