In Fall 2020, the Global Inequality Research Initiative (GIRI) course focused on "Race and Social Crisis". The course explored inequalities in light of contemporary events, including—but not solely—the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing political resistance to anti-Black police violence.

Through a series of virtual (remote) lectures, undergraduate and graduate students engaged with instructors and guest speakers in discussions surrounding the structural inequities that these issues have exposed in terms of the economy, the health care system, the carceral system, and more—with the goal of analyzing the effects of these disparities both in America and on a global scale. Students completed a semester-long research project of their choosing as part of the course.