WHY THIS PETITION

As campuses across the country reopen for the fall, the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred over the summer are slowing down. We must continue the momentum into the new school year. Thousands of students have felt let down and powerless by the tragedies of the last few months. However, we have the power to actively promote and create racial equity on our campuses. 

In fact, research from scholar Erika Hayes James, the first Black woman to be newly appointed dean of the Wharton School, illuminates this power students wield. One of the systemic, cumulative barriers on the road to wealth building is due to discrimination, poverty, and a shortage of social connections (including role models and mentors in their communities). These are both mechanisms and results of racial economic inequity. By creating racially diverse and inclusive campus organizations, student leaders play a part in creating helpful social ties and reducing one systemic barrier to wealth-building for minorities.

Therefore, as students, we have an opportunity to build a pipeline of underrepresented talent into industries lacking in diversity. Consult Your Community, a national nonprofit focused on empowering women-owned and minority-owned small businesses, started this petition to raise awareness of our duty to be actively inclusive. Let us stand together as allies and build spaces for our fellow students of color.

Sign this petition and advocate for campus leaders across America to build and lead antiracist campus organizations.

OUR GOAL

• Provide resources for students to build inclusive campus organizations and pave the way for building professional networks for racial minorities.
• Connect campus organizations that have proven their ability to build inclusively with recruiters in industries lacking in diversity.

1. USE OUR POCKET GUIDE FOR BUILDING INCLUSIVE CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS

We’ve included a dozen visuals of conversation starters, question reframes, and process tips to combat everyday bias as a current college student. We hope this empowers you with the guidance to be an ally not just in this moment of peak attention on racial inequity, but in all the moments after.

2. IF YOU SUCCESSFULLY BUILT A MORE DIVERSE CLUB, WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT AND CELEBRATE YOU.

If you are a student leader, fill out this survey.

If you are a recruiter interested in building a pipeline of underrepresented talent, email inclusion @ consultyourcommunity.org

3. READ OUR THINKPIECE, THE BANALITY OF BIAS

Following 4th of July weekend, Consult Your Community launched a thinkpiece called The Banality of Bias, a visual essay with insights drawn from 7 years of community organizing, 19 publications on diversity research, and 30 personal stories of witnessing bias from campuses to companies across America. It was shared over 45 times on LinkedIn, was globally trending on #diversity, and liked by the CEO of PwC Charitable and senior leaders/VPs across industries that it critiqued like management consulting, banking, and tech. By combining research of Black thinkers like Ibram Kendi and Erika Hayes James with principles in behavioral psychology, the essay reveals something surprising and mundane that holds us back from combating everyday racism and bias in all forms. 

First Person Testimonies of Everyday Bias from campus to companies (more in link above):

“I was constantly asked to participate in diversity events not for the insights or experience I can share, but rather that we have a high ‘white male’ representation.”

"Being a Harvard graduate, I expected better writing. But then again, I suspect you were allowed affirmative action acceptance. The Tax paying citizens of the [United] States owe these immigrants nothing.”

"During an interview roundup, the hiring manager (Asian woman) said the Black candidate had a great background and excellent experience BUT was casual and unprofessional during her interview (so she was recommending no hire).”

"The campus groups I was a part of were very selective and fought bias of association or pedigree as a means for entry into the organization. There were certain scenarios that influence over senior members of the organization impacted opportunity for those individuals who were not selected to join.”

“I've been in situations where my competency or understanding was questioned regarding simple matters/tasks because I was not a native speaker of the language we were communicating in, despite demonstrating strong comprehension otherwise.”

About Consult Your Community

If you support what our nonprofit is doing to build actionable resources for student leaders to be more inclusive, on top of our core work, please consider donating. We are a 100% volunteer-run organization. Our nonprofit's vision is to empower every entrepreneur to have the economic freedom to realize the American Dream. Our core mission is to create economic breakthrough for women and minority small business owners by connecting them with a volunteer workforce to solve their biggest strategic challenges. We've been creating empathy for local entrepreneurs in college towns since 2013. Please donate by visiting this page. Donations like yours will help us directly support small businesses in need.