Portland Community College
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

https://www.pcc.edu/equity/policy/nonharassment/

Portland Community College’s goal is to provide an atmosphere that encourages individuals to realize their potential. Therefore, it is against the College’s policy for any manager, supervisor, faculty, staff, or student to engage in prohibited harassment or discrimination of any member of the College community.

The College prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law in any area, activity or operation of the College. The College also prohibits retaliation against an individual for engaging in activity protected under this policy, and interfering with rights or privileges granted under anti- discrimination laws. In addition, the College complies with applicable provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended), related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (as amended), Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”), and all local and state civil rights laws.

Under this policy, equal opportunity for employment, admission, and participation in the College’s programs, services, and activities will be extended to all persons, and the College will promote equal opportunity and treatment through application of this policy and other College efforts designed for that purpose.

Under the College’s policy, harassing, discriminatory, or retaliatory behaviors will not be tolerated. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every member of the College community to strictly comply with the policy and any procedures directed by the College President to implement the policy. This includes notifying each employee/student of their rights and responsibilities under the College’s Nondiscrimination and Non- harassment Policy. Management and staff will be held accountable to take reasonable action to maintain work sections and educational environments free of conduct that causes, or reasonably could be considered to cause intimidation, hostility, discrimination, or retaliation.

Any person who believes they have been discriminated or harassed by a College employee, representative or student is encouraged to address those concerns with the Office of Equity & Inclusion, which offers a grievance procedure to resolve complaints of discrimination in a prompt and equitable manner. Complaints about issues other than alleged discrimination or harassment may be submitted in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement procedure or the procedure in the Management/Confidential Handbook, or, for students, through the student grievance procedure.

At any point in the procedure, an individual with concerns about discrimination and/or harassment may file a complaint with (1) the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education; (2) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”); (3) the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (“BOLI”) Civil Rights Division; or (4) the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development.

The College President will establish operating policies and procedures that implement this policy consistently across the College.

Definitions
Unlawful Discrimination: Different treatment of or denial of a benefit to a person because of the person’s protected status, including race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.

Harassment: Can be a form of unlawful discrimination when it consists of unwelcome verbal, nonverbal (for example, whistling), visual or physical conduct based on protected status that is so severe, persistent, and pervasive that it interferes with or limits a student, faculty or staff member’s ability to participate in or benefit from the College’s educational and/or employment opportunities, programs or activities. Discriminatory harassment includes Sexual Harassment.

Examples of discriminatory harassment include, but are not limited to a behavior that degrades, denigrates, ridicules, and/or is physically abusive of an employee/student because of their:
gender or sexual orientation; race; color; national origin; or disability; other statuses protected by law.
Sexual Harassment: Conduct that is sexual in nature, is unwelcome, and that either (1) denies or limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the College’s educational programs; (2) creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive working environment; or (3) submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis for employment, salary, or other benefit changes affecting an employee or academic decisions affecting a student.

Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to: making sexual propositions or pressuring students/employees for sexual favors; touching of a sexual nature; writing graffiti of a sexual nature;
displaying or distributing sexually explicit drawings, pictures, or written materials; performing sexual gestures or touching oneself sexually in front of others; telling sexual or dirty jokes; engaging in acts of sexual violence or sexual activity where consent is not given or obtained; spreading sexual rumors or rating other students as to sexual activity or performance; or circulating or showing e-mails or websites of a sexual nature.

Retaliation: Retaliation means any adverse treatment (beyond a slight or annoyance) that is taken because a person engaged in protected activity (e.g., opposing discriminatory practices, filing a discrimination or discriminatory harassment complaint, or participating in an investigation, conduct hearing or an attempt at resolution, etc.) or for the purpose of interfering with right or privilege granted under anti-discrimination laws.

PCC does not have a bias team, but the Office of Equity and Inclusion responds to reports of discrimination or harassment that may implicate the college’s Civil Rights and Responsibilities Policy using the following protocol.

When reports of incidents that do not rise to the level of a possible violation of policy, i.e. racist stickers or flyers on campus there is a protocol to document them, report them to OEI, and have them removed. If OEI has the name of an individual reporting such conduct they will reach out to speak with them about how the individual has been impacted.

Recruitment of Diverse Students:
PCC ensures that communities who have been historically excluded from accessing higher education are made welcome and given real opportunities to succeed. Future Connect is a scholarship program which focuses on eliminating barriers to attending college, and provides on-going support throughout a student's time at PCC. It is open to high school student within Multnomah County, the Hillsboro School District, and the Beaverton School District who identify as first generation or low-income. Low income and first generation students are actively recruited through outreach programing.
https://www.pcc.edu/resources/future-connect/

Through Project Independence, women who are transitioning out of incarceration, in recovery from addiction, or are survivors of domestic violence get support in college readiness. Project Independence is a tuition free college credit program. The program helps students with college readiness while examining educational and career goals. Project Independence provides an opportunity for women to explore career and life options and gain self-confidence with a cohort of women in an educational setting. Female students in recovery, incarcerated, in domestic violence shelters are actively recruited through outreach programing.

