This month, the 2021-22 Working Approach to Advance DEIAR, a resource that compiles Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (DEIAR) actions across Bryn Mawr College's campus community, was published online.
The Approach, described as "a living document...that will evolve and grow over time," links to an updated Progress Report, a succinct review of work completed by students, faculty, administration, and staff over the past 12 months.
Taken together, these resources offer current information regarding community DEIAR work, both underway and completed. The Approach compiles major community actions under four main themes or goals:
- Raise community understanding of structural racism.
- Address structural issues and barriers to equity and inclusion.
- Create narratives that support belonging.
- Support thriving and belonging for all.
The new resources follow a detailed 24-page end of year report for 2020-21, published in July. The July report included outcomes of more than 50 projects undertaken over the academic year, involving nearly every department on campus.
Professor of History Ignacio Gallup-Diaz is among the faculty members who have played a significant role in multiple projects to address histories of exclusion and racism at the College. Gallup-Diaz led the Telling College Histories Group in 2018-19 and has taught “Telling Bryn Mawr Histories,” a Praxis course in which students conduct research in the archives. Professor Gallup-Diaz advised a group of student interns this summer on the current installment of the “Who Built Bryn Mawr?” exhibition.
“If you imagine that the story that’s told about the College, the history of the College, as a work of music, we are all the sound mixers. We’ve got a set of dials in front of us, and there are many, many sound inputs that make that music about the College,” says Gallup-Diaz. “At one point, the M. Carey Thomas input was turned up to 11, and there were other inputs that were muted and turned down. So the goal is not to turn [M. Carey Thomas] to zero—we don’t want to silence or erase—but we do want to turn up the other elements so that the contributions of people of color and absences and erasures can be explored, and it can all be a part of that music that we’re developing and playing for the world.”
Among the programs included in the most recent list of the Working Approach is the creation of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in the Liberal Arts (STEMLA) Fellows program. A two-year program for first-generation, low-income students interested in STEM fields, the first cohort of students spent four weeks in the program this summer (during which they received a stipend) and will participate in the program throughout their first two years at Bryn Mawr.
“The mentoring component of the STEMLA Fellows Program provides the foundation for a welcoming start in STEM, and also allows our faculty to learn from each other’s best practices, expanding the capacity for effective mentoring partnerships to all our STEM students,” says Jennifer Skirkanich, one of the co-directors of the program.
The report also describes initial work of the Campus Partnership for Equity and Anti-Racism (CPEAR), a compensated advisory group of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees who review, support, and help facilitate communication, transparency, and accountability about the College’s activities going forward.
“One thing I really like about CPEAR is that the idea of accountability includes ongoing reflection about what has gone well and identifying where there are gaps that remain,” says Janet Shapiro, dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and a CPEAR member. “Another key role CPEAR plays is to elevate the ongoing work of others on campus who have had long-standing engagement in DEIAR work.”
McBride Scholar Patricia Shore is one of several student members of the group.
"Students who sacrificed during the strike should know that it wasn’t in vain,” says Shore. “I’d like other students to know about the meaningful discussions, active participation, and involvement in CPEAR from almost all facets of the College community."
Other recent DEIAR actions include the hiring of two new assistant deans, one for intercultural engagement and one for student support and belonging; a new policy allowing junior faculty to request a course release for DEIAR work; a commitment to continue and increase hiring practices that diversify the faculty; and the appointment of Michael Allen, professor of international studies and political science, as Associate Provost for Academic Policy. In this position, Allen is focusing in particular on issues of social and racial justice and ways that the College is adapting to a new educational landscape in the 21st century.