A long history of advocacy and support for human and civil rights in the US and globally.
- Led a major coalition of civil rights groups, women’s organizations, and labor unions advancing pay equity and combatting wage-based discrimination: the National Committee on Pay Equity.
- Represented the LSA as a founding member of the Science and Human Rights Coalition.
- Advocated for the human rights of community activists working in China, Haiti, and Africa.
- Secured grants and endowed bequests to support a range of civil rights projects, including scholarships for under-represented groups, protection of voting rights, and fostering engagement in the decennial census/redistricting process.
- Led a grant-funded project to foster effective mentoring relationships between scholars at Tribal Colleges and Universities and those at research-intensive institutions.
- Organized outreach campaigns in partnership with leaders of the African-American community in the Washington, DC, area to raise awareness about health disparities, disease prevention, and available treatment services.
- Partnered with fellow activists in advocating for institutional divestment from businesses operating in Apartheid South Africa.
I had the good fortune to work closely with Alyson while we both represented the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) on the Science and Human Rights Coalition for the American Association for the Advancement of the Sciences (AAAS). In our work for the Coalition, I found Alyson to be a committed advocate for human rights, especially for those who would most benefit from support provided by US scientists and scholars. In my own work advocating for linguistic rights, I found Alyson to be particularly supporting as we worked together on the needs of communities who have been systematically excluded and disadvantaged by language barriers due to colonial and neo-colonial history, as in my native Haiti. Overall, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Alyson at the LSA and AAAS and to have engaged together in the struggle for equity on linguistic and educational terms. Thank you so much, Alyson! Mèsi anpil !
Michel DeGraff, Professor of Linguistics and Director of the MIT-Haiti Initiative