Crystal Williams
As our 18th president, Crystal Williams leads RISD in advancing and amplifying the power of art and design in a changing world, and fostering a campus and community that centers equity and inclusion in all we are and do.
A forward-looking dream
“We are galvanized to create art and design spaces, classrooms, and practices that reflect the full breadth of human dynamism and a belief that what makes us distinct from one another is precisely our strength.”
— from President Williams’ October 7, 2022 inauguration address
A vision for teaching and learning
Informing President Williams’ work and leadership is her belief in RISD’s responsibility to amplify the talents of our students, and respond to their needs.
Select interviews
“Young creatives... have all the intelligence and ingenuity we need to solve our challenges and advance what is good, right and just among our species.” (Design Milk, Jun 30, 2023)
“The art world is becoming more inclusive. But as with all change there is much to do and a long way to go… ” (The Public’s Radio, Feb 2, 2023)
“We need all artists speaking with the fullness of their voice... . This is one of the ways we might be able to find our way back to one another.” (Rhode Island Monthly, Sep 19, 2022)
Community announcements
May 8, 2024
Update | 20 Washington Place
Dear RISD Community,
Unfortunately, students remain barricaded on the second floor of 20 Washington Place.
As happened yesterday, classes have been moved to alternate locations. Students will hear from their faculty directly. Any student who needs to pick up their mail should walk to the back of the building during mailroom hours, and Mail and Receiving Services will work with you to meet your needs. Other business services have been moved online as possible.
As of now, faculty and staff continue to have access to the building.
Sincerely,
Crystal Williams (she/her)
President
May 7, 2024
Message and information from President Williams
Dear RISD Students, Staff, and Faculty,
Rhode Island School of Design is a wonderful institution full of passionate, talented, ambitious, and visionary people. We are driven by a powerful charge, which states:
The mission of Rhode Island School of Design, through its college and museum, is to educate its students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship and innovation.
The role artists and designers can and do play and have played historically in social movements—worldwide—is of profound importance. Our impact on national and global social movements cannot be underestimated. Can you envision an international movement in which artists and designers have not been pivotal in amplifying messages, changing hearts and minds, and impacting real and meaningful change in the wider world? Whether through film and video, writing, music, visually based images, fashion, painting, printmaking, or all, we are central to change-making. And change-making isn’t always comfortable.
Currently, as is happening at many schools, an area on our campus is also embroiled in protest led by student group members.
As you know from my previous email last week, senior team members met with RISD Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP) leaders the day after receiving their demand document. We promised to convene this morning (Tuesday) to identify possible ways forward and respond by the end of the day.
However, a subset of RSJP students preemptively decided to escalate and occupy an active academic space last night, impeding access to all students who use those classroom and studio spaces. The occupation negatively impacts many students and breaches trust, goodwill, and our collective commitment to education. Students are here to learn art and design. Artists and designers, as stated above, are imperative. Regardless of one's views or the fortitude of one's beliefs, to impede the right of another to study, learn, and pursue education at RISD is undefendable.
And then again today, just after 3:30 pm, we received an email from the students occupying the second floor of 20 Washington Place preemptively rejecting any offer from us (We had not yet sent our response to them, which is now delivered via this campus-wide message). This follows the national playbook from Students for Justice in Palestine and is disappointing. We had hoped that RISD students would operate differently—in good faith, respectfully, and with the ideals of mutual compromise, collaboration, and resolution guiding them in the vein of the lauded activists they so frequently name.
In previous letters to this community, I have continually affirmed individuals’ rights to peaceful protest, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. Simultaneously, I have also urged students to make decisions that align with their values while being aware of the consequences of their actions. The students on the second floor of 20 Washington Place are breaking multiple codes of conduct by impeding the very thing our institution stands for—the value of art and design in the world, the right of all artists and designers to learn and make work, and to feel safe doing so.
In a nearly six-hour meeting with students last night, Provost Ghadessi and I discussed many ideas concerning potential responses to their literal demands and the hopes and desires undergirding them. We also answered many other questions about Textron, our investment philosophy, how it is enacted, and how the institution's budget and finances work, among other things. We share with you now both the demands and, where possible, our responses to them and provide the community with salient information related to questions we fielded last night.
The question of exploration of possible divestment decisions will be determined once we resolve whether students will meet with the Board of Trustees Investment Committee, which oversees RISD's investment portfolio. (See below under "Demands and Responses" for a fuller response and rationale.)
Following is information that we have heard would be helpful to members of this community. While long, it provides valuable and necessary context. The information is in the following categories:
- Demands and Responses
- History of Textron
- RISD's statement of divestment guidelines
- RISD's exposure to Aerospace & Defense sectors
Demands and Responses
Financial oversight, transparency, and engagement
- Students have requested a student oversight committee concerning the institution's investments.
- Students have asked for total fiscal transparency of RISD's investment portfolio to "ensure accountability for investments in institutions that profit" from their concerns.
- Students have asked for: "…the establishment of a student oversight committee for future investments, ensuring meaningful input and approval of financial investments with support from members of the student body, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders. This Committee, in conjunction with administration, will be responsible for determining and overseeing the use of finances taken from the Rayon Foundation Trust."
