Inclusion Task Force Final Report

Curricular/Co-Curricular

• Lack of comprehensive race education:
  • Eurocentric curriculum (a clear call in the BSU/WASA documents for a Black Studies program and diversity and equity training for all staff and faculty--taught by a specific demographic of faculty)
  • Lack of inclusion in the First Year Experience (Encounters). Tension between textual reading and student lived-experience.
  • Limited involvement in Power and Privilege (is only one day and not mandatory)
  • Need for DEI and understanding of white privilege in the outdoor program,
    sustainability/environmentalism/environmental studies, and the first-year experience.
    Desire for greater inclusion of indigenous issues/discussion in the curriculum.

Communication

• Misunderstanding, distrust and dissatisfaction with college communication around race-related incidents and issues (past and present), Title IX office, policies.
  • Desire for more accountability and transparency as well as reconciliation and recognition of Whitman’s past racist actions. Desire for grievance collection and response process.
  • Desire for greater recognition of extra/burdensome work done by BIPOC students to educate the campus community.
    Concerns about the nature of “timely warnings” and whether they are truly “timely” and specific enough.
  • Desire for clearer communication of what the College can/can’t do and why.

Resource/Facility Equity

• Lack of equitable on-campus spaces.
  
  • Desire for an interfaith center to facilitate equitable access to religious spaces and normalize religious expression on
    campus.
  • Lack of accessibility for students with physical disability in campus buildings.
  • Desire for formal indigenous space on campus with stronger programmatic ties to CTUIR.
  • Desire for gender-inclusive bathrooms in all campus buildings.
  • Inequity in Greek housing between Sororities and Fraternities creates inequity in financial burden.
• Lack of mental health support. Compounds negative experience for folks of color and specifically international students (Long waitlists, mental health days inaccessible).
• Lack of financial aid, on-campus jobs and a burdensome financial aid request process harms FGWC students.

Climate

• Lack of representation of BIPOC on campus (students, faculty, staff)
• Lack of accountability for assault, misconduct, and racist incidents in Greek life. However, a concern that not all Greek
  organizations are negligent and are harmed by negative views.
• Lack of general respect for difference, normalization of discussion, argument, and correction.
  
  • Exclusion based on religious practice due to stigma, with minimal campus-wide effort to normalize practicing/respecting
    religion.
  • Exclusion within POC /FGWC community based on the difference of skin tone, not being “POC enough” or ideology.

Belonging, Inclusion, and Wellness

• There is a theme of insufficient onboarding, staff mentoring, and skill development for staff.
• There is a theme of benefit differential between staff and faculty which hinders work-life balance. This contributes to a perception of a lack of focus on staff wellness.

Communication, Engagement, and Community Development

• There is a theme of a lack of transparency in the college's decision-making process, fear of asking questions, and of offering feedback. Some staff feel that they do not have a voice at the college.

Training, Development, and Planning

• There is a theme of one-way feedback in our annual review process, lack of training for supervisors on management skills, and mistrust in the grievance process.
• There is a theme of a lack of investment in availability and equity in staff training opportunities, both for developing inclusion and equity competencies and for professional development.

There is, in many departments and groups, an inability or unwillingness to have difficult conversations.

• Faculty, specifically coaches, noted a lack of resources available to help facilitate these difficult conversations.
• Several faculty members pointed to those in authority (department chairs and program directors) as shying away from these conversations, and an unwillingness to pursue these issues on a departmental level.
• Faculty cite that participation in and leading of these conversations is undervalued.
• Faculty feel that there are unwritten expectations around ‘fitting in,’ which, while endemic to any system with tenure, still pervade here at the College. This has the effect of stifling debate and productive dissension.
• Disparities in power particularly between tenured and non-tenured or non-tenure-track faculty have the effect of denying full participation in such dialogues to all members of departments.

Faculty cited a lack of universal basic competency around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Faculty (as well as others) point to a lack of faculty participation in events such as the Power and Privilege symposium.
• Training that does exist is localized (exists only in certain points in time rather than ‘throughout’ a process or a career), and often doesn’t work its way into the day to day operations of departments and programs. There seems to be a need to include related conversations later in the first year of faculty-members’ employment at Whitman, rather than in the initial, very busy stages of orientation and preparation for teaching at the college.
• Some issues are addressed in campus-wide communications, while others (notably) are not.

A lack of appreciation of ‘invisible labor’

• Faculty, particularly women Faculty of Color, feel underappreciated for support they provide to students and to each other’
• There is a worry that the training/conversations are not drawing those who would benefit most from this training.

Persistent toxicity at the department and personal levels

• Faculty in documents, exit interviews, and listening sessions discussed Ideological divisions and `suspicion, a lack of appreciation for work in different disciplines.
• There is a widespread lack of departmental morale and trust, dysfunction among groups (some of which causes departments to have external chairs).
• Non-Tenure Track Faculty report an underappreciation from their tenured colleagues for their labor and the challenges that accompany their positions. There is a feeling of precariousness that prevents a feeling of full inclusion.

Lack of diversity in hiring

• Efforts within hiring committees sometimes fall short of actual change in faculty demographics (though we note recent successes in hiring faculty of color)
• Departments face the pressure of losing approved positions, if searches do not “succeed” in a
  given academic year, catalyzes under-consideration of diverse candidates, who may for various
  socioeconomic reasons, be harder to locate easily.

There is a scarce focus on race and difference in the curriculum, as mentioned by faculty and in other student documents.

• There is a dearth of foundational courses that address difference and inclusion.
• Much of our curriculum within departments is Eurocentric, and often overlooks the contributions of those from marginalized groups.

Recruit, retain, and support a diverse population of community members.

Develop intentional opportunities for community building, creating safe spaces for feedback and opportunities for innovation and campus-wide impact. Provide regular transparent updates on inclusion progress and campus climate concerns.   

Equip our campus community with training around cultural competencies that allow for working across differences and conflict resolution. Promote inclusion in curricular choices, scholar selection, campus speakers and community engagements.