Race, Power Privilege - Initial Recommendations

Over the summer, the President’s Initiative on Race, Power and Privilege (RPP) was launched. A group of 40 students, faculty, staff, and alumni met weekly. They identified and discussed five key areas:

• support for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students
• campus safety
• cultural competency
• curriculum
• faculty and staff diversity

Here are some of the initial recommendations that have emerged from the RPP committee:

• General
  • Develop a College diversity statement to include in, for example, course syllabi and job postings;
  • Form a group to review history and symbols associated with Union; and
  • With diversity leadership team, establish a standing committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
• BIPOC Support
  • Review of programs at peer schools to identify elements likely to succeed at Union; and
  • Provide faculty/staff mentoring for BIPOC students, in addition to what exists for AOP/HEOP, Posse, and the Bridges First-Generation programs.
• Campus Safety
  • Enhance formal and informal interactions between Campus Safety officers and students; and
  • Update Campus Safety website with photos of officers and information about implicit bias and other training.
• Cultural Competency
  • Launch peer facilitator programs and diversity and inclusion workshops to engage as many students, staff and faculty as possible.
• Curriculum
  • Develop a General Education course that requires all students to explore issues of race, power and privilege;
  • Develop three residential curriculum requirements to ensure that students participate in events around race, power and privilege; and
  • Establish annual reporting from departments and programs on addressing issues of race, power and privilege.
• Faculty and Staff Diversity
  • Develop faculty and staff mentoring programs, and enhance efforts to understand causes of attrition, both with a focus on those from underrepresented groups.