Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Update – St. Olaf College

That is a part of a series of regular updates that Vice President for Fairness and Inclusion María Pabón Gautier sends to the campus neighborhood.

Pricey St. Olaf Group,

“Don’t be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Stroll humbly, now. You aren’t obligated to finish the work, however neither are you free to desert it.” — the Talmud

As we strategy the shut of 2021, I discovered myself reflecting on all of the work we did this yr and all of the thrilling work we now have forward of us. We began the yr filled with hope and warning as we grappled with our present realities and engaged within the change we wished to see. As a school, this yr confirmed us that we’re stronger collectively. I used to be humbled by the palms that helped maintain the work up and pushed it with the energy that solely individuals who care and are invested have.

I made a decision to dedicate this replace to highlighting a number of the nice work that occurred this final yr. That is only a big-picture spotlight of a number of the DEI work. It doesn’t embrace the person work taking place in departments, workplaces, facilities, and scholar organizations. I’ll proceed to focus on that work within the updates to come back, however I didn’t need to miss the chance to thanks in your help and engagement. You probably did justly, liked mercifully, and walked humbly.

2021: A 12 months of Change and Connection
Co-Creating an Inclusive Group Initiative. This yr we launched the Co-Creating an Inclusive Community Initiative that goals to have interaction college students, employees, and school in working collectively to examine and create a extra inclusive St. Olaf: one through which folks of all identities expertise connection, belonging, and company.

Hostile Terrain 94 (HT94). Our college students launched the HT94 exhibition after spending greater than a yr engaged on filling out toe tags and educating the neighborhood. Hostile Terrain 94 is a participatory artwork challenge sponsored and arranged by the Undocumented Migration Challenge (UMP), a nonprofit research-art-education-media collective directed by anthropologist Jason De León.

Pop-Up Barbershop. The barbershop made its debut in October. A bunch of student-athletes from Oles Towards Inequality, or OAI, got here up with the thought. The scholars, a lot of whom are college students of coloration, noticed the necessity for barbers who know the right way to lower completely different hair textures. The challenge has already gained outdoors consideration, together with a function story on Minnesota Public Radio.

Skilled Growth and Studying Alternatives. At first of the yr we heard loud and clear that we wanted extra focused and intentional alternatives to develop in addition to alternatives to have dialogue about areas of variety, fairness, inclusion, and anti-racism (DEIA). Subsequently, we supplied completely different alternatives to study and change concepts. Beneath are a couple of of these alternatives.

1. Understanding the Bias Reporting System
2. Restorative Justice Coaching
3. Understanding the Trial and Verdict of Derek Chauvin
4. Cultural Humility Workshop
5. Important Dialogue Methods Workshop
6. Outward Inclusion and Outward Management Workshop
7. Latinx: To Be or Not to Be?

Enhancements to Communication. One of many largest challenges of doing DEIA work is to be sure that we do it authentically, well timed, and we talk all through the method. This yr we made a number of adjustments to extend transparency and enhance how we talk round areas of DEIA with our campus neighborhood. Amongst a number of the adjustments are:

1. Communications audit — The Advertising and Communications Workplace partnered with exterior auditors Anitra Cottledge and Minerva Muñoz to assessment how St. Olaf’s communication practices can higher promote and help a extra inclusive tradition. The MarCom crew has used this audit to develop pointers and subsequent steps that they are going to be sharing with the neighborhood this yr.
2. DEI updates — Final spring I started sending bi-weekly updates to maintain the work on the forefront and inform our neighborhood on the present DEIA efforts.
3. Disaster communications plan — This spring we developed a disaster communications plan that helps us reply and acknowledge native and nationwide incidents whereas offering sources for college kids, employees, and school.
4. Bias incident reviews — We heard throughout an all-campus assembly concerning the want and need for extra transparency round bias incidents. We now present month-to-month bias incident summaries and proceed to coach the campus on the method.

George Floyd Fellowship for Social Change. The George Floyd Fellowship immediately helps the development of Black American college students. College students taking part within the fellowship will work towards bettering the collective expertise of marginalized communities, with a concentrate on development of social justice and fairness. This yr the primary George Floyd cohort graduated, advancing a various array of social points.

