The Fire This Time: A Message From Dean Strohecker on the Murder of George Floyd

June 4, 2020

“The sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me (inspired by James Baldwin‘s The Fire Next Time)

Our CDes community is deeply pained by the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath. I hope you are able to take good care of yourselves and your families at this difficult time.

All of the officers involved in George Floyd’s murder are now facing charges for the crime. Demonstrations expressing outrage and grief for the killing also of Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Jamar Clark, Freddie Gray, and so many others, have spread across the nation and sparked unrest locally and internationally. People of conscience everywhere are grappling with the reality of systemic racism and pervasive injustice, both long ignored and ineffectively addressed. Monuments to white supremacy are coming down.

While working through their own outrage and grief, members of the College of Design are acting with empathy and understanding. Some are involved in community patrols, consoling frightened children, and bringing food to community members whose homes and businesses have been damaged. A colleague responded by getting a fire extinguisher where it was needed, while another is coaching students several states away on how to negotiate with local authorities. Still other CDes colleagues are working with community organizations responding to myriad needs, including many that will persist long after the sirens stop.

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s college-wide forum, expressing solidarity with our Black community and strengthening our connections to one another.

We will continue to identify and make changes in our collegiate culture during the coming months. These include organizing immediate responses to local community needs and addressing longer-term issues such as reconsideration of admissions practices, procuring materials and services from entities whose values are consistent with social justice, and building on the curriculum mapping and auditing we’ve already begun, to ensure that courses reflect multicultural perspectives.

I am asking each of us also to commit to action, in collaboration with the CDes Diversity Committee and emerging Diversity Network, to ongoing learning about principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please avail of resources ranging from peer groups such as the emerging Anti-Racism Reading Group, to developmental programs offered by the University, to programs and events we conduct in the college.

The University has compiled helpful resources available to students as well as to faculty and staff.

As we pause to honor George Floyd, in the memorial service at 1:00 this afternoon, please know that you have people who care about you in the College of Design. We are connected through shared values of diversity, collaboration, flexibility, resilience, excellence, self-awareness, creativity, and learning—and we will need all of these for the work still to come.

In gratitude and support,
Carol

Carol Strohecker, PhD
Dean, College of Design
University of Minnesota
pronouns: she/her/hers

Led by Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design), the Culturally Enriched Communities (CEC) Initiative champions healthy and connected communities in which everyone can thrive.

The following is a guest post from Minnesota Design Center Director Tom Fisher.

The following is a guest post written by Associate Vice Provost in the Office for Equity and Diversity and CSBR Senior Research Fellow Virajita Singh.