Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Planning Process
September 27, 2022
Dear Georgetown Law Community,
For years, Georgetown Law has been at the forefront of national efforts to diversify law schools and to expose students to new ways of thinking about the law and its impact on issues such as race and gender. We have also developed extensive clinical offerings to provide students with opportunities to see firsthand how the law can be a powerful tool for progress in civil rights, education, health, and other fields.
Last year, we built on this foundation by creating Georgetown Law’s first-ever Inclusion Council. Comprised of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the council has been charged to facilitate activities and propose reforms to strengthen everyone’s sense of belonging and to make the Law Center a more inclusive community. The Council’s primary goal is to ensure that multiple perspectives and voices are heard and that recommendations reflect your input.
Today, it is with great enthusiasm that I announce the formal launch of our 2022-23 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Planning Process. This is an exciting and important opportunity for our community to set the Law Center’s direction for the future.
Our goal is to develop a Strategic Plan that draws upon the rich diversity of our students, faculty, and staff, and the diversity of thought, experience, and background that each of us brings to our Law Center. This will be a comprehensive plan, with numerous opportunities for input by members of our community throughout the process. I thank Robin Lenhardt, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, for serving as chair and leading the Council’s efforts.
The plan will underscore and strengthen those aspects that are fundamental to our future; a community that fully embraces and lives its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; and to work together to advance a common purpose and mission.
To help facilitate this process, we have engaged T.H. Easter Consulting, LLC, a firm based here in Washington, D.C., that has experience in collaborating with educational institutions and other mission-centric organizations “at the intersection of innovation, change and strategy.” Members of the T.H. Easter Consulting team will be contacting our stakeholder groups (students, faculty, staff, and alumni) to participate in interviews, focus groups, and surveys. We hope to finish the strategic plan and develop an implementation plan by the end of this academic year so that we may begin executing against that plan in Fall 2023. This is an ambitious schedule and I am asking for your cooperation as we move forward. The success of our strategic planning process depends on our whole community being engaged and I urge all of you to join in the process.
Finally, please be mindful that strategic planning is more than developing a wish list; it requires us to make choices and set priorities. We all need to listen to each other and strive to understand points of view that may be different from our own. Each of us has both a responsibility and an opportunity to create a shared vision for the future of the Law Center. As we look to the year ahead, I am hopeful about what we will achieve together.
Sincerely,
William M. Treanor
Dean & Executive Vice President
Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair