Update on External Reviews of Title VI Compliance and Academic Freedom

Dear Colleagues,

Last month, I wrote to you to lay out the scope and charge of the external review of Drexel’s institutional responses to reports of discrimination and harassment under Title VI --- the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin (including shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics) – and their intersection with principles of free speech and academic freedom. I also shared that Cozen O’Connor’s Institutional Response Group (IRG), headed by Attorneys Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez, was leading the review.

Today, I am pleased to announce the composition of the Advisory Committee and the Community Engagement Group, both of which will be broadly representative of the University community and critical to the review’s success.

The Advisory Committee is charged with soliciting broad community input, benchmarking Drexel’s policies and procedures against other universities for effective practices, and charting next steps toward ensuring that this vital work draws on Drexel’s collective expertise and experience while upholding our shared institutional values. Serving on the Advisory Committee will be:

Trustees

• Levoyd Robinson, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at CFI Partners
• Kathleen Reardon, CEO of Hiscox

Faculty

• Donald F. Tibbs, Professor of Law, Thomas R. Kline School of Law
• Christopher Wright, Associate Professor of Science Education, School of Education
• Naoko Kurahashi Neilson, Associate Professor of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences

Professional Staff

• Youngmoo Kim, Vice Provost for University and Community Partnerships
• Jennifer Gallagher, Executive Director, People Operations, Department of Human Resources

Students

• Joelyne Jacob, Computer Science, ’26; USGA Civic Engagement Chair
• Isabella Villegas, ’25; Kline School of Law

A separate Community Engagement Group will furnish additional critical insight to the Advisory Committee while also serving as its liaison for surfacing specific suggestions or concerns from the broader community. Serving on the Community Engagement Group will be:

Faculty

• Michelle Rogers, Associate Professor, College of Computing & Informatics, and Director of the Women in Tech Initiative
• Richard Frankel, Professor of Law and Director Director of the Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program
• Daniel Korschun, Associate Professor and Department Head of Marketing, LeBow College of Business

Professional Staff

• Nicole Dalberto, Director for Career Services and Strategic Initiatives, Steinbright Career Development Center
• Gina Del Rio Gazzo, Equal Opportunity and Title IX Investigator
• Sara Aykit, Assistant Director of Student Organization Resource and Finance

Students

• Thomas Albero, Business and Economics, ’27
• Ash Karale, PhD Candidate, Astrophysics ‘27

This external review, which takes place during an inflection point for all of higher education, affords Drexel the opportunity to strike a balance between safeguarding academic freedom and free inquiry and protecting our community members from intimidation and harassment. Antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of hate and discrimination have no place at Drexel. The external review team looks forward to working with our community to benchmark our policies and practices, to keep all our stakeholders informed, and to continue our work toward ensuring a more inclusive and academically robust environment for all our faculty, students, and professional staff.

Sincerely,

John Fry
President