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.

Institutional Renewal Pluralism Subgroup and other Strategic Planning

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

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

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

Inclusive Excellence Scorecard

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.