Northeastern University

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions "employs a comprehensive and multi-level approach in the recruitment of students from underrepresented communities and urban centers."

Northeastern's "Action Plan" states that it would increase diversity al all levels of the University by increasing the number of "Black American students enrolled in our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs" and "faculty and staff of color."

On November 1, 2021, following up on Northeastern’s 2020 nine-point plan to combat systemic racism on campus, the university launched an “online anti-racism and cultural literacy training that will be required of the entire university community—students, faculty, and staff.”

Northeastern's "Action Plan" states, "To ensure awareness of both conscious and unconscious biases—and to eradicate it—we will institute universal training for our community, focusing on 'cultural and racial literacy' in every corner of the university."

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offer several professional workshops for faculty and staff including: "Addressing Microaggressions With Micro-Interventions," "Practicing Anti-Racism in Staff Recruitment and Retention," and "Using Essential Conversations to Mitigate Implicit Bias."

"Racial & Cultural Literacy Training" is taken through the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and is "mandatory for all members of the Northeastern community." The purpose of this training is to "better equip our community to combat racism and other systemic inequities."

As part of NUpath, the core curriculum at Northeastern University, all undergraduate students are required to complete a course in Interpreting Cultures and a course in Engaging Difference and Diversity.

Within the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice program, all students, faculty, and staff “actively pursue anti-racism work to constructively intervene in the predominant culture of systemic inequality.”

The ADVANCE Office of Faculty Development seeks to “advance the recruitment and mentoring of faculty that are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

In 2020, Northeastern awarded a TIER 1 grant to professors Julia Flanders and Nicole Aljoe of the “woman writers project” to work on a new project, “Representing Racial Identity in Early Women’s Writing,” in which they will “convene an international group of scholars who work in critical race theory to inform our encoding and collection development practices, and will publish the results of our discussions.”

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offers a number of grants for faculty, staff, and students to pursue and promote educational efforts in diversity, equity, and social justice.

Northeastern's Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research's "Teaching Inquiry Fellows" program "provides opportunities for Fellows to explore their assumptions about teaching and learning, issues surrounding educational equity and inclusion, and the practices of scholarly teaching through critical reflection and discourse." Participants would receive a $1,000 stipend for full participation.

The school has a Research Center on Crime, Race, and Justice under the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

As part of Northeastern's "Action Plan," the University's Police Department has created the "NUPD Advisory Board" comprised of students, faculty and staff, The board will "help guide, inform, and strengthen NUPD’s relationship with the community—both within and outside Northeastern."

The university's 2021 Black History Month programming includes an event called “Dive into critical race theory”. Description: “Join the Writing Program and Writing Center for the first 2021 installment in their visiting guest lecture series, featuring researcher and professor Romeo García, who will discuss the complexities of modern colonialism and white supremacy. The event will be held on Zoom on Friday, Feb. 5, at 4 p.m. EST.”

The University Library provides a number of resources on diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, anti-oppression, racial justice, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Professor and critical race scholar, Dr. Meredith Clark, is the Founding Director of the new Center for Communication, Media Innovation and Social Change which will serve as a “hub for the advanced study of race, ethnicity, and activism.”

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Northeastern University has a number of programs, initiatives, workshops, and trainings to promote diversity, inclusion, and social justice.

Northeastern's Center for Intercultural Engagement "strives to create a community that is inclusive of all populations at Northeastern through programs, training, and experiences." The Social Justice Resource Center is "now a part of the CIE and continues to provide educational support for student activists."

Northeastern's Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion links to its many initiatives and programs and states, "At Northeastern, we believe that diversity, inclusion, and equity should be woven into everything we do."

Northeastern's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offer a variety of anti-racism resources to "support teaching and learning in specific categories of diversity education" which include Ibram X Kendi's "How to be an Anti-Racist."

The school has a page dedicated to “resources for promoting anti-racism and supporting diversity and inclusion in STEM.”

Northeastern’s Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research has a page for “Becoming an Anti-racist Educator” which provides resources on anti-racist pedagogy.

The school has a Presidential Council on Diversity and Inclusion which works on “specific projects, such as strategic planning groups, or the groups that interpret the campus climate surveys, or planning groups for educational and research efforts.”

On May 9, 2024, Northeastern Global News published an article titled "The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action. But diversity on college campuses is still possible, experts say." Professor of law and former dean of the Northeastern University School of Law is quoted as saying, "'Universities all across the country will begin to experiment with a whole variety of admissions techniques that are race-neutral in the sense that race is not an explicit factor, but not race-neutral in the sense that they’re intended to produce diversity'."