Faculty and students at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts penned open letters demanding leadership address racism.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) has asked staff members to keep their affiliation with the school separate from any activism in which they might engage. The request, which comes amid ongoing protests against racial violence and widespread institutional grappling with systemic racism, has sparked outrage among current and former students, who have collectively gathered five separate open letters under one website demanding change.

The five letters, authored by PAFA alumni, undergraduates, graduate students, post-baccalaureate students, and the Alumni Council, condemn the school’s non-affiliation policy and highlight specific ways that the school has failed to live up to ideals of diversity and accountability.

The alumni letter reads, in part:

PAFA’s diverse student body is not adequately represented in the faculty or staff, and even less so in positions of power. PAFA must immediately restructure its leadership such that people of color are adequately represented both on and by the faculty, staff, Board of Trustees, Women's Board, and the Dean and Chair positions. PAFA must also make a tangible commitment to the support of all Black students and Black and POC lives through a re-assessment of all areas of the school and museum including: curriculum, marketing, labor conditions (pay, protections and advancement), tuition costs, scholarships, funding structures, and more.