A Statement from the Mathematics Department

Dear Mathematics Community, 

As many of you already know, there is a nationwide request for a pause to all academic activities in STEM disciplines on June 10. The stated purpose for this event is to encourage everyone to use the time they would have spent in class, in teaching or in research, to think about the issues of the day, specifically the basic premises of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the long chain of racial injustices against the Black community, in particular in academia. The university has made available many ideas and resources for us to use as we think about, and move toward enacting, strategies to help us reflect on the present state and to make meaningful plans for how to improve the inequities and eradicate racism in the mathematics community. 

This letter has several goals.  First, we categorically decry continuing police brutality, in particular against the Black community, and support the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement regarding such practices.  We affirm our stand with all members of the Black community at Stanford and elsewhere on these matters. Second, we wish to acknowledge that serious work is needed in academia, in particular to make the study and practice of our profession more diverse, equitable and inclusive. 
 

Respectfully yours,

Rafe Mazzeo,  Department Chair
Jan Vondrak, Director of Graduate Studies
Brian Conrad, Director of Undergraduate Studies