In the Fall of 2020, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York hired a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director, the first of its kind at the school, hired at a time when Black racial politics were top of mind for the institution. Among the most pressing concerns the new administrator was hired to address on his arrival was a powerful student protest amplified on social media over the summer of that year, which named some of the abuses Black and PoC students had experienced at the hands of faculty and department chairs, and their general concern over the school’s lack of urgency in addressing historical racial inequity.

The student protest, being public and perhaps therefore most embarrassing for the school, rightfully took precedence over other concerns. As the most vulnerable population at SVA, student concerns should absolutely have been prioritized and handled with the utmost care.