Lane Community College
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

The College’s nondiscrimination statement provides notice to all members of the College community about the College’s commitment to providing a working and learning environment that is free from discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Nondiscrimination Statement
It is a policy of the Board of Education and a priority of the Oregon Department of Education that there will be no discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, national origin, age, or disability in any educational programs, activities or employment.

https://www.lanecc.edu/copps/documents/nondiscrimination-statement

This procedure delineates the Bias Incident Response framework, stemming from the Bias Incident Policy: “Lane Community College encourages all students, staff and faculty to refrain from committing and engaging in any bias incident on College property, at College-sponsored events, or when engaged in College activities and business (in person, by phone, or online) on or off campus.”

The college will ensure that each bias incident is investigated and addressed appropriately, and a summary of all verified bias incidents will be publicly reported annually to Lane’s Board of Education.

This and other procedures are in place to obligate the college to respond appropriately to different kinds of incidents, attending to the health and safety of members of the College community, managing individual complaints or grievances, and adjudication of possible violations of college policies and referring possible violations of local, state, and federal laws and regulations to the appropriate authorities.

Response Protocols
Students, staff members, or the public with a Bias Incident report should submit the form(link is external).

Report Received
Screening and Assessment

Once a Bias Incident Report is received through Maxient, managers will screen the report and route it through the appropriate system(s). Managers have four potential routing outcomes:

Refer to Conduct Officer for violations to the Student Code of Conduct
Refer to Human Resources for Employee Discipline
Refer to Bias Response Team - the reported issue was determined to be a Bias Incident--the coordinator will activate appropriate Bias Response Team members to review the facts, investigate the incident, and make a formal recommendation
Refer to Counseling Department--screeners determined that the reported incident is not a Bias Incident, an act of Harassment/Discrimination, or a violation of the Student Code of Conduct; the complainant will be referred to the Counseling Department for assistance.

Bias Response Team (3 members)
If a Bias Incident has occurred, a Bias Response Team is assembled from a catalog of pre-qualified employees who have demonstrated the skills and experience to understand the nature of the complaint and to make recommendations (i.e. MCC faculty) for an appropriate educational response. Fact finders and external content experts may also be assembled, as needed. This group will conduct an investigation to determine the appropriate educational response, and compose a written recommendation to the appropriate manager. All recommendations must be composed and delivered to the manager within twenty working days from formation of the Bias Response Team. If this deadline cannot be met the Bias Response team needs to request a formal extension.

-The Title IX Coordinator will send an outreach letter to the student. This email includes ways to contact the Title IX Coordinator to file a formal or informal complaint and provides multiple resources the student can access including campus and community supports. If after a week, the Title IX office has not heard back another outreach letter will be sent. If the incident involves an employee, the Chief HR Officer will be involved in any complaints, investigations, and providing employee support.
-The incident may be investigated if the student wants to file a formal/informal complaint, or if it is determined that the incident is so severe that it should be investigated. The person who files the complaint will be kept up to date with all findings in a timely manner.

-The Mental Health and Wellness Center will also reach out immediately to the student to offer mental health resources and supports. Students can meet short or long-term with a mental health clinician who will work with them and connect them with community/other campus resources if they would like. The Mental Health and Wellness Center will continue to try to reach the student until contact has been made to provide resources and support.
-The Mental Health and Wellness Center/Title IX will work closely with the Equity and Inclusion Office to ensure the best possible supports are being provided to the student.

-The college also has TalkCampus, a 24/7 peer-to-peer support app that all LCC students can use for free. Many students have found this resource to be helpful to give and get support on a variety of topics. TalkCampus is monitored by professionals who will alert the Mental Health and Wellness Center if any cases on the app become escalated and the student needs further support.

Implementation
Management will give directions to appropriate staff to implement the actions outlined in the written recommendation to enact an educational response to the incident. If the complainant in the process believes that the procedure as outlined above was not adequately followed, the complainant, or any person who participated in the process with the consent of the complainant, can file a grievance with Lane’s General Counsel to review the process.

Internal/Disposition Reports
The Office of Equity and Inclusion will maintain a list of Bias Team members, incidents and outcomes. Internal reports are intended to “close the loop,” debrief the experience, and analyze the decision outcomes in this procedure. In the event that an individual shows a pattern of engaging in Bias Incidents, those details will be forwarded to the formal Harassment and Discrimination process for review. Every effort will be made to maintain privacy, in accordance with legal and ethical obligations.

