Institutional Accountability
As we often discuss in our MPH program, institutions, organizations and businesses typically align themselves with a set of expressed values. These are often quite explicit in the form of mission or vision statements, core values, or statements in response to contemporary events. Our focus for the first part of 2023 has been to dive into what it means for institutions to be accountable to these expressed values, especially when they are values of social justice. And we also aim to learn how we can stand up for accountability within the institutions we're part of.
What is Institutional Accountability?
We began with an exercise in defining institutional accountability: what it is and what it looks like when organizations are or are not practicing accountability. With some collective research and idea sharing, we were able to identify examples of accountability (or lack of accountability). This collective brainstorming activity enabled us to identify elements of institutional accountability that we find important to pressure and advocate for.
We used a word cloud during one of our meetings to collectively identify what we found in our research to be the most important elements of accountability in action.
Institutional Tuesdays
To highlight examples of successes and failures of institutional accountability we launched #InstitutionalTuesdays on our instagram.
Accountability in Action
We began this focus with the intention of learning more about accountability as we enter the field of public health with a health equity lens. As our reflections turned inward, however, we considered how we might put our learning into action now so that these important elements of accountability permeate our own MPH program.
We launched a petition for change in the communication process through which students express concerns and praise about the program.
In our MPH program we are pushed to put into practice what we're learning, including principles of human rights, equity, and the importance of activism. As we reflected as a community on our experiences, we saw an opportunity for change through which we could overcome systemic challenges students have faced throughout the course of the program.
We were very pleased with the positive response of the program to seeing our petition on social media, inviting us for a meeting to address the petition's contents.
Letter To Leadership
Our petition gained the attention of Simmons leadership as it continued to circulate via social media and through word of mouth. After meeting with MPH@Simmons Director White, HERE4Justice and our 46 supporters collectively decided to transition our petition into a letter. On April 21st, 2023 our letter was sent to leadership as we continue to work together on developing collaborative student communication pathways.
Letter to MPH Leadership re SAC petition.pdf