The President's Corner
Dear Colleagues:
Our country is at a crossroads, one that particularly
affects EEO, AA, Diversity and Inclusion professionals, and the people whose
lives depend on our work. We have
witnessed a proliferation of threats to students of color, religious
minorities, individuals with disabilities, the LGBT community and women on our
campuses and in our workplaces. Sadly,
public expressions of bigotry--racism, Islamophobia, and misogyny—appear to
have increased at alarming rates and expressions of both conscious and
unconscious bias have reached levels unseen since the 1960s.
As we face this crossroads, we don’t know if affirmative
action, diversity and inclusion, and related civil rights laws, regulations and
government policies, will be selected for weakening or elimination. What we do know is that we, as an association
of dedicated professionals, will continue to promote access, equity and
diversity in our workplaces and schools.
On “Giving Tuesday” your support is needed
now, more than ever. We must
mount an even greater effort to monitor what happens within our States, in the
Congress, and in the federal agencies.
We must increase our communications to you and to your colleagues,
keeping you informed of current events.
Lastly, we must call on you to speak up, where necessary, in hopes of
maintaining robust EEO, AA and diversity laws and policies.
These additional and essential responsibilities for
AAAED, and our members, will demand more resources and support. Therefore, if
you are not currently a member of AAAED, now is the time to join. If you are already a member, we ask that you
recruit a friend or colleague to join us.
It is critical; it is necessary.
Can we count on you?
AAAED, founded in 1974 as the American Association for
Affirmative Action, is the longest-serving association of equal opportunity,
affirmative action and diversity professionals in the country. We have survived for forty-two years – during
administrations that supported our programs and some that did not. In the 1980s, you may recall the organized
efforts to eliminate Executive Order 11246, which would have ended affirmative
action for federal contractors. In the
end, it took the concerted efforts of the civil rights community, members of
both parties in Congress, our nation’s largest employers and strong advocacy by
our military leadership to convince the president not to re-write Executive
Order 11246 into oblivion. We won that
battle and we are confident that we will win again – with your help.
We must be unified. And we are determined to shout loudly
and clearly that injustice will not stand and that access, equity and diversity
must continue to be firmly rooted in this nation’s laws and policies. We may be facing our greatest challenge to
date, ironically, in the face of this nation’s growing diversity. We need to be prepared to respond — and
quickly — to each challenge that is presented to the ideal of equal opportunity
for all.
The time is now.
Please join AAAED, or renew your membership, by going to our website at http://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/Join_Us.asp.
Don’t forget to invite your friends and
colleagues. We welcome you to our ranks
of dedicated servants to the cause of access, equity and diversity.
Gratefully,
Myron R. Anderson, Ph.D.
President
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