919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Michael E. Waterstone Fritz B. Burns Dean and Professor of Law Senior Vice President, Loyola Marymount
T 213.736.2243 F 213.487.6736 www.lls.edu
November 16, 2020 Dear BLSA, I write to follow-up on my earlier acknowledgement of receipt of your Equity Demand Letter. I have now had a chance to read through it and wanted to provide you with my initial thoughts and next steps by the Nov. 16th deadline that you requested. The BLSA Equity Demand Letter is comprehensive, and I appreciate the extensive work that went into it. Thank you for caring enough about our community to provide such a clear vision. To be clear, I continue to stand in solidarity with BLSA, LLS's Black community and Black Lives Matter. I welcome your continued collaboration and greatly value our open communication. LLS (as part of the overall LMU community) has committed itself to an equity and inclusion strategic plan that foregrounds antiracism in improving our community's structural diversity; reevaluating our programs, policies and curriculum; and surveying our campus and classroom environments. Consistent with several of the demands you have identified in your letter, LLS has made important progress in these areas, but this is only the beginning of a long-term institutional commitment to structural equity and inclusion. The administration and faculty are in the process of integrating antiracism into our institution and programs in ways that are effective and durable. While this is no easy task, we are committed to doing it. Because our work in these areas is multi-layered, our institution with its many stakeholders, requires additional time to respond to your letter with the substantive thoroughness that it deserves. This is also a particularly sensitive time in the semester, when faculty and staff, disrupted themselves, are intensely focused on meeting the needs of our student population as we enter Exam period. We will provide you with this more thorough, public, response by January 15th. During that time period and after, we would welcome continued conversation, in part to help us gather information to maximize opportunities for responsiveness and follow through. As a guide for this, I would look to and emulate the LMU “Addressing Demands� template, developed in collaboration with the Office of Intercultural Affairs. Our goals are to provide clarity and specificity regarding the nature of LLS’s response to each demand, to promote accountability for progress made by the LLS on each of the demands, and to facilitate an ongoing dialogue that can transcend and provide
919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Michael E. Waterstone Fritz B. Burns Dean and Professor of Law Senior Vice President, Loyola Marymount
T 213.736.2243 F 213.487.6736 www.lls.edu
continuity through leadership transitions and turnover amongst students. I anticipate that for each demand, we will classify our action into (a) something that has already been implemented; is in the process of implementation; or the process for fulfilling the demand will be set in motion immediately; (b) the demand represents a shared goal that is being addressed in modified form or may need further exploration; or (c) the demand may not be addressed by LLS at this time, for reasons that will be stated. Absent objection, I would like to share your letter and this response with the wider faculty and certain staff within the administration. I hope this can help to begin a transparent iterative process that will continue with our January 15th update and beyond. Best,
Michael E Waterstone Fritz B. Burns Dean, Loyola Law School Senior Vice President, Loyola Marymount University