HU chosen as Minnesota’s first Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation site

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has chosen Hamline University as one of the nation’s first Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center sites. Through a competitive process, ten institutions in the U.S. were selected based on their proposals’ ability to create positive narratives about race, identify and examine current realities of race relations in their communities, envision communities without entrenched racial hierarchies, and pinpoint levers for change and key individuals to engage.

“Hamline has long taken the lead in matters of race, justice, inclusion, and equity. We are so pleased the AAC&U has recognized this legacy and will help support our future vision and efforts in these areas,” Hamline President Fayneese Miller said. “Events in Minnesota and across the nation have shone a spotlight on how much work is yet to be done. These events have also emboldened our work and reignited our commitment to bring communities together to educate, empower, and enact real and lasting change.”

With generous support from Newman’s Own Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, AAC&U will guide the development of the TRHT Campus Centers as part of a multi-year initiative.

Hamline will receive an initial award of $30,000 to develop and implement visionary plans that engage and empower campus and community stakeholders. Hamline’s planning committee will work to develop practice spaces focused on creating new narratives and new relationships while naming and honoring the ongoing pain and trauma wrought by belief in racial hierarchy, structural racism, and white privilege. Hamline’s central location and active connections to community partners will allow for conversations that include racial, social, economic, and religious diversity, and to share, recognize, and learn from others’ expertise and experiences beyond the traditional university context.

“In the aftermath of the horrific, heartbreaking events in Charlottesville, we must not be silent. Instead, we must harness our collective intellectual, social and financial resources to transform words into action,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “AAC&U is thrilled to partner with these first ten outstanding institutions on our way to establishing 150 centers across the country to ensure that higher education is playing a leadership role in promoting racial and social justice.”

Teams from the selected institutions will participate in a  TRHT project meeting this month and attend AAC&U’s inaugural Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Institute in January 2018 in Washington, DC. At the TRHT Institute, the Campus Centers will develop action plans to advance racial healing and will be involved in the creation of a related guidebook to support the implementation of future TRHT Campus Centers. This guidebook will be available to AAC&U’s network of more than 60,000 higher education leaders.

Other institutions selected as sites for the first TRHT Campus Centers are in Texas, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Missouri, New Jersey, Georgia, South Carolina, Hawaii, and Maryland.