Diversity Caucus

2005/6 State of the Community Report

 

Excellence is about performing well above and beyond the call of duty. It’s about bringing a commitment to the task that comes from deep in the heart. It’s about the trust that it takes to work together when the odds seem slim or the goal seems unattainable. It’s about a community where no one leaves part of his or herself at the door---not their culture, their passions, or any part of their capabilities.

 

The Diversity Caucus is a grass roots antiracism organization. There are 200 individuals on its listserv and this forum generates discussions daily on a number of issues. This listserv holds the most responsive set of volunteers. This was  demonstrated by the rapid response to the "math incident" when Diversity Caucus members such as Denise Johnson, Akemi Matsumoto, Cora Nixon, Helen Taylor, Russ Payne, Louis Watanabe, Ed Biggers, Sayumi Irey, Suzy LePeintre and many more came to the forefront to determine strategy, mount brown bag sessions, and show films to educate on racism. Not acknowledged is the behind-the-scenes crisis management to avert further fallout.

 

This year Jean Floten acknowledged the contribution of the Diversity Caucus and other pluralism initiatives to her receiving the 2006 national John L. Blackburn Award for Exemplary Models of Administrative Leadership from the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA). The AAUA cited the national Charles Kennedy Equity Award from the Association of Community College Trustees, the National Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Collaboration Award from the Community College National Center of Community Engagement, and the national Sen. Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization from NAFSA: The Association of International Educators as awards that are “given to only a handful of colleges and or universities nationally.

Minority Access, Inc. also named BCC one of the “Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities Committed to Diversity” one of only five community colleges that include Maricopa Community College (Ariz.), Brevard Community College (Fla.), Bristol Community College (Mass.) and the Houston Community College System.

 

Our Diversity Caucus Chair, the indomitable Cora Nixon was an amazing leader in one of the most challenging years that we've had for some time. She was both an oasis of calm and a firebrand advocate for equity as the campus roiled over the math question controversy. She was also there--speaking on our behalf on radio, manning booths at endless community fairs and student orientations. She is living demonstration of the incredible jewels who are hidden in our community. This coming year, Cora (pictured here with her warrior necklace from the Diversity Caucus) will share Diversity Caucus Chair duties with Susan Gjolmesli.

 

Institutional Renewal Pluralism Subgroup and other Strategic Planning - The move from first-order change to transformation is underway with recommendations already implemented from the Institutional Renewal - Pluralism Subgroup Report. Jim Bennett is our new VP Equity and Pluralism. Lisa Shyne is our new MCS Director.

 

Living Treasures Celebration - The Living Treasures Celebration serves an important symbolic purpose in inculcating pluralism into the embedded values of our college. It gives recognition to those who may not receive the traditional awards of the college because they make waves. It means a tremendous amount that everyone treats this as a family event, both in bringing their families and in the overwhelming feeling of family when we gather. On January 27, 2006 we celebrated the naming of five Living Treasures, Ruthann Kurose, Kae Hutchison, Sayumi Irey, Myra Van Vactor and Leslie Lum.

Courageous Conversations and Beyond Diversity -- We celebrated the 244 courageous people who engaged in Beyond Diversity and we added another 47 on opening week September 2006. Akemi Matsumoto began a training the trainer program that has prepared ten of our own to conduct Beyond Diversity workshops. The key is to get folks to the Courageous Conversations. That is where the change happens.

Employee Pluralism -- The Employee Pluralism Committee has been the main driver behind organizing Beyond Diversity and Courageous Conversations. Juan Ulloa continues leadership of the Employee Pluralism Committee and along with Robin Jeffers has mapped out actions to increase faculty of color. The EPC takes on the difficult task of meeting our strategic vision of true pluralism in recruiting faculty and employees of color to equal the compositional diversity of students.

Pluralism in the CurriculumThe committee made recommendations for hiring faculty staff of color (still to be presented to Ed Services), creation of database to track committee members, steps in hiring practices and results of hirings, and got a commitment from IR to disagreggate student success rates by race/ethnicity at the classroom/section level where individual faculty can use their identification numbers to access disaggregated data about their own individual success with self-identified students of color and at-risk students. The entire English Department including past chair Jeffrey White and current chair Sydney Dietrich, plus Donna Meek and Cora Nixon (who facilitated) should be acknowledged for their ongoing work on Courageous Conversations in the English Department on how to increase compositional diversity.

