Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.38
Liaison Jeremy King
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Denison University
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Jeremy King
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Office of the President
"---" 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:

Denison University does not engage in discrimination in its educational, extracurricular, athletic, or other programs or in the context of admissions or employment, against students, employees, or prospective employees, on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation or veteran status.

https://denison.edu/sites/default/files/forms/NondiscriminationPolicy.pdf


Does the institution have a discrimination response protocol or committee (sometimes called a bias response team) to respond to and support those who have experienced or witnessed a bias incident, act of discrimination or hate crime?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s discrimination response protocol or team (including examples of actions taken during the previous three years):

Denison University’s Response Protocol for Bias and Hate-Related Incidents

Denison University is committed to being an inclusive community that is welcoming to all – a place that recognizes and celebrates difference. When an individual or group is disrespected or subjected to discrimination or other mistreatment because of a particular characteristic or their actual or perceived group membership, it has a negative effect on the entire campus community. Every student, staff and faculty member has a rightful place at Denison and reported incidents of violence, intimidation, bullying, harassment and hate will be addressed with the intention of seeking a resolution that strengthens our community and upholds its members in their diversity.

Student Development's Response Protocol for Bias and Hate-Related Incidents was created in June 2013 in order to have a mechanism for responding in a consistent and comprehensive manner to bias-related incidents that occur between students. Students, staff and faculty members were involved in the development and implementation of this protocol.

Denison Campus Reporting (CARE) Advisors are members of university staff and teaching faculty who have received specialized training to help students report and address incidents of disrespect, either as a harmed party or alleged offender. These include incidents of bias-related behavior, violence towards others, and sexual misconduct. CARE Advisors are also available to students involved in other types of conduct matters. A harmed party reporting a bias-related incident to a Denison CARE Advisor may choose to be unnamed in a report unless something poses a threat to the campus community, someone is in immediate danger and/or menacing and/or a felony crime has occurred. Denison CARE Advisors are private resources, meaning that they only share information with those who need to know the information to do their jobs proficiently. Harmed parties and alleged offenders who are named in the same bias-related report will work with different Denison CARE Advisors.


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

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

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

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

Students

Denison has a number of programs aimed at recruiting students from underrepresented groups.

For nearly 20 years, Denison has partnered with the Posse Foundation in Chicago and Boston to enroll student leaders from under-represented populations who might not otherwise have known of or considered applying to Denison. Each Posse consists of 10 Scholars who train and learn together for eight months before starting classes at Denison, and they continue to work together as a cohort, supported by a Denison faculty or administrative staff member/mentor, throughout their time on campus.

Denison values its relationship with our big-city neighbor, Columbus, through the Denison-Columbus Alliance, which provides total grant aid of at least the full cost of tuition for up to 20 high-achieving students from the Columbus City Schools. This program is offered in partnership with I Know I Can, the only college access program in Columbus.

Denison is proud to partner with Say Yes to Education to offer full tuition covered with free grant aid to all admitted students from public schools in Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Guilford County, NC; and Syracuse, NY.

Here's a link to other program: https://denison.edu/campus/admission/partner-organizations

Faculty & Staff

Denison actively supports the Consortium for Faculty Diversity and recruits faculty who participated in this. Denison also has a clear guidelines for helping departments and chairs diversify the applicant pool.

Denison has a diversity guide to help applicants from underrepresented groups find contacts and information outside of the hiring committee that helps to identify resources, policies and practices of Denison that encourage a diverse campus.

Denison actively posts job announcements for faculty and staff positions with organizations and agencies that specifically work with underrepresented groups like: the Latino Affairs Commission - https://ochla.ohio.gov/About-Us/Job-Opportunities; the Ohio Hispanic Coalition; the Black Career Network; Equality Ohio: http://www.equalityohio.org/
Network Columbus: http://www.networkcolumbus.com/
Outlook Weekly: http://outlookcolumbus.com/tag/outlook-weekly/ PFLAG Columbus: http:// http://www.columbuspflag.org/

Denison also offers low-cost housing options to new faculty and administrative staff as well as, has a program to cover the security deposit and first month's rent for employees who chose to live in Downtown Newark, Ohio.


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

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

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

A brief description of the institution’s programs to support students, staff and/or faculty from underrepresented groups:

Students

Denison has a strong office of Multi-Cultural Affairs that seeks to provide support and programming to under-represented groups within the student body.

Programs and organizations on campus that reach out to and include under-represented groups within the student body include:

Black Student Union - An educational, political and social organization whose main purpose is to serve as a support mechanism for students of African descent.

Denison International Students Association (DISA) - A group of students and faculty (American and International) who are interested in the exchange of cultural ideas.

Asian-Culture Club (ACC) - Serves the needs and interests of its members by providing programs and opportunities for discussion of Asian-American issues.

Sustained Dialogue - A student-run, nationally recognized organization that takes an action-oriented and dialogue-based approach to confronting racism, sexism and homophobia, amongst other issues, in the Denison community. The organization's main goal is to create an understanding amongst students of different backgrounds, thus creating safe and comfortable campus environment for all people including students, faculty, and staff.

La Fuerza Latina - A Latino student organization designed to enrich the academic, social and cultural experience for Hispanic/Latino students at Denison as well as the general student body.

Outlook - A program that is dedicated to educate the campus about Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender issues.

Women's Emphasis - Female and male students who are concerned with the status of Women on our campus. The group tries to make the campus more aware of the problems as well as the opportunities facing women and men today.

Support Services-

Besides the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs, Denison offers the following student services to assists students from under-represented groups on campus.

* The Office of Academic Support
* The Department of Affirmative Action
* The Counseling Center
* The Peer Advisory Network (PAN)
* The Residence Hall Staff
* The Office of Religious Life

Faculty & Staff

Employees of the college have numerous support groups and programs that focus on providing resources for employees in underrepresented groups. These organizations and programs include:

The Black Caucus - An organization of Black faculty, administrators, and staff whose purpose is to support recruitment and retention of faculty/administrators/staff and students.

FOCIF - Faculty of Color/International Faculty - An organization dedicated to educating the community as we seek to increase our diversity mentoring and advocacy for faculty of color/international faculty once they arrive at Denison.

Office of Gender and Sexuality supports all members of the campus community through programming, outreach, and advocacy.

Office of Spiritual Life provides support and programming to the entire campus community.

Denison also requires diversity training through the HR department for all employees.


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:

Denison participates in the Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges (CFD) and hires one doctoral candidate or post-doc each year. The CFD is committed to increasing the diversity of students, faculty and curricular offerings at liberal arts colleges. The Consortium was founded as an association of liberal arts colleges committed to strengthening the ethnic diversity of students and faculty at liberal arts colleges. The early goals of the Consortium included encouraging U.S. citizens who are members of under-represented minority groups to complete their graduate programs and consider faculty employment in liberal arts colleges. The Consortium now invites applications for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships from those who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students.


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

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Denison maintains an internal password protected website where most of this information resides. Public access web pages have limited information on this topic.


Denison maintains an internal password protected website where most of this information resides. Public access web pages have limited information on this topic.

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.