As we approached the 2020 Independence Day, I commented on a specific issue of independence that has risen through our public discourse during the summer 2020: racial inequality.

Let me begin by saying that I was educated as an engineer, who grew up in a foreign country. My comments come from my view of the world. I am not a sociologist, historian, law enforcement expert, or politician. I am, however, an academic and as the head of the School of Mechanical Engineering, I can confirm the great benefits of having a team of people from many different cultural and social backgrounds striving to provide the pinnacle of excellence in mechanical engineering education at a large-scale program. Because Mechanical Engineering is considered by many the broadest engineering discipline, we have students who want to pursue everything from biotechnology to automotive manufacturing to rocket science; and we likewise need a diverse faculty that can guide those students in all their varied interests. I am thrilled to say that we have such a wonderfully varied group of more than 80 full-time faculty members, with more starting in the fall. In the same way, students from many different backgrounds spur each other on to think, process, and grow in their field in unique ways. If everyone shared one monolithic worldview, engineering would stand still.

"Science is moved forward by exceptions," one of my faculty is fond of saying. That is why about a third of our 1400 undergraduates (and more than half of our 600 graduate students) come from outside the United States, bringing in new ways of problem-solving and collaborating. Which is why we covet -- indeed, we thirst for -- the ideas and worldviews brought to our school by under-represented minority students. And yet it seems we have failed in providing a supporting environment that attracts larger numbers of under-represented minority students -- considering that African Americans make up just 1% of our undergraduate population. Obviously this is something we need to work on.

And then, this summer happened. I have read with horror some of the negative experiences of black students and alumni have had at Purdue on this Instagram feed: https://instagram.com/blackatpurdue. As a human being, my heart goes out to these students and alumni. As an engineer, my first instinct is to get out my green paper and write out the problems, the assumptions, the analysis, and then take the appropriate course of action to solve the problem. But that is our shared frustration: there may not be a straight-forward solution to solve this problem. Regardless of the policies we implement in the School of Mechanical Engineering, we cannot eliminate the situations that our minority students face once they are outside our environment. However, we can all individually be understanding, nurturing, and supportive.

Furthermore, there is one important item I can do, and this is the crux of my public statement: I am listening, and I will take appropriate action within my range of authority. If there are issues that I do not know about, bring them to my attention. If you think a problem is solvable by taking a certain course of action, tell me, and let us reason through it together. Black students: if you feel that your voice has not been heard or respected, and you just want to let it out, here is my email address: groll@purdue.edu. Please contact me, because I firmly believe that black lives matter. I want to make Purdue ME a haven for all students, a place where your unique ideas help to propel all of us forward. And with your guidance, I will do what is within my power to help make it happen.

Sometimes, one kind word, or one small gesture, is all it takes to change someone's life. 50 years ago, Alan Kennedy was a freshman at Purdue ME, and the only black student in most of his classes. He was also flat broke, and about to drop out after just one semester. That's when Prof. Frederick Morse set him up with a co-op, which enabled him to continue his studies while also earning a paycheck. Alan graduated and went on to law school, and became a senior patent attorney at NASA.

Purdue ME is a better school when everyone's voice is heard and respected. If it takes an uprising to bring this fact to light, then so be it. I ask all of us to open our ears and our hearts to those voices, and to work at making our world better as a result.