While I have been in conversation with members of RISD's Board of Trustees regarding RSJP demands, until RSJP students vacate academic spaces, no longer impede the rights of others, and agree not to disrupt Commencement, I will not continue to advocate for them to gain an audience with the Board of Trustees investment committee. If RJSP students vacate academic spaces and agree to not disrupt Commencement, my discussions with the Board on their behalf will continue. I welcome them into a productive conversation about moving this potentiality forward.
The Board's role as fiduciaries of the institution is to protect our principal assets, ensure RISD is structurally and financially sound now, and ensure the institution exists in perpetuity.
Trustees with decades of experience and expertise in financial matters oversee RISD's complex $420 million endowment and how those funds are invested. We cannot cede oversight to students, nor would it be responsible to do so.
However, there are several goals that we may be able to address which undergird student requests:
- To provide greater transparency and promote more understanding, we propose to host an annual presentation and conversation with Senior Vice President David Rosati about RISD's finances and investments (much like the recent financial transparency presentations hosted for faculty and staff). We believe this will provide greater transparency into the institution's current budget, financial decisions, investment posture, and outcomes and provide students with an opportunity to discuss their concerns, questions, and interests with the senior leader who works most closely with the Board's Investment Committee and serves as the Committee's primary administrative conduit.
- We are further open to exploring with students other means of engagement that would be helpful, meaningful, and actionable.
Students have asked us to suspend all funding from the Rayon Foundation Trust
- The Rayon Trust was created in 1944 before Textron was created, and when Royal Little's companies were focused on making textiles and parachutes. The monies that principally make up the Trust are not related to the current entity named Textron (we have provided an overview of the history of Royal Little’s initial gift to RISD below).
- Suspending all funding from the Rayon Foundation Trust would significantly negatively impact the academic program and student financial aid.
Students have asked us to disclose the extent of the institutional relationship with Airbnb and a "…complete severance of the university's ties to the corporation."
- The college is proud of RISD alums and Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia.
- There are no business ties to sever with the company as none exist.
- Mr. Gebbia is scheduled to step down from the Board as his 12-year term ends this year. We are grateful for his service to RISD as a Trustee.
Students have asked for a full academic divestment and "…refraining from initiating new partnerships with Israeli universities or study abroad programs in Israel and discontinuing any existing affiliations."
- Our affiliation with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ended in 2018.
- We will not promise to refrain from future partnerships or study abroad programs in any country. Preemptive promises ignore the fact that countries and situations change over time and many years. As Rhode Island School of Design approaches its 150th year, we must continue to take the long view in everything we do and promise.
Students have asked that we refuse "…any future partnership with Textron."
- Again, in taking the long view, we cannot support this request.
Students have asked that I, as president, make a public condemnation of all activity in Gaza and issue a demand for a ceasefire
- While I understand the intense feelings of community members that the symbolism of a public institutional statement is powerful, I have foresworn making public statements. At some future point, I will write a letter detailing my decision and its underlying rationale.
- That said, I have charged two Cabinet members with developing a World Events toolkit because it is imperative that RISD more fully react with substantive action, from which community members can derive myriad forms of support and succor. I believe that symbolism can be important, but actions are more so. My future goal is that when world events happen, members of our community can proudly talk about how RISD showed up in to support students, staff, and faculty. Senior leaders have been working on that World Events toolkit for several months, and it is scheduled to be done by early summer.
In conclusion, we see a pathway forward. We ask the RSJP students in 20 Washington Place to respect their peers' rights to learn, to finish their year-end studies affirmatively, and to enjoy their and their peers’ hard work. I hope RSJP students vacate the academic spaces they currently occupy and reengage in the spirit of productive conversation and identifying actionable possibilities.
I am eager to find ways for our students to continue to express their agency without denying others theirs.
History of Textron (excerpted from the Textron website)
- In 1923, 27-year-old Royal Little founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston.
- In 1928, Royal Little, took over Franklin Rayon Dyeing Company.
- For the next several years, he operated both companies.
- In 1938, Little changed the company's name to Atlantic Rayon and soon after expanded the company's footprint and operations.
- Atlantic Rayon produced parachutes and textiles used during World War II.
- At the war's end, Little experienced “dwindling government contracts, declining revenue, and underutilized production capacity.”
- In response, he developed "…a vertically integrated company that controlled every operational aspect, from raw goods processing to distribution, and moved quickly from producing parachutes to making lingerie, blouses, bed linens, and other consumer goods."
- Little renamed his company Textron—a combination of "Tex" from textiles and "Tron" from synthetics, such as Lustron, which Atlantic Rayon produced.
- In the 50s, Little focused on building the business by moving into different industries, such as producing cushioning for automobiles.
- In the 1960s and 1970s, he began to enter the transportation industry, which included the production of golf carts and helicopters. It is at this point that Little began to build a conglomerate.
History of Gift to RISD | Textron Rayon Trust (from RISD’s financial records)
- In 1944, Royal Little established the Rayon Foundation Trust with a deposit of $100.
