Claremont McKenna College
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

This imperative was passed by the CMC faculty in April 2007 and by the CMC Board of Trustees in May 2007:

The value that we place on diversity at Claremont McKenna College - in our student body, in our faculty and staff, and in our curriculum - derives directly from our mission to prepare our students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions.

In helping students to acquire the vision, skills, and values they will need to lead society, we must ensure that they are able to succeed in the current social, political, and economic environments, which are increasingly diverse and globally-oriented. To execute our mission, then, it is crucial that we seek to enroll a diverse student body, to recruit a diverse faculty and staff, and to place great value on respect for differences.

Diversity and Inclusion at CMC

Students at Flamson Plaza
The value that we place on diversity at Claremont McKenna College - in our student body, in our faculty and staff, and in our curriculum - derives directly from our mission to prepare our students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions.

In helping students to acquire the vision, skills, and values they will need to lead society, we must ensure that they are able to succeed in the current social, political, and economic environments, which are increasingly diverse and globally-oriented. To execute our mission, then, it is crucial that we seek to enroll a diverse student body, to recruit a diverse faculty and staff, and to place great value on respect for differences.

Passed by the CMC faculty in April 2007 and by the CMC Board of Trustees in May 2007

A Strategic Approach
Claremont McKenna College’s unique and distinctive mission is to educate students for thoughtful and productive lives and roles of responsible leadership. In an increasingly integrated global market, transformative leaders will be called upon for solutions to complex problems. Our graduates should be perceptive, thoughtful strategists who are able to engage critical questions that transcend a narrow world view—graduates who are prepared to foster environments in which diversity of thought and perspective is valued. Indeed, CMC’s Statement on Diversity, approved by the Board of Trustees and the Faculty, affirms the community’s shared commitment to recruit and retain the most talented and exceptionally promising students, faculty, and staff. The community is to represent a broad spectrum of political and academic philosophies, as well as to reflect diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, geographic region, age, sexual orientation, and life experiences. All CMC students are expected to graduate with the capacity to live successful, meaningful lives.

In addition, the College is committed to ensure that every community member, especially each student, is fully engaged and valued at CMC, that each person thrives here, is a valued member of our community, is heard, and seen, and respected. The College supports inclusion as an open, community-wide process that reinforces respectful, civil, and deliberate discourse—particularly through constructive disagreements—on challenges of common concern.

CMC’s comprehensive, data-driven strategy reinforces the mission of the College, sharpens the vision for diversity and inclusion, and highlights core values through ongoing assessment and action.

Foundational Beliefs and Principles

CMC is committed to an open and inclusive environment that values diversity and reinforces respectful, deliberate, civil discourse on issues of common concern. The College strives to be an environment in which the full expression of personal and intellectual perspectives is protected and encouraged. Foundational to this goal are the following core beliefs and principles shared by the CMC community:

We value and respect difference, and recognize that no person can be reduced to one dimension of identity.
We believe that responsible leaders must have the tools to engage multiple dimensions of identity and must strive for inclusivity in intellect, ability, and perspective.
We acknowledge that we learn the most when we interact with people who are different from ourselves, when we encounter new experiences and perspectives, and when we work together to achieve common goals.
We support critical inquiry, freedom of association, and freedom of speech as hallmarks of higher education.
We seek to find a balance between challenging and supportive spaces for students to engage in dialogue and to learn from one another.
We affirm that there is no one way to learn in a diverse community; there are no fixed spaces in which diversity resides, and there is no official ideology or discourse to be adhered to.

The CARE Center (Civility, Access, Resources, and Expression) is an innovative undertaking that seeks to proactively engage and educate the community. The Center seeks to build capacity in communicating across difference with respect and civility. We are challenging ourselves to achieve the dual goal of providing space for dialogue and expression in a civil manner while also providing resources to support inclusion and remove institutional barriers to student success.

A guiding set of objectives and principles ensures that the CARE Center is a space for expression, study, dialogue, and exploration of our intersecting social identities and how they inform the ways in which we live within, learn from, and engage with the world.

Staff:

Vince Greer, Director and ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENTS FOR DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, AND RESIDENTIAL LIFE

CARE Center Fellows
The CARE Center Fellows are student leaders from various backgrounds who are passionate about building community across difference. They are committed to fostering a supportive campus environment that values multiple identities and perspectives while being ambassadors for the CARE Center and the campus at large.

Services
CARE Center services provide emotional and academic support for students. The goal is to give students a bridge to Claremont Colleges services and address barriers to student success. The Queer Resource Center, Office of Black Student Affairs, Student Disability Resource Center, Chicano/ Latino Resource Center, and the Chaplains Office each rotate office hours within the Center so students can connect with the external resources that each office provides.

Additional services include academic advising, mental health counseling, and mentorship activities. Students have opportunities to connect with faculty through programming and regular office hours and receive daily support and mentorship from the CARE Center staff.

Student groups and organizations are welcome to reserve CARE Center spaces for meetings.

Diversity Resources
Fall Dialogue Initiative Resources

Programs
CARE Center programs are intended to bring together groups from across campus that may not usually engage with one another. The programs are intentionally designed to bring in a wide range of perspectives and provide space for diverse opinions. Some of the programs include:

Community-Wide Dialogue: You. Me. Together CMC.
The CARE Center launched the year with a community-wide dialogue event that provided an opportunity to converse thoughtfully across difference; to exchange ideas, narratives, and counter-narratives; to engage difficult topics; and to evolve our thinking about personal and socially constructed identities. The event was held on September 9 at Roberts Pavilion and was well attended by over 400 students, staff, and faculty.

Values, Identity, Scholarship, and the Arts (VISA)
In association with the Dean of the Faculty’s Office, the VISA program provides an opportunity for faculty and staff to gather with students and share how their careers choices have been shaped by their identities and life experiences.

Real Talk series
Each month, the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, leads discussions about topical issues arising from current events. The program provides an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to consider questions of identity and expression in contemporary society.

Educational workshops
The CARE center hosts monthly trainings and interactive workshops to enhance the understanding of, and appreciation for, the diversity that makes up our campus community. Through guided self-reflection, academic exercises, and practice, participants develop behavioral skills that contribute to a more inclusive environment.

Partnerships
The CARE Center partners with departments and administrative offices, not limited to the President’s Office, the Dean of the Faculty, research institutes, and the Athenaeum. Intentional partnerships across the campus reinforce shared ownership of diversity and inclusion work and engage a broader range of stakeholders.

Cultural excursions
The CARE Center partners with student groups to foster cross-cultural appreciation and meaningful cultural exchange through off-campus trips and film screenings. Recently, the CARE Center co-sponsored a trip to Washington DC to visit the National African American History Museum. It also hosted a viewing of the movie, The Birth of a Nation. Students participated in a discussion before the film.

Faculty and staff have access to reading groups, roundtable discussions, and pedagogy grants to promote inclusivity and diversity in the classroom. Faculty-hiring committees are required to attend two workshops on diversifying applicant pools and addressing implicit biases.

See Care Center above and Diversity and Inclusion website:http://www.cmc.edu/student-imperative/diversity-and-inclusion

The CARE Center (Civility, Access, Resources, and Expression) is an innovative undertaking that seeks to proactively engage and educate the community. The Center seeks to build capacity in communicating across difference with respect and civility. We are challenging ourselves to achieve the dual goal of providing space for dialogue and expression in a civil manner while also providing resources to support inclusion and remove institutional barriers to student success.

A guiding set of objectives and principles ensures that the CARE Center is a space for expression, study, dialogue, and exploration of our intersecting social identities and how they inform the ways in which we live within, learn from, and engage with the world.