Chancellor announces immediate anti-racism actions to transform campus
Chancellor Philip DiStefano today announced the immediate actions for change he and his administration will take to transform the CU Boulder experience for Black students, faculty and staff; for all students, faculty and staff of color; and for other marginalized individuals and groups.
“Many of you have told me you want immediate and sustained action to change the history of systemic racism and inequality in our country, our community and at our institution,” DiStefano said. “The actions I am announcing today are our start. I acknowledge we have a long, difficult road ahead, and we must all work together.”
These actions for change (see below) and additional information are available on the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE) campus actions page, and will be updated continuously based on progress, perspectives and priorities shared by the campus community, continued understanding, and the need for transparency and accountability moving forward.
Among the next steps the chancellor and other campus leaders plan to take before mid-July is the immediate implementation of the campus Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan, which was approved earlier this year.
“We have much hard and uncomfortable work to do if we expect the change we desire at CU Boulder to take hold,,” DiStefano said. “I will provide updates on our progress each month—including our successes, obstacles, failures and new opportunities—so we can deepen our understanding, continue to act, sustain our work together and bring anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion into everything we do.”
Additional actions are forthcoming, but the chancellor announced the following actions for change that will begin this week:
1. Update and enhance our faculty and staff hiring practices to achieve greater representation of persons of color in our community and to better express the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion to all who would consider becoming part of our university.
- Provide mandatory implicit bias training for all members of search committees and everyone who votes on faculty hires to ensure that our faculty recruiting process is not affected by unconscious biases that limit opportunities for diverse scholars.
- The provost's office will begin to reallocate open faculty lines to fund hires that broadly support diversity and inclusion.
- Evaluate the mandatory qualifications for staff searches to ensure that qualifications reflect true competencies for positions.
2. Update and enhance our student recruitment and retention policies and practices.
- Analyze in-state and out-of-state recruiting strategies to ensure that CU Boulder recruits from schools that support communities of color.
- Develop applications and admission documents that highlight the importance of diversity, inclusion, and equity and communicate CU Boulder’s expectations that incoming students will support campus values.
3. Implement mandatory bystander training for faculty, staff, and students.
4. Engage with the CU System and CU Student Government in examining our procurement practices with Colorado Correctional Industries.
5. Complete a review of our campus police policies and procedures to align with best community and campus practices, including the protections contained within SB20-217.
6. Charge CU Boulder faculty with developing a CU 101 anti-racism module for first-year students that explores the toxicity of racism in U.S. history, U.S. life and at CU Boulder and delves into ways to act against it in our daily lives on and off campus.
7. Continue engagement between CU Police Department, CUSG, United Government of Graduate Students, and student organizations of color to improve mutual understanding and law enforcement transparency and accountability to the campus.
8. Form the Council for Community and Inclusion recommended in the IDEA Plan and begin implementation of the IDEA Plan.