Dear Friends of the Center for Responsible Business,

We’re writing to share our concerns with the recent actions of the current federal administration, our gratitude to many of our leading corporate partners of the Center for Responsible Business (CRB) who are actively taking a stand against these actions, and our plans going forward at the CRB.

Specifically, actions on access to research and data as well as the immigration ban significantly impact our operations at the CRB, the companies with whom we partner, and our students. We applaud our corporate CRB partners who have spoken out so strongly about this.

As an academic center, the federal administration’s actions toward access to data and research, specifically pertaining to climate change, is extremely troubling. By attempting to not only silence researchers, but also remove the public’s ability to access data, the administration has demonstrated a posture that is anti-science, anti-information, and anti-climate. As a center with a focus area in Sustainable Supply Chains, access to this type of research is paramount for the work we do in partnership with faculty across campus, as well as the research needed for our company partners to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in their operations.

Furthermore, the immigration ban from majority Muslim countries and building a Mexico-US border wall poses a threat to the respect for human rights here in the US as well as globally. These actions have resulted in many of our corporate partners taking a stand, and demonstrating how integral immigrants are to business innovation in the Bay Area and nationwide. They are also in complete contrast to the Human Rights and Business Initiative whose home is at the CRB. Additionally, this ban has impacted students here at Haas, curbing potential future talent, students’ abilities to travel home and to have families travel here. This also impacts future professors and researchers on campus.

At the CRB, we stand in solidarity with our CRB corporate partners who have taken a vocal stand and we ready ourselves to support the University of California-Berkeley in our collective efforts as a university to respond accordingly.

What we’re doing:

• We stand committed to our corporate CRB partners and applaud their efforts to fight social and environmental injustice. Our partners have disseminated strong statements against executive orders on the immigration ban, censorship, and threats to the environment. We will continue to highlight our partner’s efforts through our social media and programming.
• We will embed social inclusion and climate change throughout our programming, research, and curriculum as part of regular discussion and agenda items – ensuring that the businesses that we partner with are actively considering and working on these issues.
• We will stay vigilant, and ensure that any policies that are coming out of the federal administration that actively attack and undermine our values are addressed by the CRB.
• We stand in support with our University of California-Berkeley administration who issued the following statement regarding the immigration ban.

As a center we are concerned, and we invite you to share ways that you think the CRB could play a valuable role in this current climate.

Sincerely,

Your friends and colleagues with the Center for Responsible Business

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