Prairie View A&M board approves center for race and justice to help stop biases impacting minorities

HOUSTON – Prairie View A&M University board of regents has approved a new center for race and justice, the university said Thursday.

The university announced its creation in June following the death of George Floyd and the civil unrest that followed.

The new Ruth J. Simmons Center, named after the school’s president, will research, publish and train students to develop ways to stop systemic biases that impact minorities across the country. President Simmons acknowledged that “fighting racism and discrimination and upholding justice must always be among our highest callings.”

Here are the following plans for the center:

• Requiring all incoming PVAMU students to take a course on the history of race, class, and gender in the U.S.
• Creating a research fellowship program that will bring scholars from across the nation to PVAMU’s campus annually.
• An activist-in-residence position, which would bring advocates, activists, and those who have worked on behalf of justice to the campus to build on PVAMU students' long history of political engagement.

The center is expected to launch in 2021.