The National Academy of Education is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the principles of nonpartisan research applied to the improvement of teaching, learning, and the functioning of schooling at all levels. We are by conviction and law apolitical, and our members represent a rich diversity of opinion, ideology, and intellectual traditions.

But the events in Charlottesville and the reactions by the President of the United States transcend politics and provide a stark reminder that there can be no compromise, no silence, and no acquiescence against the evils of racism, bigotry, antisemitism, and terrorist violence.

A primary purpose of the American education system is to help students develop skills and dispositions necessary for successful and full participation in our democracy. We aspire to endow in our students their capacity and commitment to empathy, reasoned argument, respect for others, and an appreciation for the unfinished promise of America’s founding document — that “all men [and women] are created equal.” Bigotry and racism have no place in our elementary and secondary schools or on our college campuses, just as they have no place in our democracy.

As we welcome students and faculty back to our remarkably diverse institutions of learning, we are united in our commitment to stand firm for basic principles of American democracy and in our unequivocal opposition to the Charlottesville villains and their sympathizers.

National Academy of Education Board of Directors

President
Michael J. Feuer

President-Elect
Gloria Ladson-Billings

Vice President
James Pellegrino

Secretary-Treasurer
Catherine Snow

Directors
Hilda Borko
Marilyn Cochran-Smith
Pam Grossman
Carol Lee
Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar
Sean Reardon