Council on Range, Fairness, and Inclusion. The Council labored arduously this yr to refresh their mission, outcomes, and engagement with the work of inclusion on the School. We welcomed new members and actively labored in bettering transparency concerning the conferences and efforts.

Local weather Surveys and Research. Understanding the campus local weather is a vital a part of partaking in change. Our college students participated for the primary time within the Nationwide Evaluation of Collegiate Campus Climates (NACCC) survey. The survey was administered as a part of our membership in LACRELA and measures the racial local weather on our campus.  Along with measuring scholar local weather, we carried out a BIPOC staff study to grasp the racial local weather that our BIPOC employees have been experiencing on the School (a junior BIPOC faculty study was accomplished in 2020).

To Embrace is To Excel.  This yr To Include is To Excel, a four-year, $800,000 initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Basis, got here to a detailed and we celebrated the accomplishments, work accomplished, and pleasure for the work that must be accomplished.

Range within the Office — Scholar Employees Coaching. This can be a new DEI initiative sponsored by the Taylor Heart, the Piper Heart, the Vice President for Human Assets, and the Vice President for Fairness and Inclusion. This initiative helps St. Olaf’s dedication to create an equitable and inclusive neighborhood, and offers college students views and abilities that they will use each on campus and of their work after commencement.

Assessment of Assessment Working Teams. The College Governance Committee and the Provost’s Workplace invited college this summer season to deal with each exterior and inside suggestions of the faculty’s tenure and promotion course of, with particular emphasis on its impact on early profession BIPOC college members. Three working teams have been fashioned (Assessments of Instructing, Statements of Vital Scholarship and Inventive Work, and Advocacy), and every group developed a report of areas that should be addressed throughout 2021-22 educational yr.

Social Justice Award. This yr we established the inaugural Social Justice Award to acknowledge a person college member or group who has made an excellent contribution to variety, fairness, inclusion, and anti-racism at St. Olaf.

Educational Range, Fairness, and Inclusion Activity Pressure. In session with the college, the Educational DEI Activity Pressure will:

• Advise on setting targets (for 2022-23 and past) for departments and interdisciplinary applications
• Establish methods to streamline and help our shared work
• Advise on how the work of departments and interdisciplinary applications might be coordinated with college-wide targets
• Report these suggestions to me and to the college by the tip of this educational yr

Ole Core. First-year college students engaged for the primary time this fall with the brand new Ole Core Curriculum. This new Ole Core responds to the request of scholars and school to be extra intentional about integrating discussions and conversations round DEIA. One of many many adjustments of the brand new Ole Core is including an influence and race requirement the place college students acquire data of how race and ethnicity can contribute to inequality in modern U.S. society, and the way these types of inequality intersect with different social traits and establishments similar to gender, faith, sexual orientation, social class, and the atmosphere.

Scholar Help Providers for College students with Disabilities (SSSD). SSSD is a model new, federally funded TRIO school retention program serving 100 college students per yr. SSSD helps college students with disabilities develop the talents and data essential to pursue and efficiently full a school schooling by serving to them concentrate on educational and private improvement.

Assistant Director of Retention and Success. Though our scholar retention numbers are sturdy, we all know that we will do higher. This yr we created a brand new place, Assistant Director of Retention and Success, to assist us suppose extra deliberately about retention, particularly throughout college students with marginalized identities.

St. Olaf Orientation to Teachers and Assets (SOAR). SOAR was launched for all first-year college students within the fall of 2021. SOAR supplies an prolonged orientation for all college students of their first yr to equip them with the data and instruments to achieve success at St. Olaf. College students study key abilities like the right way to make the most of campus sources and implement methods for achievement with college-level studying and finding out by way of small group dialog, reflection, and the follow of profitable educational habits.

TimelyCare. This yr we launched TimelyCare, a 24/7, no-cost telehealth service for college kids to deal with widespread situations that may be safely identified and handled remotely. This service supplies college students with further companies for medical care, psychological well being care, well being teaching, and psychiatric care.

Thanks to our neighborhood who labored to make progress and alter occur this yr. I’m energized and looking out ahead to constructing on our dedication and partnership to proceed this essential work.

Sincerely,
María

Dr. María C. Pabón Gautier
Vice President for Fairness and Inclusion