Addressing Race and Diversity in Graduate Education: Practices From Student Activism

This practice brief presents the work of doctoral students who aimed to reform the graduate experience in their department to support racially minoritized students. Drawing from community organization and organizational change theories, we describe how we fostered community dialog and crafted a demand letter to communicate students' needs and recommendations for change. We also discuss implications related to accountability, implementation, and overcoming institutional pushback. By centering students' voices, this practice brief provides a guiding framework for graduate students to engage in activism that promotes institutional change to foster a more racially inclusive environment for students.