L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs

Racial Equity Action Plan

Racism. COVID-19. These are two major pandemics that cannot be wished away. In fact, we are seeing the blatant intersection of the two. African-Americans are disproportionately dying from COVID-19, assuming higher levels of risk in front line or near front line positions to enable social distancing of the privileged, all while also having
limited access to quality health care. The recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have brought the disproportionate killings of African-Americans by police to the forefront.

The L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs is nationally recognized for our commitment to social equity in our teaching, research, and service. Our faculty, staff, students and alumni are not bystanders to social injustice and believe we must aggressively contribute to eliminating institutional racism. The Wilder School has a history of devoting resources to diversity, equity, and inclusion issues and programs. The work of our Racial Equity Action Plan will complement and enhance the ongoing work of the School’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee while also involving a much broader group of faculty, staff, students and alumni working together to improve the Wilder School, our students, and current and future public sector employees and leaders.

View our Racial Equity Action Plan (2020) (PDF)