Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity

Charter

Fall 2020

Name:  Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity

Led By: Allatia Harris with Dr. Eddy Ruiz, Asst. VC, DEI and Director of Diverse Student Populations

Reports To: VCSI

Membership:

Membership is intentionally diverse in makeup. Members derive from all campuses, employee groups, races/ethnicities, gender/gender identities, time at the College, etc.

Membership is likely to hover around 20-25 to ensure that a wide variety of work groups and departments have representation, all elements of diversity are represented, and various teams that work and report on areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion have DEI Council representation.

Background:

San Jacinto College established a Diversity Council in 2009. As "Diversity" became "Diversity and Inclusivity" and then "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity," the group has remained true to the ideals of the original charter which focused on celebrating diversity in the College, fostering a college environment that was inclusive, and providing leadership in the College and external community on matters pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Council has always had intentionally diverse membership, representing a wide variety of employee groups, races/ethnicities, gender/gender identity, veteran status, tenure with the College, etc. The Council has evolved over the past years, and the work has expanded. To reflect the vast amount of work across the College pertaining to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Council has been reconfigured to incorporate teams that report to the Council.

Purpose:

The redesigned Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity serves as the backbone in an intra organizational collective impact model. The committee aligns equity work and facilitates communication across the College about how we are addressing the College’s commitments to our students and communities to:

• Create a culture of inclusivity in classrooms and through engaged learning,
• Review our curriculum for training the next generation of the workforce,
• Host and support courageous conversations that advance understanding and respect among members of our San Jacinto College community and in our local communities,
• Achieve equity in student outcomes by program and course for Hispanic, White, African American, and Asian students; students with socioeconomic differences; students with different enrollment status (PT/FT); etc. 
• Implement strategies that reduce bias and increase diversity in the recruitment, hiring, and retention of College employees.

To address these commitments, the Council relies on the work of many teams that conduct activities or research within and across units. Teams meet regularly to share data, review progress, and report to the DEI Council at scheduled times during the year. Each team is represented on the DEI Council.

Assumptions

1. The Council will use a college-wide approach in addressing matters related to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.
2. The Council will use an adapted collective impact model that respects the work and leadership of various units of the College.
3. The Council will serve as a platform to give momentum to work that advances student success through DEI efforts.
4. The Council will provide transparent communications to colleagues and other employees regarding processes and decision-making. Council members will report to their work groups in meetings and seek input from colleagues.
5. The Council will ensure a set of consistent standards and processes across departments and campuses.
6. The Council will demonstrate the college values in all its work.

Deliverables

The Council will provide an annual report that includes the findings, progress, and activities of each team.

Teams are likely to include but not limited to: Learning Outcomes – Data Analysis; Equitable Outcomes in Workforce; Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention of Employees; Learning Resources; Student Engagement, Activities; Student Resources; Policy Language; Curriculum; Professional Development; Community Groups – Outreach and Resources; Student Voices; and Facilities.

Additionally, the Council will develop a communication plan that updates the College community regularly on the work that is happening across all areas of the College.

Meeting Frequency/Length/Norms

1. The Council will meet 5-6 times per year during September, November, February, April, and June.
2. Meetings will last 2-3 hours.
3. Various teams will be scheduled to present their status of work or learnings from research projects at meetings.
4. The meeting is a safe space to question, to express differences of opinion, and to learn from one another in a respectful way.

Timeline Anchors

Start: Fall 2020

End: Ongoing

This team will catalog and coordinate our representation and participation with community groups that connect with diverse populations and services. Outreach and activities are happening across the college, but we have not coordinated our efforts well. This team will work to involve members of the college community in various organizations and to identify those who are currently involved in the effort to enhance community relationships that benefit students and that support and grow our local communities.

1. Catalog our representation in community organizations
2. Report on our outreach
3. Report on our efforts to engage community groups on campus
4. Report on community resources for students
5. Develop metrics

This team will report on the kinds of changes that are happening in the instructional areas to enhance and expand culturally relevant teaching. C Team members will include faculty, leaders, and students.

1. Follow work that is happening in discipline groups and best practices incorporating equity and inclusivity into curriculum
2. Identify a rotation of disciplines to hear from on a cyclical basis over a 3-5 year period, similar to (and perhaps aligned with) Program Review
3. Learn from Chairs the kinds of work that is included in faculty KPIs and identify themes
4. Develop reporting metrics that may be qualitative and/or quantitative

Technical program faculty and leaders have access to data about graduation and employment and earnings one year and five years after graduation. These data can be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status and enrollment (PT or FT). The EOWG team reports to the Council on findings, successes, and opportunities for improvement. Members are likely to be credit technical faculty and leaders, noncredit program faculty or staff, research personnel, general education faculty, career services staff.

1. Review of AAS program completion data, disaggregated by race, gender, socioeconomic status
2. Review of employment data, similarly disaggregated
   
   1. Where are there surprising successes – Why? What can we learn?
   2. Where are there gaps – Why? What can we do?
3. Development of metrics for dashboard

This team will be comprised primarily of representatives from Fiscal Affairs. In recent years, concerns have arisen about ADA accessibility or Gender-Neutral restrooms. Campus police have been helpful in interpreting DACA enforcement issues, for example. Use of MWBE vendors is another example of DEI issues that pertain to the facilities and fiscal services of the college. Tuition, Aid Like a Paycheck, and OER are other areas that advance the DEI and student success work.

1. Catalog advances in recent years that advance DEI work.
2. Identify barriers for students
3. Develop metrics that represent advances in Facilities and Fiscal Affairs

This group will curate resources for a site where employees can find readings, Ted Talks, and websites that inform conversations and advance learning about equity. Suggestions for materials may come from anyone in the college, though the team will assume leadership for identifying materials. Crowd-sourcing employees is appropriate.

1. Assess current practice and collections
2. Consider a way site to promote diverse perspectives and to host rich information, curated for quality, with attention to ease of use.
3. Identify plan for managing site that is a repository for reading lists, Ted Talks, articles, etc.
4. Consider the value of online discussion groups and a plan for managing discussion sites
5. Identify metrics

The work of policy review and management happens from the Chancellor’s Office. The Special Assistant to the Board who manages policy revisions will lead a team that reviews policy for language that speaks to equity and is gender neutral. The team will report to the Council as changes are under way or questions arise. Changes will be included in the annual report.

1. Identify and correct any policy language that is not current
2. Ensure use of gender-neutral language
3. Recommend metrics for dashboard

Professional Development work is happening in several departments across the college, and this team will enhance communication across departments, share learning about what groups want and what training is available and support expanding the work of hosting conversations across the college. Members will come from CETL, HR, Intercultural Competence leaders, faculty, student services staff, and possibly students.

1. Learn what work is currently in use or under development or has been in the offerings during the last year (pre-COVID).
   1. Create a form to capture that work that includes
      1. Name of Professional Development
      2. Intended audience
      3. Provider
      4. Goals/intended outcomes
      5. Method of delivery
      6. Time required
      7. Length of time it has been offered
      8. Method of review/metrics
2. Discuss what works and what the challenges are; identify gaps in training
3. Design metrics that represent participation and satisfaction with professional development activities.

The role of the Program Outcomes team is to review current data sets and recommend measures for a dashboard. The team will share reports of significant findings, ask questions, and be a part of the discussion of interventions and solutions.

1. Review methods the College is using to analyze program data and course data for DEI measures
2. Recommend Program Outcome metrics for a DEI dashboard
3. Consider interventions designed to address findings and offer recommendations to instructional areas
4. Consider recommending review by Affinity groups external to the department. May include students. Process needs to be designed.
5. Report to Council what is working and where improvements are needed and being addressed by academic departments

The SJC Employment Outcomes team shares data with the Council and informs the Council of changes or improvements to processes that advance the equity agenda. 

1. Review current practices in recruitment and hiring.
2. Develop and recommend a dashboard of metrics for hiring and employment that describes diversity of employees.
3. Review recruitment and hiring processes and recommend opportunities to improve.

Extracurricular and co-curricular student activities are happening across the College. The SDEIP team will help to coordinate efforts, market programs, and plan a timeline that supports marketing and promotion of activities. Members are likely to be SEA directors, faculty involved in the heritage month activities, social media/marketing, students.

1. Review existing programming in Cultural Heritage Month activities related to DEI
2. Identify a process for aligning work and promoting together as much as possible
3. Other leadership and personal development activities for students related to DEI
4. Develop metrics for a dashboard

The SR team will communicate efforts across departments regarding services for students and make recommendations for other needed services and for the administration of services. The SR team will report to the Council.

1. The team will develop a catalog of resources we have available to students.
2. The team will identify gaps in services or suggest ways to improve and promote services
3. The team will develop metrics for reporting student use of services
   
   1. Food Markets
   2. IT
   3. Foundation - Emergency Scholarships
   4. Mental Health/Disability Services
   5. San Jac Cares

This team will gather information about student perspectives and report on activities on and around campus that encourage and add volume to the student voice.

1. Design methodology for diverse student conversations about DEI issues
2. Capture student voices about campus experience
3. Develop metrics for work around conversations
4. Report themes and other findings from listening to student voices to DEI Council