Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.09
Liaison Joseph Kahn
Submission Date Oct. 15, 2020

STARS v2.2

Central Michigan University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.58 / 3.00 A.T. Miller
Vice President and CDO
President's Division
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a publicly posted non-discrimination statement? :
Yes

The non-discrimination statement, including the website URL where the policy is publicly accessible:

“Central Michigan University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. It encourages diversity and provides equal opportunity in education, employment, all of its programs, and the use of its facilities. It is committed to protecting the constitutional and statutory civil rights of persons connected with the university.

Unlawful acts of discrimination or harassment by members of the campus community are prohibited.

In addition, even if not illegal, acts are prohibited if they discriminate against any university community member(s) through inappropriate limitation of access to, or participation in, educational, employment, athletic, social, cultural, or other university activities on the basis of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, race, religion, sex, sex-based stereotypes, sexual orientation, transgender status, veteran status, or weight. Furthermore, even if not illegal, acts are prohibited if they discriminate against any university community member(s) through inappropriate limitation of access to, or participation in, educational, employment, athletic, social, cultural, or other university activities because they inquired about, discussed, or disclosed the compensation of the employee or applicant or another employee or applicant.

Limitations are appropriate if they are directly related to a legitimate university purpose, are required by law or rules of associations to which the Board of Trustees has determined the university will belong, are lawfully required by a grant or contract between the university and the state or federal government.

The president is directed to promulgate practices and procedures to realize this policy. The procedures shall include the identification of an office to which persons are encouraged to report instances of discrimination and a process for the investigation and resolution of these reports/complaints.”​

https://www.cmich.edu/office_president/OCRIE/Pages/Nondiscrimination-Statement.aspx


Does the institution have a discrimination response protocol or committee (sometimes called a bias response team)?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s discrimination response protocol or team:

"The Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity “supervises the maintenance of related reports and records, provides and develops related educational programs and materials, offers guidance and advice to all community members on the University's nondiscrimination and affirmative action policies and procedures, assists departments with recruitment and retention activities, and receives and resolves complaints of discrimination from students, employees and others.”

https://www.cmich.edu/office_president/OCRIE/Pages/About-OCRIE.aspx

The following information from the CMU website contains information on the procedure in the event of an incident:

"The Protocol and the Sexual Misconduct Policy establish procedures for the resolution of complaints and concerns arising under those policies. Although the complaint resolution processes under these policies are not identical, they are similar in many ways. Under these complaint resolution processes, an investigation is commenced with the filing of a formal written complaint. Informal resolution (e.g. mediation) may be available under certain circumstances; however, there may be situations where informal resolution is inappropriate (e.g. allegations of sexual assault). Attempts at informal resolution are not required before the filing of a formal written complaint and the commencement of a formal investigation.

A formal investigation is carried out by a trained investigator from the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity. The investigator will interview the parties and any witnesses. Prior to interviewing the responding, or accused, party, they are provided notice of the complaint filed against them, including a copy of the written complaint. The parties may submit written statements or other physical evidence to the investigator. The investigator may also independently secure evidence. After the completion of the

investigation, the investigator prepares a written report, referred to as a Determination, that includes a summary of the evidence reviewed, a statement of the applicable University policies, an analysis of the evidence as it relates to those policies, findings of fact related to the evidence, and, ultimately, a conclusion as to whether or not a policy violation occurred.

Under the complaint resolution procedures of the University, it is the individual filing the complaint's burden to prove by a "preponderance of the evidence" that a policy violation has occurred. As such, the evidence must show that "it is more likely that a violation did occur than that a violation did not occur."

In the event a policy violation is found to have occurred, the investigator will forward the Determination to the appropriate University official for discipline or sanctioning. The Office of Civil Rights does not have the authority to discipline individuals; however, as part of the investigative report, the investigator will make recommendations as to appropriate discipline and interventions as to stop the discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct, address its affects, and prevent its reoccurrence.

All complaint resolution and sanctioning processes are also carried out in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreements or employee handbooks."

The following website is the CMU Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Protocol:

https://www.cmich.edu/office_president/general_counsel/Documents/p03006.pdf

not well established, hold off until Jan


Does the institution have programs specifically designed to recruit students from underrepresented groups?:
Yes

Does the institution have programs specifically designed to recruit academic staff from underrepresented groups?:
No

Does the institution have programs designed specifically to recruit non-academic staff from underrepresented groups?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s programs to recruit students, academic staff, and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups:

Multicultural Academic Student Services offers multiple programs and resources for academic, social, personal support, retention initiatives, mentoring and leadership development. Multicultural scholarships include the Lloyd M. Cofer, Multicultural Advancement, Multicultural Award of Distinction and LaMarcus Howard scholarships.

The following website is the search waiver policy for employing individuals from underrepresented groups:

https://www.cmich.edu/office_president/general_counsel/Documents/p04034.pdf

https://www.cmich.edu/ess/cid/MASS/Pages/Default.aspx

OCRIE.


Does the institution have mentoring, counseling, peer support, academic support, or other programs designed specifically to support students from underrepresented groups on campus?:
Yes

Does the institution have mentoring, counseling, peer support or other programs designed specifically to support academic staff from underrepresented groups on campus?:
No

Does the institution have mentoring, counseling, peer support or other programs to support non-academic staff from underrepresented groups on campus?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s programs designed specifically to support students, academic staff, and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups:

The Center for Inclusion and Diversity houses multiple offices, programs and resources, including Multicultural Academic Student Services, Native American Program, LGBTQ Services, Veterans’ Resource Center and the grant program Student Transition Enrichment Program (STEP).

https://www.cmich.edu/ess/cid/Pages/default.aspx

The mission of Pathways is to assist first generation, Pell grant eligible, and multicultural students in achieving their academic and professional goals. By participating in Pathways, scholars have a community of faculty, staff, and students that are dedicated to walking alongside each scholar in their journey to graduation. Pathways scholars will take classes with other Pathways scholars, be assigned a faculty/staff mentor, and develop a personalized academic plan with their Pathways academic advisor.

https://www.cmich.edu/ess/oss/pathways/Pages/About-Us.aspx

AFFinity groups.


Does the institution have training and development programs, teaching fellowships and/or other programs that specifically aim to support and prepare students from underrepresented groups for careers as faculty members?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s programs to support and prepare students from underrepresented groups for careers as faculty members:

The attached documentation is the Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Program, detailing the efforts to spread diversity awareness and recruit faculty from diverse backgrounds.

"CMU offers the King Chavez Parks Future Faculty Fellows to help aspiring graduate students develop in becoming faculty in post-secondary education. “The KCP Initiative is funded by the Michigan Workforce Development Agency and was started in 1986 with the intention of increasing the opportunities for Michigan’s most educationally disadvantaged citizens to achieve and excel as future professors.”

https://www.cmich.edu/diversity/OID/Pages/King%20Chavez%20Parks%20-%20Future%20Faculty%20Fellowship.aspx


Does the institution produce a publicly accessible inventory of gender-neutral bathrooms on campus?:
Yes

Does the institution offer housing options to accommodate the special needs of transgender and transitioning students?:
Yes

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for underrepresented groups is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.