On June 17, 2020, Dean Ragu Balakrishnan shared the following email with faculty and staff at the Case School of Engineering.

Dear Colleagues,

At the beginning of this month, President Snyder and Provost Vinson shared a quote from Frederick Douglass’ 1854 Commencement speech at Western Reserve College. As developments continue across the nation and around the world, another passage from Douglass’ speech has proven particularly significant:

“Human rights stand upon a common basis; and by all the reason that they are supported, maintained and defended, for one variety of the human family, they are supported, maintained and defended for all the human family.”

The equal inclusion of ‘all the human family’ is essential to the strength of engineering. Like President Snyder and Provost Vinson, I am committed to ensuring and advancing a community in which every member is connected, respected and valued. As a member of the Ohio Engineering Deans Council, I am proud to sign and publicly support the following statement by the American Society of Engineering Education, and to do all that I can to build a community that supports, maintains and defends the rights of all.

Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan
Charles H. Phipps Dean, Case School of Engineering

On May 19, 2021, Dean Balakrishnan joined the Ohio Engineering Deans Council in support of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering Deans Council's unconditional condemnation of the acts of anti-Asian violence articulated in the “Statement by the ASEE Board on Racist Violence Against Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.”

View the full statement from the American Society of Engineering Education