Psychology Department

Anti-racism Statement

Department of Psychology      

The Department of Psychology at Reed College is committed to building an inclusive and equitable community for our students, faculty, and staff. Central to this commitment is the expectation that every member of our community will work to recognize and actively oppose racism in our curriculum, research, and everyday practices. We understand that racism is deeply embedded in the structures of higher education and U.S. society at large, that our field has been complicit in perpetuating racial discrimination, and that racial bias often unwittingly guides the thoughts and actions of well-intentioned individuals. We also recognize that our department has much work to do to create an environment free of oppression and marginalization based on race.

Toward that end, we seek to establish anti-racism as foundational to our department culture. We see it as part of our responsibility as educators and community members to interrogate our own racial biases and to identify and change department norms, policies, actions, and inactions that sustain racial inequity. We know that becoming an actively anti-racist department will require hard work: ongoing critical examination, difficult conversations, and empathy for lived experiences we cannot fully comprehend. Everyone in our community, not just those who are most harmed by racism, must take ownership and be held accountable for this important work. In making anti-racism central to our department mission, we strive not only to offer our students a rigorous education in psychological science, but also to work toward creating a more just world.