Ad Hoc Committee on Arts, Culture, and DEI

Activating the Arts and Humanities

President Reif’s letter to the MIT Community on July 1, 2020 outlined the steps that MIT will take to address systemic problems regarding racial equity at the Institute. As part of the commitment to confront our history, challenge common assumptions, and incorporate previously marginalized voices, he called for an ad hoc committee to activate the arts and humanities in this effort. Then-provost Martin Schmidt appointed John Dozier, Institute Community Equity Officer, and Philip S. Khoury, Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History, to co-chair this committee.

Photo of dancers on stage posing at the end of a performance, each holding large, unfoldable letters that spell out M I T
Members of the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble perform during It Must Be Now! (IMBN!). Photographer: Caroline Alden.

The Report

The Ad Hoc Committee submitted its report in April 2022, making several recommendations, some immediate and some longer term. These include:

  • Creating and sustaining an arts festival,
  • Increasing support for student groups in the performing and visual arts,
  • Diversifying MIT’s public art collection,
  • Creating a DEIA (“A” for accessibility) tour of the MIT campus, and 
  • Evaluating the legacy of MIT’s third president, Francis Amasa Walker, and the building named in his honor (Building 50).

To translate this vision into action, in December 2022 Provost Cynthia Barnhart announced the creation of a DEI Arts and Culture Implementation Committee. Co-chaired by Dozier and Khoury, this committee will coordinate the efforts of four working groups: the Arts Festival Working Group, the Campus Tour Working Group, the Public Art Collection Working Group, and the Student Arts Groups Working Group. Efforts to advance a study on Amasa Walker are on a separate path, under the direction of Dozier and Professor of History Craig Wilder. 

For more information about the implementation committee’s work, you may reach the committee directly at deiarts@mit.edu.  

Recommendation 4 of the report submitted to Provost Barnhart from the Ad Hoc Committee on Arts, Culture and DEI references diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) as it applies to the creation of a tour of the MIT campus. There were robust discussions with the Ad Hoc Committee on Arts and Culture about physical accessibility—especially related to this recommendation. The final report did not fully reflect those discussions. We regret this omission and are adding this commentary to acknowledge that even though the committee’s intent was to work with a definition of accessibility that fully reflects MIT’s commitments to equity and inclusion as they specifically relate to people with disabilities, our final output fell short. In the implementation of recommendation 4 (and all other recommendations), we will be more careful and deliberate in creating a stronger sense of belonging and inclusion for all members of our community.

Committee Members

John Dozier
Institute Community and Equity Officer, Office of the Provost (co-chair)
Philip S. Khoury
Philip S. Khoury
Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History (co-chair)
Azra Aksamija
Azra Aksamija
’11 PhD, Associate Professor, Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT)
Markus J. Buehler
Markus J. Buehler
McAfee Professor of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Fontini Christia
Fontini Christia
Professor, Political Science
Madhurima Das
Madhurima Das
’18, graduate student, Mechanical Engineering
Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff
Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff
Professor, Linguistics
Martha Eddison
Martha Eddison
Special Assistant and Senior Communications Strategist to the President
Peter Godart
Peter Godart
’15 ’18 M.S., PhD candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Annika Gomez
Annika Gomez
PhD candidate, Microbiology
Kelvin Green II
Kelvin Green II
’22, Physics and Literature, UA Officer on Diversity
Paul Ha
Paul Ha
Director, List Visual Arts Center
John Harbison
John Harbison
Institute Professor, Music and Theater Arts
Jade Ishii
Jade Ishii
’22, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Caroline A. Jones
Caroline A. Jones
Professor of the History of Art and Associate Dean, School of Architecture and Planning
Katherine Higgins
Senior Producer, Center for Art, Science & Technology
Leila W. Kinney
Leila W. Kinney
Executive Director of Arts Initiatives and MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology
William Lockett
William Lockett
Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology
Tod Machover
Tod Machover
Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media and Head, Media Arts and Sciences
Trinity Manuelito
Trinity Manuelito
’23, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
John Ochsendorf
John Ochsendorf
Class of 1942 Professor, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Eto Otitigbe
Eto Otitigbe
’99, Assistant Professor of Sculpture, Brooklyn College
Daniela Rus
Daniela Rus
Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
Alicia Carina Sanchez
Alicia Carina Sanchez
Executive Director, Foundation Relations
Charles Shadle
Charles Shadle
Senior Lecturer, Music and Theater Arts
Alex K. Shalek
Alex K. Shalek
Associate Professor, Chemistry; Institute for Medical Engineering and Science
Craig Steven Wilder
Craig Steven Wilder
Barton L. Weller Professor of History