As universities and colleges across the country have seen renewed calls for racial equity and social justice within their curricula, faculty, and programs, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has announced a series of initiatives as part of effort to focus the school's pedagogy on anti-racist topics. 

A recent letter from RISD President Rosanne Somerson highlights a slate of changes that are coming to the school, including efforts to develop curricula that focuses on anti-racist agendas, engage with non-Eurocentric topics, expand faculty development around equity issues, and expand hiring of faculty members with "expertise in issues of race and decoloniality in the arts and design."

The school will also develop a new Office of Discrimination Reporting and Title IX, expand its existing Center for Social Equity and Inclusion, and expand mental health programs for BIPOC students.

The letter continues, "Evolving our college, museum and community is not just about eliminating racism; it is about being proactively anti-racist. These next steps for moving RISD forward are just that: critical next commitments. They should not and cannot be viewed as a simple checklist with a near-term endpoint."