Gonzaga University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Gonzaga University does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other non-merit factor in employment, educational program, or activities that it operates.

https://www.gonzaga.edu/about/offices-services/human-resources/equity-inclusion/equal-opportunity-office/harassment-discrimination-policy#:~:text=Gonzaga%20University%20does%20not%20discriminate,or%20activities%20that%20it%20operates.

Gonzaga has a university-wide harassment and anti-discrimination policy, which can be found in the Student and Faculty Handbook.
• Complaints for gender related issues go through the Title IX Coordinator and investigators.
• Complaints for all other harassment and discrimination go through the BIAS Response Team.

One of the first steps is to connect the victim with the Center for Cura Personalis for counseling and wellness support. Work is also done with the Title IX coordinator.

Students: Our Act Six scholarship program in collaboration with the Northwest Leadership Foundation allows us to do specialized diversity recruitment for underrepresented minority (URM) students. This initiative has created a more diverse applicant pool that has translated into creating a more culturally diverse student body. For example, we began the program in 2009 when our student diversity was approximately 15% (in round figures). For Fall 2020 we are enrolling an incoming class with 27% URM students. We have also done outreach to regional area tribal reservation communities. There are 10 American Indian reservations within a 200 mile radius of Spokane. Additionally, in order to provide a more diverse cultural perspective, the university also offers Global Diversity Scholarships for international students who wish to attend. Finally, Gonzaga offers assistance to provide undocumented students who are Washington Residents the opportunity to attend the university.

Faculty & Staff: We have the URM Post-Doctoral Fellows Program, a collaborative partnership with the University of Washington and their 64 doctoral programs as a feeder program. Since 2013 we have been appointing two fellows per academic year. In addition, we have contracted with search firms to conduct specialized URM recruitment to create a more diversity candidacy pool for faculty and staff. In the past year we have hired one Provost and five academic deans. Four out of eight academic deans are diversity hires and the Provost comes from a historically underrepresented minority group. Overall, the GU workforce diversity demographic in 2018 was 11.4%. For 2019 the university workforce diversity was 13.4% . (Note: we do not distinguish between “academic staff” and “non-academic staff” in terms of recruitment or demographic data tracking.

Additionally, Gonzaga does have an Affirmative Action Policy in place to assist in assessing diversity in their choice of staff and faculty hiring process.

IMPACT: Stands for Intercultural and Multicultural Professionals Affecting Change Together. It is a group consisting of faculty and staff of color and their allies at Gonzaga University who have come together for the purposes of supporting one another as individuals who are members of larger racial or ethnic groups least in number on this campus; to support the students of color who represent the same; and, to support this University in its efforts to reflect and educate one another and the community on the rich mysteries of cultural, racial and ethnic human differences that exist both locally, regionally and in our world. The Unity Multicultural Education Center (UMEC) has a mentoring program to provide support to underrepresented groups called LEADS: Leadership, Education, Academic Development, and Success Skills (LEADS) Mentoring Program. The Lincoln LGBT Resource center is inspired and guided by the university mission and values of faith, service, justice, leadership, and ethics. It aims to serve as a center for supporting community, networking, research, and education related to concerns shared by students, staff, and faculty of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions. Transfer, Veteran, and Returning Adult Services– focus on non-traditional students like veterans and returning undergraduates. The DREAM Office focuses on accommodations for students with disabilities. Human Resources focuses on accommodations for employees with disabilities. University Ministry -- focus on religious support for students with offerings to people of other faiths as well. The Office of VP for Missions – focus on faith support across faculty, staff and students. The Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Officer – ensures University compliance with equal opportunity policies, processes complaints, and evaluates University employment systems for equal access.

Gonzaga University launched and sustains the Post-Doctoral Diversity Fellows Program for historically underrepresented minority groups in partnership with the University of Washington, developing a formative pipeline for the 62 Ph.D. programs at the University of Washington.

Gonzaga hosts post-doctoral diversity fellows to teach in the College of Arts and Sciences on two year faculty contracts.