The New School

Social Justice Committee

The Social Justice Committee is the latest manifestation of institutional efforts to address issues of diversity and equity at The New School. The SJC is composed of members of the university administration, faculty, staff and students, and is co-chaired by the Provost. The SJC replaced the former University Diversity Committee (see below for more details).

Mission Statement

The New School Social Justice Committee (SJC) initiates and promotes the efforts of students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, and community partners to address economic, social, and cultural divisions related to different identities and to our institutional and personal practices and policies. We work to redress the negative impacts of those divisions and their intersections and to create inclusive spaces that foster the benefits of multiple social and cultural identities, life experiences, and beliefs by committing resources and available expertise to systematically develop new forms of access, representation, and power. This work is built on university members’ and community partners’ demands for inclusion that have been voiced throughout the history of The New School. We hope to address structural barriers that privilege members of some groups and to challenge the entire New School community to work in innovative and inclusive ways.

A concern for social justice is central to how so many of us understand and relate to The New School. This impulse can be traced in the history of a number of our schools and programs—providing access to higher education for working people, serving as a haven for scholars at risk, working on policies promoting equity and democratic governance, designing for democratic participation and social change, and contributing to the public discourse on economic development. The Office of the Provost is committed to making social justice one of The New School’s top priorities. The university-wide Social Justice Committee helps to shape the university’s efforts to promote inclusion and fairness among many social identities, life experiences, intellectual approaches, and beliefs.

Visit the Social Justice Committee’s website for more information.

—
The following is purely for historical archive purposes, as the UDC no longer exists at The New School.

The USS was at one point represented on the University Diversity Committee by former USS President Peter Ian Cummings. The UDC’s last chair was Celesti Colds Fechter Ph.D., NSGS Associate Dean for Academic Services and Professor of Psychology. The Diversity Committee was disbanded in 2009.

Former USS President Peter Ian Cummings was involved in campaigning the Diversity Committee to draft a proposal to establish two new offices: an office of LGBT and an office of ALANA services. This LGBT/ALANA proposal was unanimously passed by both UDC and USS, and was forwarded to President Kerrey. Approval of these proposals is part of the USS Agenda, however, the original proposal sent to President Kerrey in 2009 is no longer in existence due to administrative changes. However the USS is still involved in these issues with the Social Justice Committee, which was created to replace the inactive Diversity Committee by Provost Tim Marshall in 2010.

University Diversity Committee Mission Statement

The mission of The New School Diversity Committee is to support–among students, faculty, and staff—the inclusion of people who are members of class, ethnic, and racial groups that have been historically underrepresented in American higher education; people who are members of the international community; people who are disabled; and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

The University Diversity Committee believes that an academic community fostered by inclusion contributes to the free and respectful exchange of differing ideas, beliefs and perspectives in educational, co-curricular, and public programming and is an essential element in the education of students who will take their places as citizens in a pluralistic world.