In a Nov. 1 email, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan announced that Northeastern will be requiring anti-racism and cultural literacy training for all faculty, staff and students on all Northeastern campuses and explained the coming implementation. 

According to an email from multiple administrative officials sent July 6, this curriculum will become a permanent part of faculty and student orientation for all community members at Northeastern. 

The announcement confirming this mandatory curriculum comes over a year after President Joseph E. Aoun released a nine-point plan to combat systemic racism on campus. One of these action points was to “institute cultural competency and anti-racism training across the university.”

The curriculum was designed by Academic Impressions, a group that provides leadership, personal development and training to higher education institutions. To date, the group has served over 3,500 institutions. 

“[Academic Impressions] created the customized training in consultation with community members representing a broad cross section of the university,” Madigan wrote in the email. “The training comprises four interactive modules that introduce basic concepts, raise awareness, and inspire us to think about how we can apply these learnings in our everyday lives.” 

All modules will be emailed to the community by Academic Impressions Nov. 2. The first three modules must be completed by Dec. 15, and the last one must be completed by March 31, 2022, according to the email. 

“The spirit of requiring everyone in our community to participate in this training is to promote our collective support for all things that improve our pursuit of shared values and communal efficacy,” Madigan wrote. “The purpose of the training is to better equip our community to combat racism and other systemic inequities.”