Our Commitment

President Joseph E. Aoun has outlined the following series of actionable steps to advance justice and cultural literacy throughout our university community and to help end systemic racism.

The Addition of an NUPD Advisory Board

The board’s mission is to guide, inform, and strengthen NUPD’s relationship with the community—both within and outside Northeastern.

Elevation of the Presidential Council on Diversity and Inclusion

The council, formed in 2013, has been charged with finding new opportunities for Northeastern to become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, and to advance the cause of racial justice.

Racial and Cultural Literacy Training

This series of online training modules, which are mandatory for all members of the Northeastern community, provide tools to better understand diversity and to address racism and other systemic inequities in our community.

Read the full plan

Ideas, Action, Change

Northeastern has long been focused on raising awareness and creating change toward a more equitable and socially just world.

John D. O’Bryant African American Institute

Supporting students of African origin and engaging the broader university community in developing student leaders.

Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project

Helping scholars, policymakers, and organizers seek justice for civil rights crimes committed during the period of 1930 to 1970.

Center on Crime and Community Resilience

Finding innovative, research-based policy solutions to crime and other urban social problems.

Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Developing and implementing policies to improve the quality of life and social justice in urban areas.

Institute on Race and Justice

Providing critical research to influence issues of race and inequality in the criminal justice and education systems.

Strategic Advancement of Rising Scholars (STARS) Fellowship

Offering funding and support to help underrepresented students of color pursue PhDs and careers in STEM.

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

This Northeastern office promotes the university’s commitment to equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity, and social justice while building a climate of inclusion throughout our campuses.

Learn More

Every day our students, faculty, staff, and alumni put ideas into action to build a more inclusive and equitable community. It’s important to share our stories and support one other in this commitment.

How the Jim Crow South encouraged racial policing by those with ‘no legal authority’

Professor Margaret Burnham’s new book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners, explores how white, public-facing workers were empowered to take violent action against Black Americans and how the repercussions of that system continue to influence modern America.

Students establish first collegiate chapter of Women in Music to close gender gap in music industry

Julia Linden and Andrea Larez, two second-year Northeastern students, are tired of the gender inequities that still plague the music industry. Working with the national nonprofit Women in Music, they hope to change the industry for the better.

Where are you really from? An incoming professor explores the psychology of being biracial

Analia Albuja, an incoming Science Fellow in Northeastern’s psychology department and director of the new Belonging and Social Identities Lab, will study how racial and cultural identities are experienced by people who subscribe to multiple labels, and how these labels are perceived by others.