Earlham College
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Earlham College reaffirms its commitment, in all its activities and processes, to treat all people equally, without concern for age, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality or ethnic origin. http://earlham.edu/policies-and-handbooks/general/compliance-statements/

The College uses a team-approach in order to be as inclusive as possible, given the differing types of discrimination/bias, as well as acts that may violate the code of conduct, or state/federal law. Two recently formed committees to address bias incidents and grievances are the Bias Response Team and the Ombuds Council. The convener of the Bias Response Team (BRT) is the Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Life. When tasked to convene the BRT, the Dean will bring together representation from the following personnel or their designee: Chaplain, Director of Counseling Services, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Director of Public Safety, and Director of Residence Life. The BRT may also choose to consult with representatives of the following offices and/or committees: Academic Dean, Religious Life, Campus Life Advisory Committee, Center for Global Education, Center of Social Justice, Diversity Progress Committee, Marketing & Communications, and others as deemed appropriate by the Dean. The Ombuds Council's role is to hear and mediate harassment complaints face to face with the concerned parties either together or separately, as appropriate, and to make a recommendation to the administrator of the area(s) concerned. The Council consists of two teaching faculty, two administrative faculty, two hourly staff, and two students.

Please see the initiatives below that we had to recruit underrepresented students. To be clear, while there are many identities that are underrepresented in U.S. higher education, our focus is particularly on race—students of color, family level of education—first generation students, and socioeconomics—low-income students. That said, we understand that many students who have one or more of these identities have other identities that are underrepresented in U.S. higher education. 1. Partnering with key high schools and community-based organizations (CBOs). Some of our partnerships include a contract indicating that we will meet 100% demonstrated for a certain number of students who are admitted to Earlham and have a particular academic profile, as noted by *. Other partnerships allow us to attend particular recruitment events—college fairs and specialized admission counseling to help students understand how to apply to college, as noted by ^. a. Center for Leadership Development—Indianapolis, IN* b. YES Prep Public Schools—Houston, TX* c. University of Chicago Charter School at Woodlawn Campus—Chicago, IL* d. National Hispanic Institute—nationwide^ e. College Horizons—nationwide^ 2. Bonner Scholars Program a. The Bonner Scholars Program is a scholarship program that awards $2,500 and meets 100% demonstrated need for students who have an estimated family contribution (EFC) of $12,000 or less and demonstrate a commitment to community engagement. Students must apply for it, answering 8 specific questions, and have a letter of recommendation submitted on their behalf someone in their local community who can speak to their commitment to service. For the past few years, the Bonner Scholars Program and the Admission Office have partnered to recruit students via email communication, a phone-a-thon, and admission officers handing out fact sheets for underrepresented students. While this program targets low-income students, it also recruits a quite a few students of color and first-generation students. Students apply within the same cycle they are applying for admission to Earlham. Each year, the goal is to enroll 15 students for the Bonner Scholars Program. 3. On-campus Recruitment a. Can I Be Me at Earlham? took place in November 2018 for prospective students of color in their senior year of high school. We flew them out to campus, hosting them, and having a number of opportunities for them to explore campus—attending classes, a session for support programs (Bonner, LIFT, McNair), an EPIC session, dinner with a conversation about diversity and equity on campus, skating at the Student Activities Board, and more. Of the 24 students who attended, 22 applied (92% conversion), and as of last week, 17 have been admitted (77% admit rate), and 1 has confirmed (6% yield rate). 4. Off-campus Recruitment a. Admission officers are tasks with visiting CBOs during their recruitment trips throughout the fall (without regard to whether we are officially partnered with them). Most CBO visits will take place after school during the week or on a Saturday morning or afternoon. While many CBOs visits are conducted like high school visits (a short presentation about Earlham), other CBOs visits can be in the form of case studies (mock admission exercises for students to be into the admission process), college fairs, and college panels. For Staff and Faculty: Hiring committees consider diversity with hiring decisions. HR regularly identifies and posts positions on sites geared towards attracting faculty and staff from underrepresented groups.

The college supports several student led groups for underrepresented student populations including, but not limited to: Black Men United, Black Ladies United at Earlham,Black Student Union, Pan-African Society at Earlham, International Student Coalition, Jewish Culutal Center, Muslim Student Association, Japanese Culture Club, South Asian Student Association, Sociedad de Estudiantes Latinos, Asian Student Union, Spectrum (Queer student group), Multicultural Leadership Team, Center for Inclusive Gender Identities, Action Against Sexual Violence. Various religious groups for students including: Quaker, Catholic, Baha’i, Humanists and Buddhist groups, Earlham Christian Fellowship, Interfaith Theme House and others. The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is designed to prepare students who have traditionally been underrepresented in graduate studies for the journey leading to the Ph.D. As participants in the program, students will have access to skills building courses and tutoring, research experiences with a faculty mentor, and individualized assistance through the graduate school application process. Students must meet the eligibility requirements for the program and must show an interest in attending graduate school. Program participation is limited to only 30 students. The LIFT program (mentioned above) provides participants with on-going support primarily during their first year of college.The LIFT Program matches small groups of first-generation students with a personal research librarian during seven weeks of fall semester. Every LIFT student is awarded an iPad to use for the four years at Earlham and beyond. Meeting for 90 minutes one session per week with their librarian, LIFT students undertake a one-credit tutorial in information literacy. Incoming LIFT students are eligible to apply for an all-expenses-paid Immersive Term at the end of their first year. This year's LIFT cohort went to Montréal. The 2017-18 Immersive Term was in Hawai‘i. This program is featured in college recruitment and marketing. All faculty and staff have access to the Employee Assistance Program through MetLife.

Earlham has a post-doctoral fellowship program in cooperation with the University of New Mexico to hire new faculty members from historically underrepresented groups (Hispanic and Native American) for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship teaching position with the College. Earlham also hosts the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program designed to prepare students who have traditionally been underrepresented in graduate studies for the journey leading to the Ph.D.