- On 6/28/2018, the Rayon Foundation Trust, established for the study of textiles at RISD, matured, becoming RISD's largest-ever contribution: $19.9 million.
- RISD allocated the gift for facilities and deferred maintenance ($17.3M) and scholarships ($2.1M).
- A private donor augmented the Trust, increasing the Trust's total value by $500K.
- RISD allocates $50K a year from the Trust in scholarships to students.
- In addition to the above funding, the Rayon Foundation Trust supported expendable scholarships for Textile Students ($7.3M) in quarterly annual installments totaling from $10.5K in Fiscal Year 1979 to $257K in Fiscal Year 2017. These contributions ended in 2017.
- This cumulative $27 million investment represents one of the most generous gifts an individual has made to an art and design school.
RISD's statement of divestment guidelines
May 28, 2015
In the exercise of its fiduciary duty to preserve and enhance the long-term viability of the institution, the Board of Trustees of Rhode Island School of Design seeks to achieve the maximum possible return on RISD’s endowment consistent with an appropriate level of risk.
Accordingly, decisions to invest and to divest are based on financial principles and are made by the Board of Trustees in its sole discretion. In rare circumstances, however, the Board of Trustees may also in its sole discretion take political and social considerations into account when a proposed investment or divestment implicates an issue of importance to RISD as an institution and to its constituents as a whole, and not solely to a segment of its constituents, and would be likely to have a meaningful impact on the resolution of that issue. When the Board of Trustees does so, it will strive to make the investment or divestment in a manner that minimizes any potential financial effect.
RISD's current investments
RISD’s Endowment, comprised of restricted and unrestricted funds, is approximately 420 million dollars. RISD has engaged GEM (Global Endowment Management) as the Outsourced Chief Investment Office (OCIO) for the Endowment. The portfolio is a multi-asset, diversified portfolio invested in public and private managers and investments.
Using the Global Industrial Classification Standard (GICS) definition, GEM reported there are no direct investments to the Aerospace and Defense industry as of 3/31/2024. There is the following indirect exposure through third-party managers in pooled funds:
- RISD’s endowment has 1.2% invested indirectly in seven Aerospace and Defense companies as of 3/31/2024. Among those seven public companies, two companies receive over 50% of their revenue from defense, representing 0.3% of the total exposure.
- Applying a similar GICS definition to RISD’s private investments, GEM estimates that RISD’s endowment has 0.8% exposure indirectly to private companies that operate in the Aerospace and Defense industry as of 12/31/2023.
- Additionally, RISD’s endowment has a 1.2% indirect exposure to SpaceX, a private company focused on space transportation and exploration, as of 12/31/2023.
RSJP’s Demands (Wednesday, May 1)
DISCLOSURE: We demand total fiscal transparency of RISD's investment portfolio and endowment to ensure accountability for investments in institutions that profit from the ongoing genocide and occupation of Palestine.
DIVESTMENT: We demand that RISD divest from companies, corporations, and institutions that are implicated in sustaining Israeli Apartheid, the occupation of Palestinian land, or contributing to and profiting off of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. This includes, but is not limited to, (1. The suspension of all funding from the Rayon Foundation Trust; (2. The refusal of any future partnership with Textron, Inc.; and (3. Upon disclosure of the extent of RISD's relationship to Airbnb, Inc., complete severance of the university's ties to the corporation. Alongside full financial divestment, RISD must commit to fully divesting academically. This entails refraining from initiating new partnerships with Israeli universities or study abroad programs in Israel, and discontinuing any existing affiliations. Specifically, it requires the university to cut all ties to Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
STUDENT OVERSIGHT: We call for the establishment of a student oversight committee for future investments, ensuring meaningful input and approval of financial investments with support from members of the student body, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders. This Committee, in conjunction with administration, will be responsible for determining and overseeing the use of finances taken from the Rayon Foundation Trust.
PRESIDENTIAL CONDEMNATION: We demand that President Crystal Williams publicly condemn the Israeli Occupation's genocide in Gaza as well as the military and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and take a public stance for a permanent ceasefire.
---
Sincerely,
Crystal Williams (she/her)
President
May 7, 2024
Campus update
Dear RISD Community,
Last night, a group of students barricaded themselves on the second floor of 20 Washington Place, an actively used academic space.
Given this, students will not have access to 20 Washington Place until further notice. Classes have been moved to alternate locations. Students will hear from their faculty directly. Any student who needs to pick up their mail should walk to the back of the building, and Mail and Receiving Services will work with you to meet your needs.
Provost Ghadessi and I spent over five hours last night with student leaders in 20 Washington Place discussing their demands. We are aware that students outside the building are again positioned to continue their protest today.
As of now, faculty and staff continue to have access to the building.
We will write more fully later today.
Sincerely,
Crystal Williams (she/her)
President
Get to know RISD
Learn what drives all we do—as an institution and an engaged creative community.
See how our current creative practices respond to the critical social, political and environmental challenges we face today.
Look back at how RISD’s commitment to art and design education has evolved since our 1877 founding.