Increasing Diversity
Finding solutions to complex environmental challenges requires a broad spectrum of perspectives and experiences, and SNR began building a more diverse—and inclusive—community.
Women and people of color had been largely unrepresented at the school until the late 1960s, when the first set of barricades came down. In 1967, female students were invited to join their male classmates at Camp Filibert Roth, and in 1972, Bobbi Low became the first full-time female professor on the SNR faculty. In 1973, an Affirmative Action Program was approved to increase the number of women in the student body and in the faculty.
In 1972, Bunyan Bryant became the first African American to join the faculty. A pioneer in Environmental Justice (EJ), he was co-principal investigator of the U-M 1990 Detroit Area Study on Race and Toxic Waste. Along with faculty member Paul Mohai, Bryant organized the Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards Conference held at SNR that same year. The historic conference would help to springboard environmental justice as an academic discipline. Also participating at the conference was Dorceta Taylor, a dual PhD student at Yale at the time, who would join the faculty in 2002 as a renowned scholar in environmental justice history and a powerful voice in the EJ movement.
This year, SEAS is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the historic EJ conference.