The Climate Committee is a body within the UT Department of Sociology that seeks to promote well-being and fair and compassionate relations. The Committee seeks to advance cultural and structural responses to challenges and inequalities that member(s) of the Department may experience, notably by virtue of historically and contemporarily marginalized identities. The Climate Committee is comprised of graduate students and tenure- and non-tenure-track faculty. The Committee aims to operate on a consensus-based model of decision-making. The Committee acts as a sounding board on community climate. Community members may come to (any member of) the Committee with a concern or issue, at which point we will determine, in conversation with that community member or members, whether the issue should go to the Department Head. Likewise, the Head may request that concerns or needs within the Department be addressed. However, the Committee’s ultimate concern is with broad issues, not individual acts. The Committee aims to be proactive rather than reactive and works to build a departmental climate that reflects social justice practice. The Climate Committee does not engage in surveillance, policing, or punitive practices.