Originally published in the October 2025 issue of the Notes on Antiracism, Justice, and Equity newsletter.

Since 2021, the UMN School of Public Health has been guided by the Strategic Plan for Antiracism (SPAR) — a five-year plan to shape our culture and operations. As SPAR reaches its final stages, we thought it would be useful to revisit why we chose antiracism and anti-oppression as central organizing themes, and what that means for us moving forward. 

SPH’s strategic planning committee had worked since April 2020 to write the comprehensive plan, which was then called our Strategic Plan for DEI. During the summer, after being on lock-down for months, we witnessed the brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Multiple local and national entities declared racism a public health crisis, and we heard from elected leaders about how being ‘not racist’ was not enough, but that it was important to be antiracist. Books such as White Fragility and How to Be Antiracist were flying off the shelves. After sending a draft of our Strategic Plan for DEI to the SPH community, the feedback we received was clear: people wanted to focus on antiracism. It aligned with the values of public health, with Minnesotans, and at the time, with the majority of Americans. 

We changed the name of the document and began coordinating events, webpages, and opportunities for our community to learn and engage. In addition to antiracism, we were sure to include anti-oppression, recognizing that our identities are layered and that all oppressions are interconnected. We have had columns and speakers talk about disability, immigration, the environment, gender, and more, all tied to antiracism. As a community of people focused on health as a human right, antiracism made sense, and helped galvanize the school around a common principle. 

Now, our world looks drastically different. Many staff, faculty, and students have joined us on this journey, and while there is no end to this work, the SPAR is in its final year. My office and our values have held steady. Although so much has changed externally, we remain committed to contributing to healthier communities through education, engagement, and research throughout the school. And although SPAR is scheduled to end next summer, I am looking forward to seeing how the foundations that we have laid grow into new initiatives. I am working with the rest of the leadership team to ensure we remain committed to our mission and values in our SPH strategic plan and across all of our operations.

In solidarity,

Lauren Jones, PhD
Director of DEI