CURRICULAR JUSTICE

As members of the Parsons community we ask, how can we reimagine our pedagogy in art and design relevant to now? Can we lead in curricular development that foregrounds social justice and sustainability? Can we challenge ourselves and our students to change the definition of success in our culture? We invite faculty to teach with sustainability and social justice as their centering lens. We invite faculty to lead and guide with empathy and open hearts. – First Year EISJ Team.

We acknowledge first and foremost that our New York City campus is sited on the unceded territory of the Lenape Tribe, and that Manhattan derives from the original Lenni Lenape name for this land, Mannahatta. We respect the history of this site, and we are grateful to be the current inhabitants of this place.

We acknowledge that the existing canon of art & design education in the United States represents a disproportionate number of white male artists, designers, thinkers and writers. White patriarchal supremacy has greatly impacted Eurocentric history books, influencing what history has deemed important enough for inclusion. By first acknowledging the inherent bias in a canon that diminishes the Global Majority, we actively critique and challenge this canon with a curriculum that is more balanced, more just, more fitting to our contemporary world. Our curriculum elevates excluded stories and overlooked works that have shaped art, design and culture. We understand the negative impact that invisibility has in education, and we understand the positive impact that representation has in education. We want our curriculum to bend towards the arc of justice. We commit to creating syllabi in which our student body sees themselves justly represented and supported. We understand that deep structural change cannot be achieved overnight, but that each small step in the right direction is crucial for growth.

We acknowledge that these efforts towards curricular justice are not enough in and of themselves, but that the quality of life for all students and faculty of all identities, genders and races is important. Discrimination, harassment, racial aggressions (microaggressions) are not accepted. Together we work to cultivate a safe space for our community, where all members feel that they belong.

*This Statement is written by Beau Bree Rhee, edited by Diane Dwyer and Maya Samat in Summer, 2021. In this text, We refers to the First Year EISJ (Equity Inclusion Social Justice) working group, which is comprised of 6 Parsons First Year faculty. This acknowledgement text has been thoroughly discussed amongst our group during the Summer 2021 working session. EISJ faculty: Gyun Hur, Joey-Christiano Diaz, Maya Samat, Wennie Huang, Joseph Ayers, Diane Dwyer, and Beau Bree Rhee.