Calvin University
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Calvin College prohibits unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local statute or ordinance. http://www.calvin.edu/admin/hr/ Calvin College does not discriminate with regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender or disability in any of its educational programs or activities. http://calvin.edu/admissions/facts-standards/

Calvin College is committed to performing all of our tasks as a caring and diverse community. Each person – faculty, staff, student, trustee, volunteer, visitor, contractor, and vendor – who has chosen to engage with the Calvin community thereby affirms he or she is willing to uphold the community's stated standards of conduct and ensure that Calvin College provides a safe environment for students, staff, faculty, and guests of the college. The college addresses all complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation through its Safer Spaces policy and team of investigations. Harassment, discrimination and retaliation of any form are a violation of a person’s rights, dignity, and integrity. Such acts debase the integrity of the educational process and are contrary to the mission and values of Calvin College. In response to any reported misconduct, the college will take appropriate steps to eliminate the misconduct, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effects. The college will review and investigate all reports, and provide for fair and impartial evaluation and resolution. Retaliation against a person who makes a good faith report of harassment or discrimination or anyone participating as a witness in an investigation or hearing is prohibited. for flow chart of how we respond to a complaint see https://calvin.edu/offices-services/safer-spaces/policy-and-process/safer-spaces-process-workflow.pdf For the ploicy and list of investigators see https://calvin.edu/offices-services/safer-spaces/policy-and-process/ - example of a response: During 17 -18 year a complaint of racial harassment was filled against a staff member by another staff member. Through the information gathering stage we discovered a pattern that included 5 additional people willing to make the same complaint againt the same staff member. Testimony was taken from witnesses, a discussion with held with the person the complaint was brought against. The person accused of racial discrimination was found to more likely than not to have exhibited discriminatory behavoir and was terminated form the institution. Measures were taken to ensure that that those who brought the complaint felt safe and the college offered counseling services to those who thought it would be helpful.

Of our eight pre-college programs, five are directed towards under-represented students: Entrada, S.T.E.P., Aspirando Alto, MLK Young Leaders program, and Hop on the Bus. https://calvin.edu/offices-services/pre-college-programs/programs/ Additionally, the college offers scholarships (MOASIC, First Generation, Entrada) which attract under-represented students. https://calvin.edu/offices-services/financial-aid/types/scholarships/additional-awards/ While we have no formal program to recruit under-represented employees, all search committees and hiring officers must complete an unconscious bias workshop to increase awareness of potential bias in the hiring process. Additionally, HR reviews all employee recruitment plans and requires that ads are placed in venues that have diverse audiences (additional funding for ads is available); ... these efforts yielded an increase in the number of people of color in our application pool and 28 % of new staff hires for fall 2017 were people of color. Our Faculty Handbook (Article 3.4.2) articulates the colleg's policy for the recruitment of faculty candidates who would enhance the cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity of the campus.(copied below) 3.4.2 / Recruitment of Faculty Candidates Who Would Enhance Cultural, Ethnic, or Racial Diversity 3.4.2.1 / Recruiting Responsibilities of Departments Each department must document its efforts to recruit a culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse faculty at the occasion of each search and also annually in the state of the department report of the chair. If the Professional Status Committee judges that a department has not made sufficient progress in searching for and/or hiring persons who would enhance cultural, ethnic, or racial diversity, the committee may advise the president not to approve the opening or to offer a term position when a tenure-track position has been requested, in order to allow more time for a department to cultivate candidates and conduct a search for the tenure-track position in a subsequent year. 3.4.2.2 / Additional Positions for Candidates Who Would Enhance Cultural, Ethnic, or Racial Diversity If faculty candidates who would enhance cultural, ethnic, or racial diversity are presented to the Professional Status Committee, they will be given full III. Faculty Personnel Policies 73 consideration for regular faculty appointments irrespective of the existence of an open tenure-track position in the department. Any person appointed under this policy should be able to satisfy a departmental need, even if no declared need relative to the department exists. Moreover, the person should be considered to satisfy a declared departmental need as soon as possible. (Thus, for example, when a departmental position is vacated because of retirement, resignation, etc., the position vacated will be eliminated. Also, no replacement will normally be sought for a person on leave of absence in that department.) The position of a person holding regular appointment in a given department will not be jeopardized

The college offers: mentoring, peer support groups, academic support groups, and leadership development opportunities for underrepresented students. Affinity group gatherings for employees of color are offered twice every semester. One-on-one get-to-know you meetings between the lead diversity officer and all new faculty and staff of color are held each fall. Mentoring relationships develop out of these meetings. The provost office offers scholarship development sessions for under-represented faculty (females and people of color) Additionally, the college has an intention living-learning community called "Grassroots" where a self-selected set of 20 - 30 diverse students live on the same dorm floor and commit to exploring issues of race and racism together.

Safer Spaces policy https://calvin.edu/offices-services/safer-spaces/policy-and-process/safer-spaces-process-workflow.pdf Grassroots floor: http://www.calvin.edu/housing/housing-options/living-learning-communities/residence-halls/2nd-van-reken/ Additional Resources for Transgender students: https://calvin.edu/dotAsset/3a87b0de-2a36-44f9-ae1b-5878fdcc9c65.pdf Additional information on providing a safe enviroment: https://calvin.edu/offices-services/student-life/programs/sexuality-series/lgbt-homosexuality-faq.html Information from the faculty handbook https://calvin.edu/directory/publications/handbook-for-teaching-faculty