Warren Wilson College
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The Wilson Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Office (WIDE) provides advocacy, community building, empowerment, and identity affirmation in support of underrepresented student populations, including students of color and International students. WIDE seeks to produce intentional and varied learning opportunities for all Warren Wilson students, faculty, and staff to: 1. Develop consciousness around issues of racial and ethnic diversity. 2. Engage multicultural perspectives through critical dialogue and programs. 3. Promote universal love and intercultural competency. 4. Create inclusive and equitable spaces in appreciation of difference. Programming The WIDE Heritage Series presents awareness, celebration, and dialogue programming throughout the year, including Hispanic and Latin@ heritage, Indigenous and Native American heritage, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Black World History Month, Chinese New Year, International Women’s Month, and Asian/Pacific Islander heritage. Education The WIDE crew provides a number of educational opportunities for the Warren Wilson community, including classroom/crew presentations, conferences, trainings, and workshops. If you are interested in our educational opportunities, please contact WIDE: wide@warren-wilson.edu. Community Building WIDE is a noted ally whose community outreach includes social justice campaigns, solidarity programming, and support of aligned student demonstrations, to name a few. WIDE works across the Triad of students, staff, and faculty alike to build inclusive, diverse, and equitable communities. Toward that end, WIDE also collaborates with organizations and colleges/universities in the Asheville, Black Mountain, and surrounding region. We have an active Facebook page, so like us! Student Advocacy WIDE provides an open door policy and supports all students in development of their multiple identities. The WIDE Office is also an advocate and response unit for student reports of racial and ethnic bias. In addition, WIDE works with a number of racial and ethnic identity student groups, including: Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA), Black Student Union (BSU), Engage – a social and leadership student group for students of color, and Wilson Herman@s Orgullos@s en las Americas (WHOLA).

One of the general education program's requirements for students is to take a course that meets the "intercultural perspectives" requirement. As part of the College's 5-year Quality Enhancement Plan -- BUILDING Diversity -- 8 to 10 faculty and staff are selected each year as Diversity Fellows to build capacity for cultural competence on campus. Each fellow designs and executes a "change project," some of which are available to all members of the campus community. Others focus their projects more directly on students or employees. In addition, the Human Resources office has several directives from the president related to cultural competence trainings and activities. One is to develop and publish explicit and strengthened procedures to ensure the hiring process recruits candidates from diverse backgrounds. Another is training for all faculty and staff search committees on welcoming diversity. And a third is to lead a faculty and staff task force to identify a mandatory diversity and racial sensitivity training program for all faculty, staff and administrators.

The WIDE office is staffed by 1 FTE and the HR office by 2 FTE.