University of Waterloo launches the President’s Anti-racism Taskforce (PART)

Dear colleagues and students,

I am writing to you today to announce the formation of the President’s Anti-racism Taskforce (PART).

The University of Waterloo’s Strategic Plan defines our commitment to fostering inclusivity, belonging and a culture of involvement on our campus and within our community. We have made a start on this work already — including in our Indigenous initiatives and in the on-going work of the Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion Office.

It is clear to me now, after spending time engaging with the issues of anti-racism, particularly anti-Black racism, over the last two weeks, that we must build further on what we’ve been doing as a University to advance equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) on our campus.

The President’s Anti-racism Taskforce is the next step in our commitment to strengthening diverse communities, with a specific focus on anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and other issues of racism on our campus.

PART will be led by co-chairs who are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who will be responsible for ensuring broad campus representation within the group’s membership. In collaboration with me, their first actions will be to develop the terms of reference for the Taskforce and define its processes and structure.

The Taskforce will be grounded in an understanding of the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour on our campus. PART will be action oriented, because we know that it’s not enough to identify problems, we must also act to fix them. I look forward to working with the co-chairs to develop and finalize the Taskforce’s terms of reference.

If you would like to share your experience at the University of Waterloo with PART, please email part@uwaterloo.ca. We’ll make sure that the Taskforce members know about your expressions of interest to participate and someone will be in touch with you when the group is formed.

I look forward to being able to share more details about PART in the coming weeks.

For now, please continue to stay well and stay safe.

Sincerely,

Feridun Hamdullahpur