Goal 4: Support & engage all faculty and staff in antiracism work
Goal 4 Current Commitments:
- Develop evaluation criteria and reward systems to ensure that antiracism work is considered in annual reviews for faculty and staff
- The Crown Faculty Center will create a shared foundational understanding of race, racism, and racialization -- including fostering a shared language and increasing institution-wide antiracist communication -- and enhance opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaborations
- Faculty will develop college-wide framework for antiracist course offererings
- Faculty grants will continue to be awarded to develop new courses or redesign existing courses to diversify the curriculum
- Staff professional development as they relate to antiracism efforts will be assessed and modified, and incorporated into employment processes
Our faculty and staff of color have for decades advised, worked on committees, responded to incidents, supported students and one another, taken proactive measures, and stayed committed – while experiencing blatant hurt and racism.
They have consistently done the heavy lifting, making CC a stronger community. That work must be honored and recognized. We will increase our support for faculty and staff of color here today, acknowledging the profound impact they have at CC already, and developing their leadership so they can have even greater effect.
Each division and department will engage in diversity, inclusion, and equity work. As part of their requirement for service at Colorado College, faculty and staff members will dedicate efforts toward community building, campus antiracism work, and mentorship of students.
For the work of antiracism to be successful, all faculty and staff must see it as part of their responsibilities to the college, and as something for which everyone must be held accountable. The Faculty Executive Committee, in collaboration with the provost and the dean of the faculty, will develop faculty evaluation criteria and reward systems to ensure that antiracism work (including publicly-engaged scholarship) is considered in annual reviews, promotion and tenure, awarding of professorships, and post-tenure reviews. Similarly, Human Resources, in collaboration with Staff Council, will develop evaluation criteria and reward systems that become part of annual performance reviews for staff.
The Crown Faculty Center’s work and leadership will be expanded and resourced to reflect the centrality of this work. The new dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion will oversee the Crown Faculty Center and help the center work toward creating a shared foundational understanding of race, racism, and racialization, fostering a shared language, increasing ease of institution-wide communication on what is meant by antiracism, and enhancing opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaborations. This will include course content selection, pedagogy/teaching a diverse student body, student demographics/classroom climate (especially considerations for minoritized students), and instructor self-awareness relating to identity, social location, values, and assumptions.
The new dean also will work with faculty to develop a college-wide framework for antiracist course offerings that is broad enough to allow departments to tailor it to specific disciplinary needs, yet also specific enough to address essential elements of a holistic approach to an inclusive curriculum. Faculty will learn to effectively design syllabi that reflect the values of antiracism and inclusive education.
The college will continue to award faculty grants to develop new courses or redesign existing courses to diversify the curriculum, with a specific focus on including and addressing issues of equity, power, inequality, and diverse experiences.
The new diversity and inclusion leader in Human Resources will work with Staff Council and all staff to manage antiracism efforts as they relate to staff. Existing educational offerings for faculty and staff such as Good to Great and Toward a Daily Antiracist Agenda will be assessed, modified, led, and managed by this team member. This work will be incorporated into search processes, recruiting, hiring, retention, and in response to bias incidents in the workplace.
Parties accountable: Board of Trustees, president, provost, dean of the faculty, Faculty Executive Committee, human resources, and Staff Council will oversee this work in their respective areas in 2019-20; the new dean for diversity and inclusion and the new human resources diversity and inclusion leader will join the team in 2020-21.
Updates, August 2021:
- In June 2020, the college hired new leaders for senior associate dean for equity, inclusion, and faculty development and senior associate dean of students for equity and inclusion/director of the Butler Center, and named an interim director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for staff
- This work of supporting and engaging all staff and faculty will continue beyond 2020 as part of the college’s ongoing commitment to antiracism.
- The new staff diversity and inclusion leader is now part of finance and administration.