Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

Book Description

Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain speaks to a sociopolitical, legal, and cultural environment that seeks to erase, silence, and render invisible the work of social justice in higher education. Contributors representing a diversity of racial, gender, sexuality, and disability identities resist this erasure through personal letters, appealing to higher education to address head-on the challenges to institutional equity to fulfill its highest aspirations. Using a fluid digital conversation space, Dear Higher Education raises up the voices of those who have been laboring to make campus environments more diverse, equitable, and just.

Read the 23 letters in the inaugural issue, covering a range of issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the US and globally.
https://z.umn.edu/dearhighered

Editors

Dr. Menah Pratt, Dr. Mercedes Ramírez Fernández, and Dr. Michele Deramo, Editors

Contribute to the Dear Higher Education series

Special Issue on the Outcomes of the United States 2024 Election
Initial Deadline:  February 28, 2025

The editors welcome contributions that speak to the potential impact of the United States 2024 presidential election outcomes and new administration on the immediate future of the academy and those of us working for equity in higher educationn.

Contributions will be organized into three sections:

• Why We Come to the Mountain addressing the fears, concerns and feelings of urgency among those working in higher education upon the immediate aftermath of the United States 2024 election and a new federal-level administration.
  
• What Must Be Preserved raising up those cherished aspects of higher education, such as academic freedom and research integrity, that may be at risk, as well as safeguarding the hard-won gains to make the academy a place that is welcoming, hospitable, safe, and accessible for all.  
  
• Why We Believe Transformation is Possible sharing ways that we resist the paralysis of fear and choose to act despite the obstacles we may face.

Recommended length: 3-5 pages, although longer contributions are accepted.

Contact Michele Deramo, deramo@vt.edu, to signify interest and receive guidelines for writing your letter to Higher Education.