Wellesley Task Force on Speech and Inclusion to Hold Two Town Halls This Fall

Last April, President Paula A. Johnson issued a call for volunteers to join a new task force on speech and inclusion. In May, four students, four members of the faculty, and four members of the administrative staff were selected to serve on the task force, which is charged with developing recommendations that will form a set of guiding principles to foster and grow our community’s capacity to engage in open and productive debate about challenging issues.

The task force has initiated a three-step process to accomplish its charge: Step 1 is to listen to the views of the community, step 2 is to deliberate, and step 3 is to develop recommendations. While the task force will not develop policy itself, its recommendations will guide the development of policy.

The task force is hosting two town halls designed to collect and synthesize community input, and it invites all members of the Wellesley community to participate. Please RSVP.

Wednesday, September 26
12:30 to 2 pm
Academic Council Room, Green Hall 440
Lunch will be served.

Wednesday, October 3
6 to 8 pm
Academic Council Room, Green Hall 440
Dinner will be served.

During the discussions, the focus will be on listening to community input. The task force has developed three questions to help guide the discussion:

• What would you like to see our committee accomplish?
• In what ways would you like to see this initiative develop?
• How can we make Wellesley even better?

To learn more about the task force’s purpose, please see the task force charge. For questions about the upcoming town halls, or if you are uncomfortable sharing your thoughts in a public forum and would like to send them privately, please email SpeechInclusion@wellesley.edu