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November 18, 2016

Dear Colleagues:

I know that many of you share my belief that our educational institutions best  serve their students, as well as their missions in our larger society, when  they proactively promote diversity on campus. I applaud the long-standing commitments  that so many of you have had to creating diverse campus communities that  attract, admit, and welcome diverse students from all across our country to  your campuses.**[ 1 ]** But I also believe we have far more work left  to do – beyond supporting diversity through admissions and enrollment alone – to  ensure that our campuses are safe, inclusive, and supportive environments that  encourage student success and college completion.

This  work is particularly vital and relevant because we are ever mindful of the  painful history around issues of race in this country. I call upon you as  higher education leaders to renew your commitment to diversity, to take swift  and specific action to eliminate harassment and discrimination, and to ensure a  positive environment on campus for all students. I also write to share a new  resource with you, a report entitled “Advancing  Diversity & Inclusion in Higher Education,” which we are  releasing today in conjunction with the White House to celebrate the Obama  Administration’s efforts to advance diversity and inclusion and explore the  ways in which we may continue to further those efforts together.

Leaders  of postsecondary institutions have an obligation, as well as the authority  needed, to remove barriers and enhance supports to ensure all students succeed  and are safe and welcome on campus. We know that this problem is not uncommon,  and the implications are serious.  Many students  report on-campus hate crimes motivated by racial bias.**[ 2 ]**  Research has also established that  discrimination negatively affects underrepresented students’ sense of belonging  and may cause them to drop out before they finish their educations.**[ 3 ]** When institutions  become aware of any form of discriminatory harassment that creates a hostile  environment, they are legally obligated to promptly and effectively address the  harassment, eliminate the hostile environment, prevent harassment from  recurring, and remedy its effects.**[ 4 ]**  Institutions  should also make clear and widely publicize the ways that students can file  complaints of harassment and discrimination.

Institutions  must eliminate hostile environments where they exist while also protecting  students' free speech rights. Some institutions have, for example, set aside  time and created spaces for students to come together for open dialogue on  issues of diversity and inclusion, while also creating spaces for students to  demonstrate and express their opposition.**[ 5 ]**

But  there is more institutions can do to support all students in succeeding and to ensure  that students from different backgrounds are well positioned to learn together  and from one another. Institutions can proactively support student success and  college completion by:

- Training  students, faculty, staff, and leadership on how to support diverse student populations and address the implicit  biases we all carry with us;
- Allocating  resources to provide academic, social, and emotional supports for students from underrepresented communities;
- Creating  venues for safe and open dialogue on issues of race and discrimination among students, faculty, staff, and leadership  of different backgrounds while at the same time respecting the right to free speech; and
- Making  it a priority to build a diverse staff and ensure that a diverse range of  voices is given the opportunity, and  a supportive environment, to contribute perspectives on important decisions being made on campus.

I  know these are topics that you are already grappling with every day, and I also  know that these steps are but a few examples of ways to address these issues. Working  together, however, I know that we can continue to make even greater progress. It  is our responsibility – for this generation and those in the future – to continue  to improve in our efforts to support diverse and inclusive environments. To aid  you in these efforts, in addition to the report being released today, there are  a number of other federal resources  available that I hope you will take advantage of to build a diverse, inclusive, and  supportive campus climate and prevent and address harassment where it occurs.**[ 6 ]**

Thank  you for your partnership in working to make our nation’s campuses safer, more  inclusive, and stronger.

| | With great hope, 
| | -----------------
| | /s/              
| | John B. King, Jr.

### Footnotes

1. The U.S. Departments of Education  and Justice have previously issued joint guidance documents regarding the voluntary use of race in admissions to achieve student body diversity. These  guidance documents make clear that colleges and universities may pursue  strategies to attract and retain a racially diverse student body through their  admissions policies, and also in their pipeline, recruitment, outreach, mentoring, tutoring, retention, support, and financial aid programs.  The guidance documents are available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/pro-students/issues/roi-issue07.html.**[ Return to text ]**
2. U.S. Department of Education,  Office of Postsecondary Education, Campus Safety and Security Reporting System,  2009 through 2012. (This table was prepared November 2014.)**[ Return to text ]**
3. Chang, M.J., Eagan, M.K., Lin,  M.H., & Hurtado, S. (2011). Considering the impact of racial stigmas and  science identity: Persistence among biomedical and behavioral science  aspirants. *Journal of Higher Education*,  82 (5), 564-596; Hurtado, S. & Carter. D.F. (1997). Effects of college  transition and perceptions of campus racial climate on Latinos’ sense of  belonging. *Sociology of Education*,  70(4), 324-345; Locks, A.M., Hurtado, S., Bowman, N., & Oseguera, L.  (2008). Extending notions of campus climate and diversity to students’  transition to college. *Review of Higher  Education*, 31(3), 257-285.**[ Return to text ]**
4. On October 26, 2010, the Department sent a  letter explaining schools’ legal obligations under federal civil rights laws to  protect students from bullying and harassment on the basis of race, color,  national origin, sex, and disability. That letter is available at: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201010.pdf**[ Return to text ]**
5. Caravana, Sam, Madison Dudley,  and Emma Mazurek. "Third Annual DePauw Dialogue - The DePauw." The  DePauw. n.p., 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.**[ Return to text ]**
6. On December 31, 2015, the Department sent a  letter discussing similar issues and listing a host of federal resources in the  Addendum. That letter and Addendum are available at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/secletter/151231.html**[ Return to text ]**