Public Reports
The Office of Equity and Inclusion will provide an annual summary report of Bias Incidents to the Board of Education for each academic year at the July Board Meeting beginning in July 2021.

https://www.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/copps/bias_incident_response_procedure_system.pdf

Student Recruitment:
LCC Admissions Department offers campus tours (3 times a day from Mon-Friday), Preview Days (offered Fall and Spring only once a month), visit local high schools on a regular basis--especially our big schools that have a large number of underrepresented students (for example; North Eugene HS, Churchill HS, Willamette HS, Springfield HS and Thurston HS) and attend their events. In addition, we also attend district and regional college fairs held in Eugene, Newport, Redmond, Ashland, Roseburg, Salem and Portland and Klamath Falls. We also meet with our community partners on a regular basis who work directly with non-traditional students such as dislocated workers, veterans etc.

Admissions also partners a lot with Lane campus departments to plan events for prospective students and or promote/market events/programs such as our Rites of Passage Summer Leadership Academy which specifically targets underrepresented students including Latino, Asian American, Native American and African American students.

Staff Recruitment:
https://localjobnetwork.com/who-we-are/ -
We use LocalJobsNetwork for all our postings. They scrub our site and send our postings to many different diverse groups.
LocalJobsNetwork is designed to
Promote our jobs on our national network of 600+ local employment & diversity sites
Provide outreach to 17,500 community organizations and 20,000 contacts

Programs include
Gender Equity Center--providing LGBTQ Support & Advocacy: Support, Resources and Community for all LGBTQ+ students, staff, and allies.

Women in Transition program empowers women to become economically self-sufficient and improve their lives through access to education. Women in Transition is designed to help women regain their sense of confidence, clarity and genuine well-being.

The Multicultural Center provides a comfortable atmosphere where students from all ethnic backgrounds can get information on admission, registration, course and program planning, and referrals to on-campus and community services. Work-Study and Intern students serve as assistants, giving guidance on how to navigate Moodle and other educational platforms. Their programs include African American Student Program, Chicano/Latino Student Program, Native American Student Program, and Asian Pacific American Student Program.

Rites of Passage has four affinity-based programs that include:

African American Rites of Passage Summer Academy
Designed to address the cultural, career, academic, and social needs of high school and middle school African American and multicultural students of African descent in Lane County. The academy is crafted in an academic and cultural framework for the purpose of connecting these students with the history, literature, traditions, and folklore of the experience of African people in western civilization.

Asian and Pacific Islander American Rites of Passage Summer Academy
Designed to provide experiential and culturally specific learning activities to assist Asian and Pacific Islander American high school and middle school students in achieving success. The primary objectives are to promote and sustain cultural awareness, increase intercultural skills, and develop personal and community empowerment skills.

Bridge of the Gods Summer Academy
Designed to teach appropriate indigenous principles of cooperative social interaction to Native American high school students. The Bridge of the Gods program is based on the tradition of honor and respect for all peoples, and students are informed about traditional ways of knowing. The program's purpose is to increase cultural awareness among pre-college age Native youth that will lead to improved academic success and increased self-awareness in the college environment. (legend context(link is external))

Puertas Abiertas Latino/Latina Rites of Passage Summer Academy
Designed to provide an academic and cultural enrichment experience for Chicano/Latino high school students in Lane County. The primary goal of the program is to develop positive values and proactive habits that will maximize the students' opportunities for success. Students learn about cultural history, how to excel in their classes, how to become a bicultural leader, and how to accomplish their goals. The program uses a cultural framework based on Mexican American, Latino/Latina, Caribbean, and Hispanic experiences.

Student Leadership Development program provides coursework in empowering african american and latino students by exploring cultural heroes.

https://www.lanecc.edu/copps/documents/harassment-and-discrimination-complaint-process

https://www.lanecc.edu/copps/documents/sexual-misconduct-sexual-harassment-and-gender-based-discrimination-complaint-process

https://www.lanecc.edu/gec

https://www.lanecc.edu/gec/women-transition

https://www.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/sexualrespect/title_ix_guide.pdf
https://www.lanecc.edu/undocumented-students

https://www.lanecc.edu/mcc/mission-vision-go

https://www.lanecc.edu/mcc/rites-passage

https://www.lanecc.edu/mcc/student-leadership-development-courses