Knox College
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Campus Diversity Committee: To provide advice and counsel to the President for ways in which Knox’s educational programs, institutional practices, and community of students, faculty and staff can fulfill the College’s commitment to diversity; to help maintain a community unified by common institutional values and enriched by diversity based on such factors as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and disability. The committee or any sub-committee that it creates may choose to focus on such issues as support services, residential life, and recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff. The Committee will provide initiative and leadership to ensure that the College’s programs and practices help all members of the Knox community to become more conscious, understanding, knowledgeable of and sensitive to different cultures and backgrounds, and to situate themselves within a diverse community. (Faculty Regs. F 11.9)
Intercultural Life: contributes to the College's goal of creating an inclusive campus community by acknowledging and celebrating the diverse experience of our students, faculty, and staff.
Prioritize diversity as an important part of the Knox experience, as diversity is one of the core values of Knox. Drawing from 45 states and 49 countries, Knox's student body is a wonderful mix of cultures and backgrounds.
Create a supportive campus environment for members of historically disadvantaged backgrounds. This includes supporting six residential cultural centers and advising several cultural student organizations.
Facilitate programming and activities that celebrate and share the rich cultures of the students, staff, and faculty that make up our community. This includes, New Student Orientation diversity programs, monthly programming for students and leading the annual, campus-wide Day of Dialogue.
Foster discourse designed to effect positive change by challenging injustice such as social inequities and other forms of oppression.
Human Resources: online employee training; assisting with sharing job descriptions in diverse advertisements

Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) courses are offered on campus and the First-Year Preceptorial course dedicates a third of the term, if not more, to learning about social justice related themes. The past two years, the course segment has focused on the book Just Mercy by author Bryan Stevenson. The Office of Intercultural Life (IL) has developed a peer education leadership position that uses the tenets of IGD as well as adapting work from the Social Justice Training Institute. The students are trained to assist in student-centered DEI workshops/programs including the annual campus-wide event, Day of Dialogue. The IL office offers workshops and trainings for Student Senate organizations, fraternity and sorority life, athletic teams, as well as the general student body regarding power/privilege, how to talk across differences, and understanding identity development. The IL office has collaborated with Athletics since December 2019 to offer on-going professional development related to understanding privilege, addressing microaggressions, and coaching the whole athlete. The Associate Dean/Director of Intercultural Life is also the NCAA Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee (ADID). She is currently working with the AD to provide a DEI training for staff and athletes during their early fall arrival.
The Campus Diversity Committee has focused their efforts the past few years on two main initiatives: following up on the work of an Anti-Racism Task Force convened in the 2020-2021 academic year and assisting the faculty and staff in better understanding supports and tools to assist students with disabilities both academically and residentially. The Task Force had presented over 40 short and long-term recommendations to the former president. Our current president has continued to meet with members of that task force to work through the recommendations and the Campus Diversity Committee continues to engage in conversations with entities across campus regarding the work.
Additionally, all faculty and staff have been encouraged to participate in a monthly online anti-racism workshop series hosted by our collegial consortium, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Examples from the past two years include:”Creating Effective Systems of Support for Historically Marginalized Students”, “Culturally Responsive Student and Faculty Mentorship”, “Decolonizing Pedagogies”, “Successfully Navigating the Intersection of DEI and Academic Freedom,” and “Equitable Civic Engagement: Race, Public Safety and Public Engagement”.

https://acm.edu/faculty/professional-development/anti-racism-workshops/
https://www.knox.edu/offices/intercultural-life/day-of-dialogue
https://www.knox.edu/offices/intercultural-life/anti-racism-resources