Educational Equity and Racial Justice

In the tradition of St. John Baptist de La Salle and the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Manhattan University faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to live out the five Lasallian Core Principles. The Lasallian Core Principles include: Faith in the Presence of God, Respect for all Persons, Inclusive Community, Concern for the Poor and Social Justice, and Quality Education.  Please check out the resources that we have on Educational Equity and Racial Justice that focus on how Jaspers can live out the Lasallian Core Principles in this capacity.

Learn More

  • Exploring the Intersections: Racial Justice, our Lasallian Heritage, and the Catholic Tradition * Vol 9, No 2 (2018)
    • Documenting the second Lasallian Higher Education Colloquy on Racial Justice that explored that application of Lasallian values to the challenges of racial justice on Lasallian college campuses, the authors present the Mission Mandated Lasallian Vision for Racial Justice in order to inspire contemplation, action, and revision.  The authors also call for the creation of Lasallian Affiliates for Racial Justice as a means to connect and coordinate racial justice actions within and across campuses, among other further steps to ensure racial justice work continues.
  • Lasallian Mission and Values to Embolden Racial Justice
    • Addressing racial justice issues on campus and drawing from their own personal and professional experiences of teaching and learning at a particular Lasallian institution, four Lasallian scholars writing from various disciplinary contexts (art and design, education, nursing, and business management) and from distinct racial identities, reflect on the Lasallian mission and values through a social justice lens.
  • Addressing Race and Class in the Lasallian Legacy of Social Justice
    • The authors propose a re-examination of the educational legacy of John Baptist de La Salle wherein a 17th century concern for the poor in France becomes broader social justice concerns in the more global economy of the 21st century. Consequently, they assert that his legacy and its continuing impact requires an understanding of power and cultural reproduction to frame the problem of intersectional race and class in the 21st century. Readers are invited to consider the socioeconomic entanglements of race and class through a new discourse guided by the Lasallian core principles.
  • Confronting Social Inequalities in Higher Education: A Conceptual Model and Lasallian Perspective
    • Acknowledging that racial and economic disparities in higher education persist, the authors present collaborative models, such as the social ecological model, that integrate both public health concepts and practitioners, paired with Lasallian principles, that can be useful to address systemic inequities in education and promote health. The authors discuss the root causes of educational disparities and potential interventions that institutions of higher education can use to reduce these racial and economic disparities present within higher education as well as the external community.
  • Tapping a Treasure: The Impact of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies on Black Catholicism and the American Catholic Church
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Glossary of Terms
    • This resource is a list of carefully researched and thoughtfully discussed key social justice terms and definitions. It is by no means a comprehensive list as equity, diversity, and inclusion terms are ever-expanding and changing, but it is a good place to start.

Virtual Dialogues

  • Responding to Racism: A Lasallian Dialogue
    • Four Lasallian educators—a global languages professor, a multicultural affairs director, a Christian ethics professor and a chief diversity officer—entered into a discussion to help participants understand and learn how to act in response to systemic racism.
  • Justice and Faith, Family and Community: Latino Leadership in a Time of Crisis
    • This conversation among young Latino leaders explored how faith and Catholic social teachings can help shape how we respond to these crises in our own lives, families, and the broader community. Participants discussed how Latinos can come together to act against racism, the effects of COVID-19 and the Latino community, immagration, and more.
  • Racism in Our Streets and Structures: A Test of Faith, A Crisis for Our Nation
    • At this Public Dialogue four African-Americans—an archbishop, an academic leader, a pro-life advocate, and an anti-poverty leader—help us understand and act in response to the the crisis on racism.
  • Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem (audio)
    • The show we released with Minneapolis-based trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem in the weeks after George Floyd’s killing has become one of our most popular episodes, and has touched listeners and galvanized personal searching. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being again, this time together with Robin DiAngelo, the author of White Fragility. Hearing the two of them together is electric — the deepest of dives into the calling of our lifetimes.
  • John Lewis “Love in Action” (audio)
    • An extraordinary conversation with the late congressman John Lewis, taped in Montgomery, Alabama, during a pilgrimage 50 years after the March on Washington. It offers a special look inside his wisdom, the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation within themselves, and the intricate art of nonviolence as “love in action.”

Additional Articles

Books

Take Action