The Common Read

The Common Read programming provides a venue for learning, sharing diverse points of view, fostering open discussion, and building respect for each other and new and different ideas.

Each year, the Diversity Action Committee (DAC), in consultation with school community members, chooses a book to serve as the Common Read. The Common Read is a signature school-wide initiative that provides opportunities for discussion, introduced through an annual Fall Common Read Kick-Off event, Common Read overview for all new and returning students at fall orientation, a brief discussion at the annual faculty retreat, and on-going workshops presented over the fall semester that are open to faculty, staff, and students. Faculty are encouraged to incorporate the subject matter into their courses throughout the year.

Beyond the Common Read is a suite of annual programs, designed and co-sponsored by the Office of DEI and Out and Allied Educators, that complement the themes of each year’s Common Read. These programs are a way for our community, in EHD and Grounds widely, to learn more and engage the topics and issues brought up each year’s Common Read.

This year EHD will introduce Common Conversations into the Common Read programming. The Common Read will be a starting point for a broader Common Conversation around these ideas and the intersections we see across current issues facing the world today such as mental health and wellness; sexism, gender norms, and identity politics; and institutional inequities and systemic racism such as in education and healthcare. To enrichen what we are calling these Common Conversations, we have a second selected book to complement the common read, Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation by Linda Villarosa.