ARC Updates

Fall 2022 Community Update

This past April, President Newkirk announced the creation of the University’s Anti-Racism Committee (ARC).  The membership of the ARC was intentional to provide for representation across the University Community.  In addition to development of an anti-racism action plan, the Charge to the ARC lays out explicitly the specific areas for the ARC’s focus.

As the ARC began its work this summer and into the fall, its focus has been on organizing the tasks needed to address each of the focus areas in a meaningful way.  The Charge references a framework for anti-racist work in higher education that is national standard.  In 2021, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) published “A Framework for Advancing the Anti-Racism Strategy on Campus” (Framework).  The Framework sets forth ten (10) priority areas for developing anti-racism strategies that are applicable for a variety of colleges and universities.  Those priority areas are:

1. Institutional Structure
2. Policies and Procedures
3. Resource Allocation
4. Academic Equity and Student Success
5. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6. Hiring, Retention, and Promotion
7. Institutional Programming
8. Education/Training/Employee Development
9. Campus Climate/Culture
10. Admissions and Access

These priority areas serve as the primary structure for the ARC as it works towards its primary goal – to confront systemic racism by examining institutional and systemic practices. 

In addition, during this fall the ARC has begun its work by identifying the way the NADOHE framework informs the manner in which it will approach the specific areas of the Charge.  Accordingly, the ARC has developed three subcommittees to organize its review in developing recommendations for initiatives and assign responsibilities: Transformation, Personnel, and Academic.

This structure has already allowed the ARC to define the Charge in ways that are actionable.  For example, the Transformation Subcommittee has discussed issues related to safety on campus with Public Safety.  Similarly, the Personnel Subcommittee has discussed personnel policies with our Department of Human Resources, and the Academic Subcommittee has worked to best understand how to approach issues related to student success.  The work of each subcommittee is being categorized in a matrix to address:

1. What information do we need to know?
2. What do we need (data, policies, etc.)?
3. Expected time for Completion
4. Short-term/Intermediate/Long-term Goals
5. Projected Outcome(s)

As its work continues, the ARC welcomes input from the University Community.  The regular meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm in the Bulldog Room.  The next ARC Update will come in the Spring Semester.