Here’s how the Stanford Graduate School of Business plans to address racial inequity ‘within our own corridors’

In the 2019-20 academic year, Black students made up just 3% of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business’ population. Out of 124 faculty members, three were Black.

The Graduate School of Business (GSB), acknowledging there is racial inequity “within our own corridors,” has released a plan for increasing representation, addressing racial bias and building a more inclusive culture.

The professional school had started some work in this area following the 2019 publication of a first-ever diversity, equity and inclusion report that documented efforts, to date, to increase both racial and gender diversity, from recruiting faculty to choosing speakers who come to the school.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and that combined with sweeping Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis “crystallized and accelerated” the Graduate School of Business’ work, leading to the publication of the “racial action plan,” said Sarah Soule, the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs.

She said the school hopes the plan will help move an institution beyond generic commitments to diversity into specific action.

“Right now, in part because of the great momentum we’re seeing around these issues, we have a real opportunity … to take advantage of this opportunity when people are paying attention and are concerned and genuinely feel like they want to be part of the change,” she said. “It behooves us, not just at GSB but as a socially conscious organization, to not squander this chance.”

The plan was informed by conversations with Black students, faculty, staff and alumni, Soule said. It sets a goal of “significantly” increasing the number of Black and underrepresented minority teaching faculty, recruiting more Black master’s and doctoral students (including by reaching out more to historically Black colleges and universities) and creating a process to increase Black staff representation “through active outreach, working to eliminate biases in our hiring processes, and developing a staff internship program for talented individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.” The school also plans to create a new “Supporting Black Business Leadership” executive education program to “accelerate and advance the careers of exceptional business leaders.”

The Graduate School of Business will launch a scholarship for master’s in business administration students “who have shown a deep commitment to obtaining an education in the face of financial hardship.” Soule said the scholarship was born from feedback from Black alumni who described the challenges of staying afloat financially while paying for a pricey graduate program.

A major theme from conversations with Black students, faculty and alumni, Soule said, was their experience with racial microaggressions at Stanford, such as generalizations about racial groups or students’ native countries.

Soule said she was unaware these kinds of incidents were happening at the business school, though she experienced similar gender-based comments early in her career.

“Someone said to me once, ‘You were a diversity hire,’ which is unpleasant and makes one doubt one’s self and is not very inclusive,” she said. “What happens is people remain quiet and hurt about these things without having the support that they need.”

The business school plans to provide training on how to identify and respond to microaggressions as well as establishing a reporting procedure for incidents that might not rise to the level of a hate crime, for example.

The school will also offer two new courses in the upcoming academic year: “Leadership for Society: Race and Power,” to educate students about racial injustice and inequality, and “Blocking Bias in Academe” to teach doctoral students “to be more effective professors and leaders in diverse university environments.”

The Graduate School of Business will soon launch a set of anti-racism tools — videos, readings and other resources — that will be free and available to the public, Soule said.

In a June statement, the GSB’s Black alumni chapter suggested other avenues for reform, including advocating for hiring more Black people in positions of leadership, encouraging companies to match donations fighting racial injustice, investing in Black entrepreneurs and supporting Black-owned businesses. They compiled a list of businesses owned by Black GSB alumni.

A diversity, equity and inclusion council made up faculty, staff, and students, will be tasked with holding the Graduate School of Business accountable to its racial equity goals. The school will also continue to publish the diversity, equity and inclusion report annually.

In June, the Stanford Black Business Student Association issued a “call for change” to their institution and peers.

“You cannot be a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business community and not acknowledge the incredible privilege that the Stanford name imparts unto you. It is imperative for all of us who hold this influential network of executives, officials, and thought leaders to call upon them to use their platform to advocate for policing reform and accountability. As Black students, we must become allies and leaders in business committed to using our voices to amplify the ones our society attempts to drown out,” they wrote. “And we all must become agents of change — agents with the unrelenting belief that if we are going to change lives, change organizations, and change the world, we must fight for Black lives now.”