Lafayette College
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Lafayette College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, disability, religion, age, military or veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or familial status, pregnancy, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law in its educational programs and activities, admissions, or employment as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (which requires that the College not discriminate on the basis of sex); the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (which requires that the College not discriminate on the basis of disability); Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which requires that the College not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin); and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which requires that the College not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin); and other applicable laws and College policies. https://www.lafayette.edu/non-discrimination/

The Lafayette College Bias Response Team (BRT) was established by a coalition of students, faculty, and administrators to provide a mechanism for the timely response to acts of intolerance and resolve conflicts in a spirit of civil discourse and mutual accountability. The BRT makes recommendations to the Vice President for Campus Life for educational and supportive responses to incidents of bias on campus. In addition, the BRT serves as a campus-wide public presence to provide direct support to individuals who have been targets of or witnessed bias-related incidents to report these incidents and seek assistance.

An One Pard Universal Reporting form, available online, is routed to the following individuals according to the type of issue.
Sexual misconduct or relationship violence: Director of Educational Equity (610) 330-5338 and Deputy Title IX Coordinators (610)330-5285,-5814,-5082.
Hazing: Assistant Dean of Students (610)330-5082 and Director of Student Involvement (610)330-5556
Incidents of bias: Bias Response Team, led by the Director of Religious and Spiritual Life (610)330-5959
Mental health and/or substance misuse: Student Support and Intervention Team, led by the Assistant Dean of Students (610)330-5082
Athletics concern: Associate Director of Compliance & Student Athlete Development (610)330-4421 and Director of Athletics (610)330-5470
All other reports are sent to the Assistant Dean of Students, who will route them to the appropriate person or group for response. If reporting an emergency or needing an immediate response, contact Public Safety at (610)330-4444 (emergency) or (610)330-5330 (non-emergency).

Bias-motivated behaviors that violate provisions of the Lafayette College Code of Conduct or Pennsylvania state law are addressed through the College’s disciplinary process and/or the criminal courts. Discriminatory or bias-motivated behaviors that violate neither the law nor the Code of Conduct are addressed through a conflict-resolution process.

Bias Response Team URL : https://deanofstudents.lafayette.edu/community-support-and-response/bias-response-team/
OnePard Reporting System URL: https://onepard.lafayette.edu/

The Hanson Center serves as a home for research and programming and addresses the national need to recruit more women and underrepresented minority students to the sciences.
URL: https://news.lafayette.edu/2017/11/10/positioning-students-for-success/

The Air Products–Ghasemi Professorship (an endowed faculty chair in engineering and related facilities) furthers Lafayette’s strategic goal to attract more underrepresented groups to our engineering programs faculty—interdisciplinary fields such as bioengineering, environmental engineering, and robotics that cross the traditional boundaries of engineering.
URL: https://news.lafayette.edu/2018/02/12/donations-endow-new-interdisciplinary-engineering-professorship/

The Office of Admissions and the Office of Intercultural Development host a yearly program where Lafayette College invites students who identify as first generation, people of color, LGBTQ+ and/or community-building enthusiasts searching for a diverse college community to our annual program, Prologue. Prologue is a beloved program that serves as the catalyst for students to begin writing an introduction to their college chapter. We encourage our admitted students to claim their identities and celebrate that those identities do not exist in a vacuum, but rather create vibrant communities.
URL: https://firstyear.lafayette.edu/campus-visit-opportunities/

The Office of Intercultural Development promotes a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable campus community through programming, outreach, support and advocacy, and community building.
URL: https://intercultural.lafayette.edu/

Our Beloved Community is named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a society that embraces each of its members and celebrates their differences. We seek students nationwide to join the Lafayette community in a celebration that will feature interactive discussions on a variety of social justice topics.
A sampling of session titles from last year includes:
This is Your Brain on Diversity
The Price of Pigment
The Mathematics of Social Justice
WITW is LGBTQ? What about QuEST?
Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation

Safe Zone training of the campus community is ongoing and provides safe places where people can go to learn more, about their own gender/sexuality and deepen their understanding of LGBTQ issues and reduce homophobia and heterosexism on campus.

Lafayette has a Kaleidoscope program which encourage Lafayette students to take an active role in promoting intercultural exchange and exploring issues of multiculturalism, equity, and social justice. Kaleidoscope has open meetings on a weekly basis to discuss current events and issues related to social justice. Any student on campus can be a part of the organization by showing up regularly for conversations. Faculty and staff are also welcome to attend.

The Kaleidoscope programs are facilitated by Student Coordinators of Peer Education (SCOPES), groups of peers trained to facilitate diversity and social justice education workshops and programs across campus. The programs challenge student educators and peer participants to think critically about their communities.

Lafayette College is a member of the Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges, which invites applications for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships from those who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges. Please find more information here: http://www.gettysburg.edu/about/offices/provost/cfd/

Lafayette College also includes the College's Diversity Statement in each ad for a faculty position. Find the statement here: http://provost.lafayette.edu/policies-and-procedures/diversity-and-inclusiveness-statement/

The College's new faculty recruitment's second general procedure states that the search committee also reflects diversity whenever possible. Please find the list of principles and procedures here: http://provost.lafayette.edu/faculty-recruitment/