Mills College
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The Mills College Committee on Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EISJ) promotes equity, inclusion and social justice within every aspect of the academic, co-curricular, residential, and administrative life of Mills College. To that end, the committee works to identify proactive, sustainable strategies to generate and institutionalize attention to equity and inclusion in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religious and spiritual beliefs, political affiliations, class, age, color, size, sexual orientation, ability, immigrant status, and national origin. The committee, using innovative best practices, creates the infrastructure to address inequalities arising from any differential distribution of power, resources, and privilege at Mills, and to support initiatives that enable students, faculty, and staff to engage in social change leading to a more just and inclusive society. The committee, representing the breadth of Mills College, is able to identify possible changes within programs and departments to address equity and inclusion concerns and to forward broader campus wide policy and practices changes to the College leadership for consideration.

The committee is composed of members appointed by the President of Mills College. Committee membership includes students, faculty, staff, and alumnae/i representatives. EISJ committee includes the listed representation below of both a smaller steering committee that meets more frequently and additional committee members that will meet with the steering committee group at least once a semester but may meet more as necessary. The at-large positions will be solicited at the spring of each year for a term of service the following academic year. Faculty and staff positions will serve two year terms. Students and alumnae/i representatives will serve one year terms. All terms are renewable as appropriate and upon the recommendation of the President. Efforts will be made to create a committee that reflects the broad range of diverse experience and backgrounds represented at Mills College and the larger community. The committee with select a chair/facilitator or co-chairs/facilitators and a record keeper to ensure the committee meets regularly and provides updated information on its work as well as an annual report to the President. Additionally, the committee may request ad-hoc members to join subcommittees for periods of time to work on special projects.

Programs implemented and planned include workshops on transgender inclusion practices, a listening session for students to share their experiences with faculty, a campus forum on our journey from a diverse community to an inclusive community, and a panel discussion on social change through student activism.

Student activities and trainings have been held regarding topics such as "White Privilege", "Parallel Identities", "Undocumented Students", "Race & Class", "Black Lives Matter", "Gender Expression in the Workplace", "Ferguson Dialogue", and "Art & Activism". Mills College has also partnered with other institutions (UC Berkeley and Holy Names) for activities such as "Sustainability & Class", "Sustainability & Social Justice: Race, Gender, & Sustainability", and the Social Justice Forum Conference.