Student Pluralism -- The Student Pluralism Committee continued its work on focus groups with the disabled student focus group. Their outreach resulted in an increase in students of color in ASG. Major achievements include the Colors of the Community Fair, headed by Faisal Jaswal of Student Programs and the capable and multicultural student leadership, which attracted over 4000 from the community despite inclement weather.

American Indian Film Festival-- The American Indian Film Festival had the misfortune of conflicting with the "math incident." Despite that over 700 people attended the 27 events of the festival. It is becoming an establishment in our community.

kcbs 93.1 FM - Our illustrious radio station is growing a volunteer-powered and social justice-focused newsroom, where reporters and producers are community members committed to skill sharing and facilitating media making of, by, and for our communities.

 

 

 

Institutional Renewal Pluralism Subgroup and other Strategic Planning

 

 

  2002  of Color   2003  of Color   2004 of Color   2005 of Color 2005 All Percent
Administrative 9   2   1   2 8 25%
Classified 84   78   80   81 252 32%
Full-Time Faculty 19   19   20   20 148 14%
Part-Time Faculty 54   58   51   73 596 12%
Professional/Technical 12   22   22   21 145 14%

 

Fall 2005 Student Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity

 

 

 

 

Race Ethnicity

State & contract

All Students

African American

405

440

Alaska Native

8

8

Asian

1839

2012

Multi-Racial

443

459

Native American

62

67

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

26

29

Other Race

431

464

Pacific Islander

14

15

Unknown Race

984

4704

White

8010

9267

Latino/a

866

932

 

Race/ Ethnicity Full-time Faculty State & Contract Students
African American 5 412
Asian/Pacific Islander 13 2,387
Latino/ Hispanic* 1 417
Native American 1 75
White 128 8,052
Faculty Total 148  
Multi-Racial 20 443
Other Race   438
Student Total   11,807

 

Race/ Ethnicity Part-time Faculty State & Contract Students
African American 6 412
Asian/Pacific Islander 44 2,387
Latino/ Hispanic* 21 417
Native American 2 75
White 523 8,052
Faculty Total 596  
Multi-Racial 73 443
Other Race   438
Student Total   11,807
* Latino/Hispanic origin students who selected a race are counted under their designated racial category.  The 11,807 excludes the 417 Latino/Hispanic students.
State refers to fully or partically funded courses funded by state resources. 
Contract designates courses funded by grants or contracts

 

 

 

Member of the Diversity Caucus engaged in a number of planning initiatives throughout the year including the Institutional Renewal Pluralism Subgroup which produced the most comprehensive reports of all the Institutional Effectiveness Committees convened. The planning retreat with the Washington Center reinforced the key recommendations summarized below. As everyone know, Jim Bennett is already in his new position as VP Equity and Pluralism and Lisa Shyne is our new MCS Director. We are optimistic that movement will be made in the other positions as well.

 

Institutional Renewal Pluralism Subgroup Report Executive Summary - February 2006

Although college has garnered national recognition for our pluralism efforts, as defined by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the college is still engaged in first-order change in inclusive excellence. Diversity and equity are not part of the embedded values of our college and we continue to mount programs to solve the “problem.”  We believe that it is essential to push the college to large-scale transformation. To achieve this goal, the following recommendations are made:

 

  1. The key recommendation of this committee is that the college adopt a structure that defines inclusive excellence as a top priority of the college and that encompasses accountability at all levels from the President on down. Inherent in this recommendation is the creation of an Inclusive Excellence Scorecard which addresses the access and equity; diversity in the curriculum; campus climate; and student learning and development.

 

  1. To stop the erosion of efforts which have brought acclaim to the college we must:

·         Fill the Multicultural Services Director position immediately. This position serves a vital function in supporting the 4500 students of color in our college.

·         Continue to keep Human Development at full contingent of 6 FTEs. This department provides substantial support to our students of color.

·         Increase the pluralism budget by $37,000 to a total of $75,000 to sustain essential programs that rely precariously on donated time and money.

·         Allocate permanent program chair funding (1/9 release) for Ethnic and Cultural Studies.

