Knox College
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The role of executive director for diversity, equity, and inclusion, was established in 2020. This new member of the college’s senior leadership will oversee diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and advise on the College’s anti-racism initiatives to advance inclusion and equity on campus.

The Office of Intercultural Life (IL) contributes to the College's goal of creating an inclusive campus community by acknowledging and celebrating the diverse experience of our students, faculty and staff. Main responsibilities of the office include working with student-led cultural organizations, supporting programming within multiple cultural centers, campus LGBTQ+ advising, and leading an annual, campus-wide ‘Day of Dialogue.’

The Campus Diversity Committee provides advice and counsel to the President for ways in which Knox’s educational programs, institutional practices, and community of students, faculty, and staff can fulfill the College’s commitment to diversity; to help maintain a community unified by common institutional values and enriched by diversity based on such factors as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and disability.

Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) courses are offered on campus and the Office of Intercultural Life (IL) has developed a peer education leadership position. The students are trained to assist in student-centered DEI programs including the annual campus-wide event, Day of Dialogue. The IL office offers workshops and trainings for Student Senate organizations, fraternity and sorority life, athletic teams, as well as the general student body regarding power/privilege, how to talk across differences, and understanding identity development. The IL office has collaborated with Athletics since December 2019 to offer on-going professional development related to understanding privilege, addressing microaggressions, and coaching the whole athlete. The athletic staff participated in a summer online diversity series offered by the NCAA which included seven workshops. The executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion was also named as one of the NCAA diversity representatives.
The Campus Diversity Committee has also planned and implemented a series of faculty/staff workshops. These workshops include: “Addressing Racial Microaggressions in the Covid-19 Environment”, “Supervising and Mentoring Students of Color”, and “Decolonizing Your Curriculum”. The Committee also recommended the purchase of an online diversity training through SafeColleges for all faculty and staff. This training was mandated for all faculty and staff, as of the date of this report we have a 90% completion. Each new employee will be required to complete the training as a term of their employment.
Additionally, all faculty and staff have been encouraged to participate in a monthly online anti-racism workshop series hosted by our collegial consortium, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Examples include: “Charting the ‘How’: Coalition Building and Policy Change in the Age of Anti-racism”, “Taking the Measure of our Gatherings: Identifying points of access and exile, and creating belonging in our spaces”, and “Inclusive Discourse – Free Speech & Disagreement”.