Dear Colorado College Community,
We are pleased to announce that Colorado College has joined the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center’s newly established Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance.
Beginning in January 2021, the center will host a dozen “eConvenings,” or virtual gatherings of member colleges, each on a particular aspect of racial equity. These monthly, live, synchronous professional learning experiences will be held virtually throughout the year. Three-hour learning sessions, each on a different topic, will be delivered by leaders of national higher education associations, tenured professors who study race relations and people of color, chief diversity officers and other experienced administrators, and specialists from the center.
These sessions will focus primarily on strategies and practical approaches, using contemporary cases of equity dilemmas and racial crises on liberal arts college campuses. Emphasis will be placed on learning from experiences that have recently occurred elsewhere; learning how to get ahead of situations and reducing risk of crisis; and learning actionable equity leadership strategies.
The center also is developing an online repository of resources and tools for colleges that are members of the alliance. These include downloadable equity-related rubrics, readings, case studies, videos, slide decks, and conversation scripts. Every employee across all levels at each member college will have 24/7 full access to the virtual resource portal. The portal will launch in late Spring 2021.
Our inclusion in the alliance complements our antiracism initiative, a collegewide effort to actively examine and oppose the ways that racism exists and persists at the college. With antiracism central to Colorado College’s mission, faculty, staff, and students will experience greater equity and inclusion, teaching will be more impactful, and students will be prepared to make positive change in the world.
CC’s antiracism initiative has garnered initial support through a $1 million gift that has established an Antiracism Fund at the college. Last month, the college also announced a $575,000 grant from the Sachs Foundation that will support Black students who are interested in pursuing careers in education.
We’re grateful to our diversity, equity, and inclusion team, which includes Peony Fhagen, Ph.D., senior associate dean for equity, inclusion, and faculty development; Rosalie Rodriguez, senior associate dean of students for equity and inclusion/director of the Butler Center; and Barbara Wilson, interim director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for staff. We also appreciate the efforts of all faculty, staff, and students to engage in this important work.
Sincerely,
Mike Edmonds
Acting Co-President
Robert G. Moore
Acting Co-President
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