Build an Equitable and Empowering Culture
To provide the highest quality education to the most students, we must embed equity and diversity into the fiber of the university, and confront patterns of systemic inequity that affect students, faculty and staff.
The Provost has appointed an Executive Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Academic Affairs to provide leadership and synergize efforts among the President’s Commissions, the Academic Senate Climate Committee, Campus Climate Research efforts, and the equity-mindedness of High Impact Practices. Members of the President’s Commissions, departmental task forces, and representative committees are charged with identifying trends and presenting initiatives to enhance access for, and success of, historically underrepresented students, and to increase and retain historically underrepresented tenured faculty, administrators, students, and staff.
The presidential Equity and Action Report, a framework of actions developed in the wake of high-profile incidents of racial injustice on the national stage, is a pathway to confront systemic racial inequities on our campus and become a model for anti-racist action. The contributions of campus and community groups guide our efforts to remove social and cultural barriers among our constituents.
| RECOMMENDED ACTIONS |
1a. Conduct climate surveys of campus community faculty, staff, and students. i. Empower the President’s Equity and Change Commission, Human Resources, Academic Senate, Staff Council, and ASI to engage faculty, staff and students in developing actions aimed at mitigating negative findings and enhancing positive findings. |
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
These actions align with the goals of the 2020 presidential Equity and Action report, and can be considered the academic and cultural component of our campus’ commitment to anti-racist action. |
| CHALLENGES |
Effecting change in campus culture requires consistent focus and responsiveness to the evolving needs of the campus community. Measuring and assessing progress and prioritizing the most impactful initiatives will require sustained administrative stamina to drive this work. |
| RESILIENCE |
When diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are infused in the campus culture at the operational level, we are better able to support groups who are disproportionately impacted by challenges like COVID-19. |
| RECOMMENDED ACTIONS |
2a. Identify/Charge a representative steering committee to engage faculty, staff and students in implementing evidence-based practices to remove barriers to access and close gaps in retention and graduation. |
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
Our institution profits when our campus population reflects the highly diverse region we serve. We must embrace diversity of thought, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability, as well as cultural, political, religious or other affiliations. |
| CHALLENGES |
Effecting positive cultural change will require resources, focus and stamina, as well as clear priorities and accountability. Removing barriers to access requires more than enhanced recruiting; it includes improving climate and culture, addressing educational inequities for underrepresented students, and implementing data-informed solutions over time. |
| RESILIENCE |
Budget constriction due to COVID-19 will exacerbate challenges for several years. Success will require keen prioritization and tapping into faculty and staff expertise for quality programming. |
| RECOMMENDED ACTIONS |
3a. Develop and implement a holistic, sustained professional development program for all faculty and staff members, in which diversity, equity, anti-racism, inclusion and belonging are infused and an understanding of how social and cultural factors influence interactions with students and colleagues is enhanced, and builds understanding and trust through cross-divisional collaborations to improve the climate. |
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
A sustained professional development program in which diversity, equity, anti-racism, inclusion and belonging are infused will enhance our institution’s understanding of how social and cultural factors influence interactions with students and colleagues, and help fortify our institution against bias. |
| CHALLENGES |
While periods of budget constriction may slow the development of a new program, cultural change begins at a grass-roots level. The effort will require the commitment of every member of our campus community, led by the Executive Team in collaboration with leaders of all divisions and academic units. |
| RESILIENCE |
We proudly state that “diversity is our strength,” recognizing that diversity and diverse points of view create challenges for easy solutions and consensus while ultimately resulting in unimagined benefits and opportunities. |