 

  1. Create the position of Vice President, Pluralism and Equity which reports to the president and is broadly empowered to hold all levels of the institution accountable for achieving the goals of the Inclusive Excellence Scorecard.

 

  1. Allocate one full-time equivalent faculty to and development funds for additional courses in the Ethnic and Cultural Studies Program for 2007/8. This program has proven itself successful in attracting and retaining students of color.

 

  1. Create the position of ombuds to track student, faculty and staff complaints and issues and to recommend changes to college processes that counter institutional racism and other deterrents to inclusive excellence. This position may be filled with 2/3 release in 2006/7 with full-time funding in 2007/8.

 

  1. Create a director of professional development and other training to develop skills to improve retention of students and employees. This position may be filled with 1/3 release in 2006/7 with full-time funding in 2007/8.

 

  1. Create a half-time development position in 2006/7 to be increased to full-time in 2007/8 in Institutional Advancement to be devoted entirely to raising funds for inclusive excellence efforts.

 

  1. Create a full-time administrative support position for the VP Pluralism and Equity in 2008/9.

 

  1. Create the Director of the Antiracism Institute position once funds have been raised to support the center.

 

Inclusive Excellence Scorecard

 

 

Indicators

BCC Accountability Examples

Access and Equity

  • Proportion of students, faculty and staff of color
  • Number of students of color by program
  • Retention of students, faculty and staff of color
  • Comparative percent of students of color by race with A grades by division
  • Disaggregation of student data (enrollment, retention, grade received) by course and instructor
  • Proportion of administrators of color
  • Proportion students of color admitted and transferred to UW or other four-year institutions

 

  • All organizational units are responsible for setting and meeting goals for achieving compositional diversity
  • All administrators’ performance appraisals will be based on achieving these goals
  • All employees will address their contribution to inclusive excellence in their performance appraisal
  • Organizational units will disaggregate data, address and be accountable for pluralism objectives through PEP, the program review process or any other review required by the college
  • Organizational units will set goals, propose remedies for deficit indicators, and timelines for  inclusive excellence

Diversity in the curriculum

  • Number of courses related to intercultural, international and multicultural topics
  • Proportion of students of color by course and instructor
  • Campus centers, institutes and departments dedicated to exploring racism, whiteness, intercultural, international, and multicultural topics
  • Articles, monographs, lectures and new knowledge that is produced around issues of diversity

 

  • Tenure review process includes an evaluation of how inclusive excellence is incorporated
  • Tenured faculty evaluation includes how diversity and equity is addressed by individual faculty in college governance, professional development, curriculum development and research.
  • Number and percent of courses with audited cultural diversity rating of 2 or 3.
  • Development of assessment tools for cultural pluralism and implementation of these tools

 

Campus climate

  • Faculty and employee of color surveys for feelings of belonging
  • Student of color focus groups and surveys
  • Incidents of harassment based on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation
  • Intergroup relations and behaviors on campus
  • Retention of students, faculty and staff of color
  • Number of student activities where students groups of different races interact

 

  • Creation of the office of the ombuds to track and report on these statistics, including remedial action that must be taken
  • Student, employee and faculty surveys developed and implemented
  • Institutional research will provide an annual compilation of the campus climate studies

 

Student learning and development

  • Acquisition of knowledge about whiteness, diverse groups, and cultures as determined by assessment
  • Number of students in college activities related to pluralism
  • Number of students who vote
  • Number of students who engage in the community and social causes
  • Creation of an assessment to measure knowledge acquisition and attitude change
  • Measurement of active engagement in pluralism
  • Research on the longitudinal impact of this strategy on student success

Adapted from  Williams, Damon A., Berger, Joseph B., and McClendon, Shederick A., “Toward a Model of Inclusive Excellence and Change in Post-Secondary Institutions,”  2005, http://www.aacu.org/inclusive_excellence/papers.cfm, Association of American Colleges and Universities briefing paper, p.21

 

Living Treasures Celebration - January 27, 2006

An evening of healing, friendship, family, and celebration.

