Dear All,

Thank you for your engagement and for your time in meeting with me and Vice Provost Caldwell earlier this month. Johns Hopkins University leadership appreciates your willingness to speak up and about issues of disability and inclusion.

Fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for individuals with disabilities and ensuring that our academic programs, support services and facilities are accessible to all is a top priority of the university, and one that we have been working toward for some time. We were pleased to work with disability advocates and stakeholders to make that commitment a key element of the Second Roadmap for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, announced in December, and you are providing the university an important perspective that will help us deepen our efforts and their effectiveness.

From our recent conversation it is clear that there is much common ground between our goals. Several of the disability-related commitments in the Roadmap speak directly to the concerns you raised, including:

• The university is working on a mechanism to collect and publish disability metrics in our student composition reports, along with tracking and publishing graduation and retention rates.

• The university is providing new funds through the Faculty Diversity Initiative 2.0 to support the recruitment and accessibility needs of faculty with disabilities.

• The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) is developing a university-wide climate survey that will include questions regarding disability inclusion. The planning process for the new survey is on track to begin this summer, and we anticipate its launch next spring, with results published in the fall.

Outside of the Roadmap, we have several other initiatives that address items on your agenda and will be an opportunity for your further input:

• The university is creating a new position focused on disability culture and inclusion in ODI. This role will be responsible for supporting and developing programs and resources for individuals with disabilities.

• We are on track to stand up a new Disability Inclusion Advisory Committee (DIAC) this summer. Comprised of students, faculty, and staff, this committee will provide input and recommendations to the Provost on disability inclusion and serve as a mechanism for regular feedback to ODI, as well as input to SDS and OIE about how accommodations and services should evolve.

• SDS will administer its annual disabilities services survey in the fall to students who register with SDS. It will be done in coordination with the Student Government Association, school-based graduate student organizations, and other stakeholder groups, including review and analysis of disability-related data to help identify improvements in inclusive practices.

The university is preparing an accessibility map and aiming for publication prior to the start of the fall semester.

We are planning to offer new Disability Inclusion training modules for faculty by the start of the fall semester, to ensure they have the resources necessary for fully supporting students with disabilities.

With the benefit of your ideas and feedback, we also have decided to conduct an outside program review of Student Disability Services within the next year, through the national organization Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD). External reviews coordinated by AHEAD provide a thorough and expert assessment of institutional policies, practices and activities related to access for individuals with disabilities; strategically consider how current best-practice standards and philosophical models can be applied at the institution; and provide a comprehensive report of findings, recommendations, and strategies for enhancing equity for individuals with disabilities in higher education.

Finally, specifically with regard to accommodations, I want to assure you that the university is fully committed to following best practices to ensure that reported concerns are reviewed as quickly as possible. We will approach this with particular attention to student situations that involve improvement plans or academic discipline, and we will work closely with schools to help ensure accommodations are followed.

Please note that there is no time limitation to file a complaint with OIE for students who wish to report discrimination or a failure to provide accommodations. The university cannot fully act on complaints made by students through social media or the press. We need students to go through the formal process in order to address student concerns and assess compliance with our policies and practices. And as we explained in our meeting, we are not able to respond publicly to the individual cases that were highlighted in the demands, but will continue to follow up with those students individually.

Thank you again for your engagement and your willingness to speak up. You have sharpened our understanding of the work needed with regard to disability and accessibility issues at Johns Hopkins, and reinforced our steadfast commitment to providing a welcoming environment and ensuring that our academic programs, support services and facilities are accessible to all.

Sincerely,

Sunil Kumar
Provost, Johns Hopkins University