Open Letter
We are aware that Stanford University faculty member and 2021-22 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University, Dr. Hakeem Jefferson, was the recent target of racial harassment and attacks, including paid advertisements against him and his work. (Stanford made a statement denouncing the paid advertising campaign here. The Stanford Daily reported on the situation here.)
We wish to join Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and Political Science Department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (Racial Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Task Force) condemnation of these racist attacks, in solidarity with Dr. Jefferson.
As an expert on Black politics and renowned public scholar, Dr. Jefferson endures these attacks that are decidedly not random, but rather motivated by racism. This means that he, and scholars like him, conduct their work within a world that puts them at risk for such attacks. That reality, along with these attacks, are harmful.
We commend Dr. Jefferson for consistently, courageously, and bravely conducting his work and sharing it with the world. We have deep appreciation for Dr. Jefferson’s scholarship and deep respect for Dr. Jefferson, the scholar.
As individual scholars diverse in identities, backgrounds, cultures, disciplines, and home institutions/organizations, we would like to affirm the following:
We, the undersigned 2021-22 CASBS Fellows at Stanford University, publicly declare our full support for Dr. Hakeem Jefferson, while simultaneously committing to re-focus our energies to build anti-racist, equitable institutions where scholars, particularly those who are marginalized, can thrive: freely, fully, happily, and safely.
Signed,
Eduardo Araral
Robert Aronowitz
Jenna Bednar
Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús
Michael Bernstein
Sufen Chen
Scott L. Cummings
Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil
Paolo de Renzio
Gary W. Evans
Megan Finn
Jennifer M. Gómez, Center for Institutional Courage
Lise Guilhamon
Stefan O. Houpt
Amalia Kessler
Neta Kligler-Vilenchik
Pang Laikwan
John Stephen Lansing
Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Margaret Levi
Julie Livingston
Teresa L. McCarty, Distinguished Professor and GF Kneller Chair in Education and Anthropology, UCLA
Helen Milner
Kris Mitchener
Jules Naudet
Arcade Ndoricimpa
Manuel Pastor
Alejandro Pérez Carballo
Laurence Ralph, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University
Leigh S. Raymond
Jennifer A. Richeson, Philip R. Allen Professor of Psychology, Yale University
Vibeke Sorensen, Complexity Science Hub Vienna
Piyush Tantia
Daniel Treisman
Mpho Tshivhase
Katia Vavova
Edward Walker