Summers offer time to review what has and has not worked over the year, to take stock of resources, and to align plans for the coming autumn. High in my thoughts are questions about how my college can best continue to pursue an equity agenda, a question that I discussed at the AAC&U national conference in January of 2018.
I was one of several speakers at a panel session entitled “Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus-Based Strategies for Student Success.” The invitation was extended to me because of Wright College’s participation in AAC&U’s initiative of the same name. The project supported thirteen diverse institutions, asking each to design, implement, and assess plans to more equitably advance student learning and achievement. The key question the AAC&U posed was “How can we build institutional capacity to address inequities in student outcomes?” My task at the panel was to talk about equity plans from a presidential perspective.
After describing Wright College, I explained why we applied to the AAC&U for the equity grant, how we formed an Equity Committee (I supported it – but did not sit on the committee), and why we created goals that strategically aligned and advanced the institutions key performance indicators. We used Wright’s Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) designation to assert our focus on our Hispanic students, mindful that we have an obligation to pay attention all students. Central to our efforts was disaggregating data on student behavior and performance by race and gender. This was a milestone for the institution. The college’s equity plan outlined strategies for service learning, math courses with co-requisites, and our Information Technology career programs. In the process, our college community engaged in a conversation about equity that revealed challenges and new understandings. I emphasized in the panel session that through this effort, Wright College is now in a better position to assess, sustain, and advance the work of closing the equity gap.
Providing a bit more detail, I explained how service learning, a high-impact practice (HIP), was part of Wright’s accreditation plan and available to all students. Wright increased the number of service learning courses through the project. Another part of the plan involved Developmental Math with Co-Requisites, but here, the data revealed inconsistent success.
I explained that intentional conversations about race, privilege, and what equity means in an urban, Hispanic serving community college have changed college. The consequences of the work were not limited to the equity project. Diversity, inclusion, and equity are fundamental values in Wright’s new Academic Plan. The plan call for a campus climate survey to better understand student, staff, and faculty equity experiences. The college is diversify hiring. We are also working to structure support and build from Wright’s successful 2017 equity symposium for HSIs in the Chicagoland area. For the coming year, the Equity Committee has been restructured as an Equity Panel, with new and broader participation.
As for my role as president, I stated at the conference that I very much believe in doing all that I can to support the equity initiatives and foster an environment where they can grow. The president has privilege and influence. The power of the office also, by its very nature, distorts and complicates any “safe” discussion about equity. Accordingly, I have also learned I cannot lead equity discussions or directly participate. We all have our roles.
I also talked at the panel about the difficulties of structurally supporting equity work. It is, without a doubt, difficult work that is usually processed as “extra.” It involves changing mindset and practice. It demands difficult conversations. And while it is very much the right thing to do, our budget systems do not reward it. For most institutions of higher education, equity work is self-assigned.
Pursuing equity is no easy task. While we have been able at Wright to reallocate resources to support equity, if academia is going to advance equity as a large-scale goal, we will have to design new funding and reward models. Meaningful and good work can often the most challenging kind of work. Knowing that – in advance – is central to making it effective. We have much to do.
David Potash