Throughout this year, members of Black Action Society have led the charge in creating a more inclusive and anti-racist campus.

Pitt’s Bradford campus, the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, the Center on Race and Social Problems and the Black Action Society sponsored Thursday afternoon’s panel “The Black Impact: Black Faculty and Administrators’ Influence on Black Student Success.”

Collective action was one of the main themes at the Solidarity Town Hall held Saturday evening, where Black student leaders from colleges around the City came together to discuss racial equity on their respective campuses.

Ottley said this is indicative of a culture at Pitt that she believes needs to change to attract, and retain, more Black students. According to University data, Black students represented 5.26% of the undergraduate student body in 2019.

According to Ibram Kendi, one of the most important elements of the fight for anti-racist policy is intersectionality, the understanding of how interdependent identities such as race, gender and sexual orientation create overlapping and unique systems of discrimination and privilege.