https://www.pcc.edu/women/cascade/

Recruitment of diverse staff and faculty:
PCC's Diversity Recruiter is charged with diversity recruitment of prospective faculty, administrators and staff. It is an important role for the college. PCC’s student body has a 32-percent minority representation while the percentage of college employees is significantly lower. HR’s has an Inclusion Advocacy Program, which was a mandate by the college. The initiative places trained advocates on hiring committees to ensure members are not unwittingly engaged in biased discussions about candidates, and steer them toward more equitable conversations. The program is designed to recognize the value of inclusion and replaces the longstanding practice of having a designated diversity committee member, which led to tokenism. The following links lead to an article about PCC's Diversity Recruiter and Training Materials for the Inclusion Advocacy Program.
https://news.pcc.edu/2017/08/gregory-dockery/

Support for students from underrepresented groups:
Mentoring programs exist at the Cascade, Rock Creek, Southeast and Sylvania campuses geared toward returning women, men of color, Latino students, high school youth of color an African American women students.

Programs include:
Multicultural Center's Men of Color Mentoring Program; Social Justice Student Leadership Program; Women's Resource Center's Transitions Program, the DREAMers Resource Center, Oregon Leadership Institute, ROOTS Student Support Services Peer Mentors, Illumination Project Student Educators, S.A.F.E. Peer Educators, Career Center Peer Advisers, The Passage to Higher Education African American Women's Mentoring Program, Middle College and Future Connect Programs, Student Leadership Programs: Diversity Clubs and Activities and the Multicultural Awareness Council. We also offer a Veteterans Center.

Support for underrepresented staff and faculty:
The Listening Intervention Team for Equity (LITE) is a college-recognized resource for PCC students, faculty, and staff who have experienced inequity or who are in need of guidance to successfully navigate challenging dynamics at the college across cultures, races, ethnicities, gender identity or expression, sexual orientations, ability, faiths and other aspects of individual and group identity.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/listening-intervention-team-for-equity.html

The District Leaders of Diversity Council (DLDC) is a district-wide diversity council that includes representatives from various departments/campuses at PCC. The Council's purpose is to serve as advocates/allies, raise awareness of diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) issues, design and implement new DEI initiatives for PCC in partnership with other PCC stakeholders. The foundation of the DLDC's work is shaped through the theory of Social Justice. The DLDC uses Critical Race Theory to analyze our own practices and advocate for its use as a lens for analysis in our learning/working environments. The DLDC supports programs that promote equity and inclusion for staff, faculty and students at PCC.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/district-leaders-of-diversity-council.html

Diversity Councils
The charge of the campus diversity councils are to establish annual and long-term diversity goals for the campus; promote diversity through events on campus; review the campus climate; and hold the PCC as an institution accountable for making continued progress towards diversity.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/diversity/councils.html

Critical Race Theory Toolkit
Portland Community College aspires to become an institution of higher education that operates with the theory of social justice as part of its foundation, mission and values. We are taking intentional steps as an institution, to make PCC a more inclusive, welcoming learning and working environment.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/critical-race-theory-toolkit.html

Portland Community College LEAD Academy
In direct response to a significant number of pending employee retirements now and in the future, The PCC President, in collaboration with, The PCC Professional and Organizational Development Manager, partnered with IGS to bring an executive level leadership development program to the PCC System.

Employee Assistance Program
PCC’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is administered by Reliant Behavioral Health (RBH). The EAP provides services to help people privately resolve problems that may interfere with work, family, and other important areas of life. The EAP provides FREE and confidential services to eligible employees, their spouses or domestic partners, dependents, and household members, related or not. These services include confidential counseling, 24-hour crisis help, RBH eAccess, Childcare Services, Adult and Eldercare Services, Legal Services, Will Preparation, Mediation Services, Financial Services, a Home Ownership Program, and more.

https://www.pcc.edu/advocacy/get-help/

The college has also made efforts to aid students, staff and faculty during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic by making a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource webpage. https://www.pcc.edu/coronavirus/ And in particular, community resources and funding assistance for students have been gathered about food, employment, child care, emergency grants, counseling, health insurance, mental health support, domestic violence, utilities, housing and technology assistance. https://www.pcc.edu/coronavirus/information-for-students/resources/ In addition, PCC is in a partnership with Free Geek, a nonprofit organization that sells reconditioned computers, phones & electronics, to provide low cost options for technology as well as programs. Any student in need of a computer can contact Free Geek, explain their situation and possibly be grant a computer for free if they do not currently have access to technology.

The Office of Equity and Inclusion provides a program called the Faculty Diversity Internship Program to support the recruitment of diverse faculty to PCC.

Portland Teachers Program
PTP is a partnership effort among Portland Public Schools (PPS), Portland Community College (PCC), Portland State University (PSU) and Beaverton School District (BSD). It is designed to recruit and help prepare culturally competent teachers, with a special focus on historically underrepresented groups in the teaching profession. As a retention/scholarship program, it assists selected students in completing teacher education through the regular coursework at PCC and PSU.
https://www.pcc.edu/resources/portland-teachers/

We do not have any campus housing.