Rapid Response Task Forces

Dear Roosevelt Community,

In response to executive orders from The White House on issues related to higher education, immigration, DEI and federal aid, we have created several Rapid Response Task Forces to address our collective concerns. Members of the community are invited to join task forces, descriptions below, by emailing the chairs of the task force of interest.

The charge of the task forces is to identify the key issues facing Roosevelt in light of pending orders, and develop potential response scenarios given the information available at the time. As a University, we need to be proactive and understand what options are available to us.

Here are the task forces, task force chairs, and respective areas of focus:

DEI and Curriculum: co-chairs Mike Maly, Provost, and Michael Ford, Vice President, Chief of Staff and Chief Diversity Officer.

Advocating for RU’s historic mission and commitment to access and social justice in light of a) executive orders around DEI; and b) recent challenges to academic freedom.

Immigration: co-chairs Mohammed Lahkani, General Counsel, and Corey Williams, Dean of Students and Vice Provost for Student Affairs.

To ensure the university policies, procedures and support systems proactively address the needs of students, faculty and staff regardless of immigration status.

Financial - two sub-task force groups:

Financial Aid: chair Arlene Regnerus, CFO and Vice President of Human Resources

Sponsored Programs: chair Erik Fagrelius, Director of Research and Sponsored Programs

To advocate for the university’s community of federal grant stakeholders by 1) monitoring the legislative financial aid climate; 2) assessing the potential risk to current federal grant funding and; 3) determining actionable funding alternatives.

Updates on the collective recommendations of the task forces will be shared at University Senate meetings, State of the University address on March 13th, and other open forums yet to be scheduled. I encourage your involvement in the Rapid Response Task Forces and you can email the chairs of any particular task force indicating your desire to serve.

With warm regards,

Ali R. Malekzadeh, PhD
President