Diversity & Inclusion

LAPOP Lab is committed to principles of inclusion, diversity, and equity. We believe that communities and research projects are stronger to the degree that there is inclusion of individuals with diverse perspectives informed by such factors as socioeconomic status, sexual identity, religion (or none), race, nationality, physical abilities, life experiences, ideology, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, family status, and age.

LAPOP Lab recognizes the deeply rooted and challenging reality of systemic racism in the U.S. and beyond. We affirm Black Lives Matter and we condemn racism in all its forms, including anti-Black organized and vigilante policing that has affected so many individuals and that recently resulted in the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

As a research institute, many of our activities and scholarship involve the Latin America and Caribbean region. We recognize that historical injustices and structural inequalities, often rooted in the legacies of colonialism, affect many different groups in the region. We support scholarship that addresses these issues while we strive to include a diverse set of voices in our work.

We join Vanderbilt University in its commitment to dialogue, scholarship, and action aimed at creating a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable world.

LAPOP Lab affirms the Vanderbilt Student Government’s land acknowledgement statement, which references space that our lab occupies:

“We collectively acknowledge that Vanderbilt University occupies the ancestral and traditional Lands of the Cherokee and Shawnee peoples. Today, the Cherokee and Shawnee people have nation boundaries in Oklahoma, after the Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the forced removal of southern tribes west of the Mississippi River. In particular, the University resides on Land ceded on November 8, 1795 in the Treaty of Hopewell. We recognize, support, and advocate for the Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Vanderbilt University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.” 

— The LAPOP Lab Team