General Assembly

18 Point Plan

May 3, 2005

TO THE OCCIDENTAL COMMUNITY

We write this statement with a great deal of enthusiasm and optimism about the Mission of Occidental College. The Mission is not merely words but is an evolving and lived experience for those of us who make our lives here.

Most of us can recite the first sentence of Occidental's Mission, "to provide an excellent and diverse student body with a total education of the highest quality." Fewer of us, however, have attended to its call for "(r)espect for and the practice of justice, fairness and integrity-the belief that no attribute such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, age or physical ability should impair anyone's access to or enjoyment of any feature of Occidental College." Our Mission "thus necessarily entails welcoming the presence of all forms of diversity into the pursuit of excellence."

Members of the community have been addressing issues of the isms and their feelings of degradation and alienation for years. Over the course of the past few weeks, reports by students of demeaning comments, slurs, and intimidation based on race, sexuality, gender, social class, and political ideas reminded us that we must be ever vigilant about the Mission. In the past, we have dealt with issues of marginalization as if they were individual and isolated events. We are persuaded by our conversations of the last few weeks that it is time for us to take a more systematic, institutional approach to the very complicated issue of campus and classroom climate.

Some believe that our Mission is accomplished by our demographic diversity without attending to the lived experiences on the campus. Although we take pride in creating a demographically diverse community of students, faculty, and staff from all walks of life, each playing multiple roles in that diversity, this is only the stage in which the Mission comes alive. Our Mission does not settle for merely demographic diversity but demands a higher standard of positive and enriching lived experiences for all of us. It is in this higher standard that some of our students painfully demonstrated that we must do much better.

We see this not as a failing of individuals. That would be too easy. We are not referring to a few isolated events; rather we are concerned that a systemic problem is negatively impacting the intellectual and emotional health of the entire Occidental community. It is a challenge for the institution and its structures that support its individuals. Current administrative responses and college policies have been ineffective. If the climate is challenging for some then it is unhealthy for all of us.

We end this school year with a commitment to a renewed beginning. We are committed to addressing these issues on both a short and long-term basis. We will respond to individual offenses in a direct manner and we will work to prevent future offenses with the help of institutional changes. The following is an overview of actions to serve as a base to address the root of these problems. To properly confront the issues we will further develop this document with diverse members of the community to be a more detailed plan of action. We urge you to join us in this renewal as well.

Sincerely,

Theodore Mitchell Kenyon S. Chan

Occidental College Action Plan

Curriculum and Academic Program

1. In the long term, we support the development of academic programs or department that focuses on new scholarship in critical race studies, postcolonial theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. Although discussions of these issues occur in other parts of the curriculum and are central to some faculty approaches, in the short term, we support the establishment of an organized academic department like the one currently proposed by several faculty that will organize particular attention to these issues as a course of study and will provide the administrative resources when the faculty approve the department.

2. We are committed to invigorating interpersonal and intergroup studies into the CORE and LLC programs. Critical reading, writing skills, and critical analysis of interpersonal and intergroup dynamics should be the three cornerstones of the CSP and LLC programs. We will enhance faculty training in this area. Implementation should begin this summer and a thorough reintroduction of the critical studies component will be implemented in the 2006-2007 school year

3. We are committed to the development and implementation within two years of discipline specific curricular modules for use by every department/program that incorporates interpersonal and intergroup studies connected to the campus climate differential student outcomes and achievement for use in classes and faculty development. We will develop two pilot modules this summer in the physical sciences and arts.

4. We support the implementation and evaluation of the pilot sophomore experience program that is being designed by the ORSL, CCBL, and ICC to address leadership, community engagement, and intercultural leadership. Further, we are committed to improving the sophomore year experience by annually evaluating retention with particular attention to underrepresented students. We support the allocation of college resources needed to invest in the sophomore experience.

5. We support the immediate development and implementation of a mechanism for credit-bearing student-initiated courses. In particular, we will assist in the implementation and evaluation of the proposed CCBL pilot course in "Public Achievement."

6. We support the recruitment and hiring of a full-time tenured or tenure track professor who would serve as Chair of the Women's Studies/Gender Studies Program and provide leadership in this area in the future. The intersections among race, gender, sexuality, and class should be central to an Oxy Women's Studies Program. We will ask the Faculty Planning Committee to help formulate such a proposal in the upcoming academic year.

7. We are committed to full access to all majors and minors with recognition of inequalities in some areas of the college. We are committed to paying particular attention to the development of students of color in the sciences. We will actively support and help implement the proposed division-wide Scientific Scholars Achievement Program and will pursue other initiatives and programs aimed at increasing the success of students who may be under-prepared and or are currently underrepresented in the sciences. Further, we will conduct a top to bottom review of access issues to ensure that the proper resources are adequately and appropriately deployed to help our students succeed. We will provide professional support, financial support, and adequate space for the Scientific Scholars Achievement Program in the coming three years.

Training and Professional Development

8. We are committed to the development of campus/classroom climate training/development for divisions and departments including all faculty, staff, and administrators. This program will target how race, gender, sexuality, class, power and privilege manifest within the classroom and other spaces on campus. Training will include appropriate readings, writing reflections, assessment, and other active learning pedagogies. All divisions and departments will participate in this training by January 1, 2006 and refresher courses that more deeply engage these issues will be developed for the long term. Training for faculty, administrators, and staff will be tailored to their special roles.

9. We are committed to the development of training for faculty and students to become proficient at sustaining an open classroom climate, recognizing the development of problematic interactions in their classrooms, and mastering methods for dealing with interpersonal conflicts in class.

10. We support the development of additional methods of evaluating courses related to classroom climate by including additional questions in the student course evaluation surveys.

11. We will ask the Center for Teaching Excellence to focus special attention to training in classroom climate and classroom management issues as it plans its agenda each year.

12. For new faculty, we are committed to providing a strong yearlong professional development program that will include intercultural and intergroup studies and on fostering a healthy classroom climate.

Student Life

13. We are committed to develop more training for students in intercultural, interpersonal, and intergroup relations. This is particularly important in our residence life programs. We will integrate intercultural and intergroup studies into the training of residence life staff and students beginning this summer.

14. We are committed to the improvement of frosh/transfer orientation that should provide a strong emphasis on inter-cultural relationships, critical studies of group dynamics, and classroom and residential climate. All frosh/transfer students will be required to attend these events, regardless of other Occidental commitments. Programs like "TAKE 16" should be included and modified to incorporate real Oxy experiences.

Ongoing Campus Discussion and Action

15. We are committed to a positive and safe campus climate for all members of our community free of intimation and disrespect. In particular, we will engage outside consultants to investigate the campus climate for our staff employees with particular emphasis in facilities services. This should occur within the next six months.

16. We support the development of monthly open forums for students, faculty, and administrators to meet by departments and divisions to discuss educational issues, classroom issues, and general climate issues within those groups that will start next year.

17. We are committed to the appointment of an interim ombudsperson and will initiate the process to define the role of a permanent ombudsperson on the campus. All members of the community, with special attention to students, will participate in the development of this position.

18. We are committed to a reformulation of the Council on Access and Achievement as a focal point for evaluation and accountability of these plans and for the formulation of others. The Council must be proactive about addressing the deepening of our commitment to the Mission of the college. The Dean of Students and students should lead the agenda of the CAA.