Macalester College
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable state and federal laws, such as titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and The Americans with Disabilities Act and ADA Amendments, and in pursuing Macalester College’s own goals of diversity and inclusion, College employees shall not discriminate on the grounds of sex, gender identity, race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, marital status, membership or activity in a local commission dealing with discrimination issues, family genetics and medical history, veteran status, sexual orientation, and status with regard to public assistance in employment policies and practices, education, and all other areas of the College. This policy applies to all employment practices and terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to promotions, transfers, compensation, terminations, training and participation in College sponsored benefits or programs.

This policy addresses all forms of sexual discrimination, including sexual assault and harassment. Macalester College does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational, extracurricular, athletic, or other programs or in the context of admissions or employment. Sex discrimination is prohibited by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law that provides that: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Macalester College, as an educational community, will promptly and equitably respond to all reports of sexual misconduct in order to eliminate the misconduct, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects on any individual or the community.
https://www.macalester.edu/about/nondiscrimination/

Macalester offers a scaffolded approach to address bias-related incidents on campus and that impact our college community. The Dean for Institutional Equity and the Title IX and Non-Discrimination Officer have responsibilities for managing the bias response process and responding to individual incidents, and will engage campus partners (including Public Safety, Student Conduct, Employment Services, the Provost’s Office, Student Affairs, and Residential Life) as appropriate. Additional information about the bias response process can be foudn in the student handbook and on the following website:
https://www.macalester.edu/equity/bias-incidents-and-discrimination/

The Team’s purpose is to:

- assist those who feel aggrieved
- help students, faculty or staff understand how their behavior has affected others
- track and monitor incidents that negatively impact our campus climate
- develop programming and other efforts that lead to the interruption of bias, harassment, and discrimination
- recommend promising practices for structural change based on trends and findings of bias

https://www.macalester.edu/bias-response-team/

Students
Admissions and Financial Aid provides several programs and opportunities focused on recruiting, supporting, and retaining a diverse student body - including fly-in and residential summer programs (Pre@Mac) for prospective students of color and first-generation college students, as well as Admission counselors with specialization in diversity and inclusion. Macalester also offers free, online college admission workshops to the public (Workshop Wednesdays) to address access barriers for high school students.

Additionally, Macalester partners with external foundations to recruit, support, and retain students to a diversity of backgrounds - including students of color, first-generation college students, and high need students. These partnerships include Bonner Scholars, Questbridge, Posse Scholars, Wallin Scholars, and Page Scholars.

Faculty and Staff

Macalester engages myriad methods to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff, including equity-minded search practices, intentional posting and talent acquisition strategies, and affirmative action programs for tenure-track faculty searches, as provided in the Employee Handbook. Human Resources and Institutional Equity partner with academic departments, administrative units, and hiring managers to facilitate an attentive and inclusive hiring process.

For tenure-track faculty searches, an Affirmative Action Officer is appointed from the faculty to support search committees. Working closely with the Provost’s Office, the Affirmative Action Officer assigns Affirmative Action representatives to each search committee. The Affirmative Action Representatives and the search committee chairs meet with the Vice President for Institutional Equity and the Dean of Faculty to discuss equity-minded search practices and resources for recruiting a diverse applicant pool.

Staff (*Ashley Ellingson)
According to the Director of Employment Services, we are developing more purposeful outreach to connect with underrepresented groups through strategic ad placement and increasing our presence within these communities, such as Gay Pride, Transgender Job Fair, booth/presence at Rondo days (community festival), etc....
We have also developed our Staff Affirmative Action Work Group (SAAWG) to closely mirror the hiring process of faculty. This group will serve as partners within staff hiring processes to assist with the initiative to diversify our staff hiring decisions.

