President Ron Liebowitz described updated diversity and inclusion efforts made over the past 12 months in an email sent to the Brandeis community on Friday, Nov. 18.
The presidential campaign run by President-elect Donald Trump featured, “rhetoric of racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia and jingoism,” Liebowitz wrote. “Such rhetoric and the acts it has inspired are the antithesis of Brandeis’ values. While we embrace diversity of thought and difference of opinion, we will always be committed to inclusion and equity.”
Mark Brimhall-Vargas has been named Brandeis’ first chief diversity officer (CDO) and vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, mentioned as a part of the diversity and inclusion updates. He will begin this position in January and, “will coordinate and advise on activities in departments and academic programs throughout the University to develop integrate and articulate Brandeis’ commitments to a more diverse and inclusive community,” according to a previous email from Liebowitz. Brimhall-Vargas has held various diversity management positions over the course of 17 years, including the position of CDO at Tufts University for the last year.
Faculty and staff were provided with a series of three diversity training sessions this fall, which included Building an Inclusive Classroom, Inclusive Learning Spaces, and The Science of Diversity and Implicit Bias. More than 120 faculty members and 200 staff members registered for at least one of these trainings, according to President Liebowitz’s email. Many of these events were focused on how to create a more inclusive classroom and be aware of different backgrounds of students.
Another diversity effort was to provide faculty chairs in the School of Arts and Sciences two videos that featured Brandeis students describing negative classroom experiences related to diversity and inclusion. The videos also included suggestions for teachers on how to create a more inclusive classroom. Faculty chairs were asked to share these videos with their respective departments.
The university is also trying to increase the recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty and staff of color. A tenure-line position in African-Anglophone literature has been approved as well as for Kay Fellows in Asian-American Pacific Islander Studies and race and medicine. Each search committee in the School of Arts and Sciences now includes a diversity representative, who has “been trained to understand the issue of implicit bias.”
By utilizing and spreading news of programs such as the Students Exploring and Embracing Diversity (SEED) program and the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program, the university hopes to increase the number of new students of color who enroll here.
To enhance excellence in teaching and learning, the Task Force on General Education Requirements has discussed the possibility of outlining new requirements that address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences continue to organize and fund diversity events on campus such as Natasha Warikoo, of Harvard University, presenting The Diversity Bargain: Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities, and Tony Jack, also of Harvard, presenting Moving from Access to Inclusion: Lessons From First-Generation College Students.
Through staffing and programming, the university is trying to create inclusive communities that provide professional development and support for a more diverse population. The graduate schools have participated in these efforts. The Heller School for Social Policy created the position of associate dean for diversity and inclusion and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ launched its Diversity, Excellence, and Inclusion Scholarship (DEIS) program.
The Office of Study Abroad hosting a program on being black and studying abroad and Brandeis creating a Waltham/Brandeis Freedom Team. This will include the Waltham mayor and chief of police. The Hiatt Career Center hosted programs such as Navigating Gender and Race at Work.
Other efforts to foster diverse communities include the Department of Community Living (DCL) and Community Advisors (CAs) participating in training sessions on social identity and diversity. The Counseling Center staff engaged in multicultural training program to further improve cross-cultural mental health competence. Atticus Ranck also joined Brandeis as the new coordinator of the Gender and Sexuality Center.
The Rape Crisis Center (RCC) posted Get Help Now signs in English, Spanish, Mandarin, French, Arabic and Portuguese. This will make information about the RCC more accessible to students who do not speak English. The Community Prejudice Response (CPR) task force—a group of staff, faculty, and students who address issues of discrimination affecting the Brandeis community—actively engaging in the support of students. The CPR “proactively nurtures an inclusive campus culture and is responsive (when necessary) to any acts of bias or prejudice,” wrote Liebowitz.
In his email, Liebowitz mentioned last year’s Ford Hall 2015 movement. “The passion and dedication of the students who participated in and continue to advance these efforts was critical and must not be forgotten,” he wrote.
In regard to fostering diverse and inclusive communities, Liebowitz noted that, “An educated populace is one of the core strengths of a strong democracy, and, to fulfill our educational mission, our University must be a place that promotes the safety of all community members.”
