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Emerson College

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
120 Boylston St
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Phone
(617) 824-8500
Email address
admission@emerson.edu
School Information
"Emerson College draws independent minds from diverse backgrounds around the world through its highly regarded academic programs in communication, the arts, and the liberal arts. "Energized by engagement with the creative life of Boston, Los Angeles, and the Netherlands, our students are creative thinkers and doers who develop their own personal voice and expertise in professions that profoundly shape society and culture in the 21st century." The college enrolls over 4,400 students and has 24 majors and over 30 minors. (Source: https://www.emerson.edu/about-emerson) (Source: https://www.emerson.edu/about-emerson/facts-figures) (Source: https://www.emerson.edu/majors-programs/undergraduate-majors-minors)
General Information
Emerson College has recently hosted a panel discussing the removal of "offensive monuments". Whether the college will be taking action after the panel is not clear. No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, see developments below:

Actions Taken

Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • Emerson College Vice Provost for Internationalization and Equity contributed to an article on mandating CRT training in which he stated, “the very essence of a liberal education makes teaching of Critical Race Theory an educational imperative.”
  • The college hosted numerous Teach-Ins on Race with topics ranging from Critical Race Theory, Social Justice, Power of Activism, and Accountability.
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • Beginning January 2022, Emerson College professor Kim McLarin was appointed as the College’s Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies. McLarin is an author and known for her racially divisive anti-white rhetoric where she states that blacks and whites cannot be friends and that she herself does not trust white people.
Program and Research Funding
  • In response to the student led demonstrations of 2021 by the organization Protesting Oppression with Education Reform (POWER), the college created the Community Equity Action Plan that focuses on dismantling systemic oppression, racism, embedded power and privilege, and create a culture of accountability by taking direct actions on each of the protestors demands that range from redistributing Emerson College Police Department funds, issuing a public apology by the college, increase funding and support for diverse students, require anti-racist training to all staff, and conducting an entire college anti-racist curriculum review.
Resources
  • The Emerson College Library provides the “Radical Guide for Social Justice: Anti-Racist Practices” with numerous resources on anti-racism, activism, white fragility, critical race theory, and social justice including readings from Ibram X. Kendi and many others.
Symbolic Actions
  • The college has recently hosted a panel discussing the removal of "offensive monuments".
  • The Social Justice Center at Emerson College hosts weekly discussions to take solidarity in calls to anti-racist action.
Last updated July 26th, 2022
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