Dear Nazareth students;
Thank you for raising concerns about the recent racist acts on campus through the change.org petition Make Blackface Grounds for Expulsion at Nazareth College. We know the recent blackface incident caused our community a great deal of pain which will continue in our hearts when the new academic year begins. This is an opportune time to review and revise our policies and procedures to ensure that they accurately reflect our community’s commitment to diversity.
The College's Statement of Diversity and Inclusion expresses a commitment that includes:
Thank you for raising concerns about the recent racist acts on campus through the change.org petition Make Blackface Grounds for Expulsion at Nazareth College. We know the recent blackface incident caused our community a great deal of pain which will continue in our hearts when the new academic year begins. This is an opportune time to review and revise our policies and procedures to ensure that they accurately reflect our community’s commitment to diversity.
The College's Statement of Diversity and Inclusion expresses a commitment that includes:
- engaging in a continual process of education, critical self-reflection and dialogue regarding privilege, power, and marginalization;
- promoting greater access and inclusion through systemic and structural change; and
- ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff reach their fullest potential individually and collectively.
I join the Nazareth Community in taking this commitment very seriously.
Your concerns have directed our continual review of College policies to the Student Code of Conduct. Our current Student Code of Conduct allows for expulsion for acts like blackface and has a section specifically for aggravated violations which gives the hearing panel the ability to increase sanctions for students who are found responsible for violations of any College policy targeting an individual or group due to race, among other things. However, I don’t think our current Code of Conduct adequately or clearly portrays our commitment to diversity and inclusion and our denunciation of acts of racial bias. It is apparent that modifications to the Code are necessary. Your points are well taken and I’m grateful for your activism.
Over the last several months Student Experience team members have been working to draft modifications of our Code of Conduct to better articulate the standards of conduct and respect we expect from all members of our community. The draft revision of the Code of Conduct will be ready in time for the start of the semester. At that time, the Student Experience team will hold a series of student focus groups to gather feedback and input into the Code of Conduct with the goal of making additional revisions if necessary by the end of the Fall term for implementation in the Spring 2021 semester. Your input is vital to having a Code of Conduct that we believe to be comprehensive, reflective of our values and that holds community members accountable in appropriate ways. All students will receive information on how to sign up for a focus group prior to fall break.
The College has been working on other initiatives aimed at furthering our goal of diversity and inclusion, including:
Your concerns have directed our continual review of College policies to the Student Code of Conduct. Our current Student Code of Conduct allows for expulsion for acts like blackface and has a section specifically for aggravated violations which gives the hearing panel the ability to increase sanctions for students who are found responsible for violations of any College policy targeting an individual or group due to race, among other things. However, I don’t think our current Code of Conduct adequately or clearly portrays our commitment to diversity and inclusion and our denunciation of acts of racial bias. It is apparent that modifications to the Code are necessary. Your points are well taken and I’m grateful for your activism.
Over the last several months Student Experience team members have been working to draft modifications of our Code of Conduct to better articulate the standards of conduct and respect we expect from all members of our community. The draft revision of the Code of Conduct will be ready in time for the start of the semester. At that time, the Student Experience team will hold a series of student focus groups to gather feedback and input into the Code of Conduct with the goal of making additional revisions if necessary by the end of the Fall term for implementation in the Spring 2021 semester. Your input is vital to having a Code of Conduct that we believe to be comprehensive, reflective of our values and that holds community members accountable in appropriate ways. All students will receive information on how to sign up for a focus group prior to fall break.
The College has been working on other initiatives aimed at furthering our goal of diversity and inclusion, including:
- A new Diversity and Inclusion presentation at New Student Orientation that will focus on how socialization shapes our perceptions and influences our personal patterns of communication, biases, fears, and comfort levels; educates students about prejudice, microaggressions, and biased behaviors and their unacceptability in our community; and communicates the College’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
- An integrated approach to Academic and College Success (ACS) classes that will allow for students to discuss the diversity and inclusion presentation in their first class/weekend on campus. The ACS planning group has also worked with Community & Belonging to weave DEI topics throughout the semester-long ACS course.
- All incoming students will complete an online diversity webinar prior to their arrival that focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion and acts of bias.
- The Divisions of Community and Belong and Academic Affairs will be collaborating to implement a number of recommendations from the Diversity in the Curriculum Task Force, whose charge was to "integrate diversity and inclusion into the curriculum and create on-going opportunities to develop scholarship and pedagogical practices that advance diversity and inclusion at Nazareth College."
- In spring 2020, a newly formed Association for Faculty and Staff of Color was convened with a number of objectives that include serving as resources for campus-wide diversity initiatives.
Additional information about these and other initiatives will be shared as we move forward.
Thank you for informing our critical review of our Code of Conduct and thank you, in advance, for your input as we revise the Code of Conduct this fall. There is much work that is needed to create the anti-racist community that we are striving to achieve - here at Nazareth, in our neighboring communities, and in society writ large. Our mission calls us to be an active part of the solution. We are hopeful that with our students’ collaboration, we are positioned now better than ever to meet the challenge.
Sincerely,
Beth Paul, President
Thank you for informing our critical review of our Code of Conduct and thank you, in advance, for your input as we revise the Code of Conduct this fall. There is much work that is needed to create the anti-racist community that we are striving to achieve - here at Nazareth, in our neighboring communities, and in society writ large. Our mission calls us to be an active part of the solution. We are hopeful that with our students’ collaboration, we are positioned now better than ever to meet the challenge.
Sincerely,
Beth Paul, President
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