The designation of Living Treasure is to honor those who made a difference in advancing pluralism in our community. They serve as models and mentors—providing inspiration with their purpose, heart, and wisdom. They are the folk heroes who live amongst us. This special distinction is our gift to the beloved “elders” as well as an expression of gratitude for all they have done. Often these members of our community did their hard work in frustrating and difficult circumstances with little or no recognition for their efforts. It was on the shoulders of these people that we were able to move forward in the past few years.

 

As important as it is, the Living Treasures Celebration continues to be mounted entirely on volunteer effort and a bounty of donated food. We thank Jennifer Gordon and Amy MacNeill who did the lion's share of the work in making it the most magical and warm evening. Thanks also to Kim Burns and Lucy Macneil who rounded out the planning committee. They are white women allies who stepped up and set the bar higher than ever.

 

Sayumi Irey, our first Diversity Caucus co-chair, is a dynamo. She currently leads the Ethnic and Cultural Studies Program which has grown to 11 courses and over 400% in enrollment. Articulation agreements have been signed with the UW Bothell and Seattle with more to come. She is Chair of the Tenure Review Committee and is actively (and on her personal time) involved with the Multicultural Student Leadership along with doing graduate work. Her influence on the Professional Development and BCC Reads! Committees were felt in diversity training and diversity curriculum. She is universally admired and respected. Myra Van Vactor played a pivotal role in our pluralism efforts by getting a key grant from the Washington State Library three years ago. This grant funded our first Beyond Diversity Workshop with Glenn Singleton which was a turning point in pluralism at BCC. She also is an exceptionally gracious host, making the library a vibrant center for pluralism (despite the huge disruption) with events like Frank Wu and Vi Hulbert which brought overflowing crowds of up to 200 students. The library also hosted the Employee Pluralism's film series that welcomed students, faculty and staff alike to share films like "The Wedding Banquet."  You need only look at the compositional diversity of the library staff to know how much Myra supports pluralism and how comfortable a home she has made the Library Media Center for all students, staff, and faculty.

 

Ruthann Kurose, who has been on our Board of Trustees for 13 years. Ruthann has been untiring in her support of pluralism at BCC and she pushes us to achieve more. She has attended Beyond Diversity workshops and is a loyal participant at all our events including the American Indian Film Festival. She has made countless introductions to key people in the community and a strong advocate on our behalf with the state legislature. Kae Hutchison was honored for her early work on pluralism and white privilege. Lucy Macneil acknowledged Kae for being early as a white administrator in identifying white privilege as a barrier to eliminating racism.Living Treasure, Tika Esler, will be moving to be near her daughter and her new granddaughter who will be arriving this spring. Tika will be missed for her formidable administrative skills and the passion she brings to providing the best services and support for all our students.

 

An incredible performance by Owuor Arunga, a native of Kisumu Kenya and the son of BCC faculty Marcia Arunga, provided more evidence of the amazing talent in the BCC family. As a graduate of the New School University, he has played with the beacons of jazz (Charlie Persip, Candido Camero, Billy Bang, The Cadillacs, Robert Glasper, Louis Reyes Rivera) and apprenticed with masters Olu Dara, Jimmy Owens, and Chico Freeman. The "Young Lions" dazzled the crowd with their exceptional playing and had us all up and dancing. Nothing lights up a crowd more than the genius of the coming generation.

 

Courageous Conversations and Beyond Diversity

Racism is like the weather: you can’t get away from it. If this is not evident to you, Courageous Conversations is a good place to start exploring why.

Courageous Conversations has resulted in the breakdown of barriers across race, employee class and department. In addition to ongoing work against institutional racism, Courageous Conversations serves as the most effective communication mechanism to develop curriculum, discuss teaching and learning around pluralism, troubleshoot problems and rejuvenate the heavily-taxed individuals who do the hard anti-racism work on campus.

 

Courageous Conversations and Beyond Diversity received a Foundation Minigrant and a Title III grant to fund the Train the Trainer workshop so that BCC can use its own cadre to conduct training. Our facilitators are becoming as skilled as the consultants we bring in. We need to keep sight of the fact that it's the Courageous Conversations and not Beyond Diversity alone that can transform the college.

 

Akemi Matsumoto who are already a national consultant on diversity training will carry on the work of Beyond Diversity and Courageous Conversations.

 

Division/Dept  
 Attendees
Total
Arts & Humanities 27
Administrative Services 25
Board of Trustees 1