Faculty (*Donna Maeda--affirmative action for faculty searches)
In the Employee Handbook is a section on Affirmative Action
"The Affirmative Action Policy Statement for Faculty hiring at Macalester College (henceforth, the Affirmative Action Policy or the Policy) sets out the principles, policies and procedures that support the diversification of faculty with respect to US racial minorities and women. The Affirmative Action Policy is a part of the larger efforts to promote multiculturalism as described in the College Mission Statement, and is therefore complementary to Affirmative Action Policies administered by the Office of Employment Services, diversity policies employed in College Admissions, and supporting statements of principles by the Board of Trustees and the President acting on its behalf...." More details are included here: https://www.macalester.edu/employmentservices/employeehandbook/12additionalpolicies/12-11affirmativeactionforfacultyhiring.html

The Lealtad Suzuki Center for Social Justice (LSC) works in collaboration with Macalester students to build a transformative community. We do this through learning, reflection, engaging in dialogue, and action. We interrogate our lived experiences and center the voices of those marginalized in our society with the goals of building strong relationships, critical consciousness, and collective liberation. The LSC offers many programs for students, including Identity Collectives, the BIPOC Coalition, the Gender and Sexuality Commons, First-Generation College Student programs,QCommunity Connections, Tea Time, and support for DACA, undocumented, and mixed-status students.

The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life (CRSL) affirms that our global community holds diverse wisdom about the sacred. At Macalester we explore wholeness, belonging, and purpose – with curiosity – as we orient ourselves towards experiences of wonder and awe. The diverse chaplains of the CRSL seek to nurture growth into the fullness of the human family. This is possible when we co-create communities that support the inner life through reflection, practice, bearing witness, learning together, and building authentic relationships. The CRSL provides many opportunities to explore faith-based identities and spiritual practice, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and interfaith programs.

Institutional Equity also supports several faculty and staff affinity groups, including groups for Asian and Asian American employees, Black and African American employees, Latine employees, BIPOC employees, and LGBTQIA2S+ employees. We are also exploring groups for Native and Indigenous employees and employees with disabilities.

The International Student Programs serves the educational, regulatory, and personal development needs of Macalester’s international students through helping them integrate, participate, and apply their learning to their own lives and cultural contexts.

The Center for Disability Resources strives to create a welcoming environment where students have equal access to academic and co-curricular activities. Disability Resources also oversees the application of federal and state laws, implements reasonable accommodations and supports inclusive programming. Four core values guide our work: access, education, advocacy and inclusion.

The Laurie Hamre Center for Health & Wellness offers integrated medical and counseling services as well as campus leadership on health promotion and sexual respect for all students and serves as a resource supporting the entire Macalester community’s effort to build a healthy campus. We are dedicated to providing care, support, and connection to resources for students of all identities. The Hamre Center offers gender affirming care and the Counseling Center provides identity specific mental health resources, including identity specific counseling groups and counselors, gender affirming care, and identity specific workshops.

In addition to inclusive pedagogy and professional development workshops, the Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching created the Transforming our Pedagogies Institute, which focuses on practices that can help us (re)member who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be as humans, as cultural and social beings, and as teachers and learners and scholars.

The Community Engagement Center also runs the following programs: Bonner, Posse, and Mellon Mays, Kente Summit

The Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship offers students opportunities to engage multiple learning communities related to research, scholarship, activism, and faculty careers, including the
the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups, and others with a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities, who will pursue a Ph.D. and enter the professoriate in selected core fields.

Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges:
Macalester College is a member of Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges (https://www.gettysburg.edu/offices/provost/consortium-for-faculty-diversity/contact-persons-at-member-institutions). The Consortium is committed to increasing the diversity of students, faculty members and curricular offerings at liberal arts colleges with a particular focus on enhancing the diversity of faculty members and of applicants for faculty positions.

http://www.macalester.edu/multiculturallife/

https://www.macalester.edu/equity/
https://www.macalester.edu/religiouslife/#/0
https://www.macalester.edu/lscsj/
https://www.macalester.edu/seriecenter/
https://www.macalester.edu/igc/
https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/2023/3/6/dei.aspx
https://athletics.macalester.edu/documents/2021/10/5/Macalester_College_Transgender_Inclusion_Policy_final_draft_9_2021.docx
https://macalester.presence.io/organizations
https://www.macalester.edu/disability-resources/