Colby College
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Colby is a private, coeducational liberal arts college that admits students and makes personnel decisions on the basis of the individual’s qualifications to contribute to Colby’s educational objectives and institutional needs. The principle of not discriminating on the basis of age, race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, parental or marital status, political beliefs, veteran or military status, or disability unrelated to job or course of study requirements and other protected category under applicable local, state, and federal law, ordinance or regulation is consistent with the mission of a liberal arts college. Colby is an equal opportunity employer and operates in accordance with federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination. (https://www.colby.edu/admission/nondiscrimination-policy/)

It is the role of the Bias Incident Prevention and Response (BIPR) team to address expressions of bias in our community. When appropriate, the BIPR team provides educational opportunities for specific campus constituencies and/or the campus as a whole to reflect on the nature, causes, and effects of bias. Students are able to fill out an online form and the BIPR team will discuss and then educate the campus community about the issue that was brought to them, however there is no disciplinary action taken against the offending students. If a student wishes to pursue disciplinary action, they must report to the Dean of Students. Staff and faculty can also make reports through BIPR, but if they would like to pursue disciplinary action, they can file a report with Human Resources. There is a public log of all BIPR reports available online (http://www.colby.edu/deanofthecollege/log/). Additionally, BIPR has implemented a Restorative Justice System which is used when no disciplinary action is taken, but the reporter wants the offending party to understand how their actions were wrong. The two parties meet for mediation and discussion.

Colby has several programs to help increase the diversity of higher education students, staff, and faculty such as the POSSE Program, significant financial aid, and the elimination of standardized testing requirements in the admissions process

As the College does not offer Master's or Doctoral Degrees, the programs are currently focused on assisting students from underserved communities adapt to College and find opportunities after College.

Financial Aid: Colby meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need without student loans. Families earning less than $60,000 with assets typical of this range will have a parent or guardian contribution of $0. Families earning up to $150,000 with assets typical of this range will have a parent or guardian contribution of no more than $15,000. More than 95 percent of families earning $200,000 or less have qualified for financial assistance in recent years. The average financial aid award $51,000.

Application Process: Applying to Colby is easy. There are no application fees to submit, supplements to complete, or additional essays to write. As a test optional institution, you can choose whether or not you submit your standardized test scores with your application (and if you do, you may self-report your results). Each applicant is evaluated as an individual—within the context of his or her background. As part of its continued efforts to attract and enroll the most talented students from all backgrounds, Colby College announced in September 2018 that the submission of standardized test scores will now be an optional element of a student’s application for admission. The limited ability of standardized tests to assess a range of intellectual attributes Colby values and that are rewarded in an innovation economy is one reason the College is changing its admission policy. There are others, including a body of research that demonstrates how students from under-resourced backgrounds are disadvantaged by the testing industry. Through Colby’s own research and through national studies, standardized tests have been shown to have only modest predictive powers for success in college.

Colby works closely with leading college-access programs, groups, and organizations to help the nation’s brightest young scholars find their way to Colby. These include the POSSE Foundation, QuestBridge, and the Davis United World College Scholars program, among many others.

The POSSE program identifies, recruits, and selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "Posses." Posses are groups of 10 to 12 students from the same city with diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, who support each other and ensure that each member succeeds and graduates from college. Posses also work to increase interaction among diverse campus groups. The Posse teams undergo an intensive eight-month training program to prepare for college-level academics, to learn to work as a team, to develop leadership skills, and to help promote cross-cultural communication.

Colby also partners with QuestBridge, a non-profit that "connects the nation's brightest students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education and further opportunities. [QuestBridge is] an aggregator of excellence. By facilitating these exchanges, QuestBridge aims to increase the percentage of talented low-income students attending the nation's best universities and the ranks of national leadership itself." The QuestBridge Scholars Network at Colby College became a new chapter in the 2016-2017 academic year. The first class of QuestBridge Scholars at Colby built a strong community, established a leadership team, and partnered with helpful resources on campus.

Finally, on Colby's Human Resources website, there is a section entitled "Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Resources" for staff and faculty to use in hiring new employees. This information provides resources for recruiting a diverse pool of candidates, providing recommendations for job postings, and the importance of a having diversity among the College's employees. According to the recommendations from the President's Task Force on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, the College has begun to focus on targeted opportunity hires, based on different departments' needs.

The First Generation to College program offers: FG to CS Welcome Week Gathering, First-Generation-to-College Student Connections Mentor Program and Faculty/Staff Connections Program, annual Portland trip, community awareness programs, and First-Generation-to-College student monthly meetings/dinners. The program also offers the following resources to students: Campus Resource Guide, “Getting to College” shuttle service, President’s Emergency Book Fund, One-time Emergency Assistance Fund, and the Re-use Supply and Resource Cabinet. Additionally, POSSE students are assigned a POSSE mentor once they arrive on campus, and are required to meet regularly as a group and individually with that mentor. During orientation, a reception is held for International Students, who are then supported throughout the year by the Pugh Center.

The Alumni of Color Network provides opportunities for student-alumni interaction and one-on-one support for students in their current and future endeavors.

Colby Research Scholars Program (CRS) is an academic support and career development program for students who are typically underrepresented in the sciences.

This past academic year, there was a workshop for underrepresented faculty from Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin, and a dinner for Colby Faculty of Color. Both events are expected to be annual. On campus, there is a Women of Color group for faculty and staff that began this past year and met 3-4 times, with the main result of those meetings being community building and introduction. The Diversity Task Force has further identified areas that require more support at Colby.

Colby has several programs that meet the program criteria of: financial and/or other support programs to prepare and encourage undergraduate or other nonterminal degree students from underrepresented groups to pursue further education and careers as faculty members.

Support that meets this criteria:

• Davis Grants for Global Experiences – Awards that provide universal access to transformative global experiences (including research) based on students’ financial needs. These experiences inspire and prepare Colby students to compete for the most prestigious international fellowships and graduate programs.

• Leslie Dougherty Biddle ’89 and George Biddle Fund for International Service Learning, Internships, and Research – Awards that support participation in international research, exclusively for students on financial aid.

• Bunche Scholarship Program – A learning stipend that can be used towards research for students who demonstrate scholastic strength and leadership potential and who are African American, Latino/Latina, Asian American or Native American.

• The Malinoski Fund – Awards that can support participation in research opportunities that foster global awareness for students on financial aid.

• Colby Achievement Program in the Sciences (CAPS) - For incoming Colby students from groups that traditionally have been underrepresented in the sciences. It provides them with hands-on research experiences in biology, chemistry, environmental science, and other natural science disciplines.