Strategic Questions 2021

Rationale for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging:
Why Now?
Rollins College has had a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) for a long time, perhaps decades, in some sense or another. And yet, there is a widespread feeling across our many constituencies that there is much work still to be done. Since the mobilization last year of the most recent racial justice movement in our nation, the students, faculty, staff, and trustees of Rollins College have deepened their awareness, their sophistication, and their commitment. Timing is of the essence, and this campus, this college, is ready, eager, and able to address these issues now in ways never before as propitious.

For the purpose of this initiative, we may understand:

• diversity as recognizing, valuing, and supporting an open and nurturing community of learners, intentionally including diverse national, regional, socioeconomic, gender, sexual, religious, ethnic, and racial identities;
• equity as intending and ensuring fair and just treatment and access to opportunities, particularly at the systemic or institution level and especially for historically underrepresented groups;
• inclusion as providing to students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds and identities access to Rollins and its opportunities for liberal learning and meaningful work, and creating a welcoming environment within the institution, learning and working environments, relationships, conversations, and programs; and,

• belonging as ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds and identities feel they are valued, their contributions are welcomed and appreciated, and their social connections are supportive in helping them thrive and take pride in being full members of the Rollins community.

With this understanding, DEIB addresses the breadth and depth of experience — the breadth from entry until departure, the depth from celebrating identities to enacting systemic change. 

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There are three core reasons why DEIB rises to the level of a strategic priority for Rollins. The first is ethical: we actively invite a broad diversity of students, faculty, and staff to join our learning community and it behooves us to ensure that this is a place where they can thrive. In the most basic sense of fairness and institutional integrity, we owe every member of our community the opportunity to pursue their aspirations here feeling recognized, respected, and valued.

The second reason speaks directly to our mission to educate students for global citizenship and responsible leadership. Our excellence is a direct function of our diversity; it is critical that the dialogue that constitutes the very means of liberal education is infused with a diversity of voices, perspectives, lived experiences, and points of view.

As our entire learning community at Rollins becomes more diverse, so too do the worlds of work and civic life our students are preparing to lead responsibly. Our educational programs need to prepare students to be ethical, skillful, knowledgeable, and effective leaders in the workforce and citizens in our diverse democracy. They need to be skilled in the arts of diversity to get the most from their Rollins education, and they need to be skilled likewise to participate successfully in the global economy.

The third reason is a straightforward business proposition. We compete in a market for college-bound students who are increasingly diverse and who seek diversity when choosing where to attend. Not to get this right would constitute a strategic threat to the College. Getting it right requires an organizational strategy, and that is what we are ready to develop.

Guiding Strategic Questions
What changes are required to advance DEIB at Rollins? How can we advance our commitments to DEIB, in all aspects of campus life organizational behavior and our educational programs inside and outside the classroom, seeing this work as implicit in the ideas and values of global citizenship and responsible leadership?

Organization of the DEIB Strategic Initiative
This initiative will be led by a steering committee that will steward, support, and integrate the work of several task forces, described below. This steering committee will charge the task forces, track their progress, support their inquiries and deliberations as needed, and receive their recommendations.

DEIB Strategic Initiative Steering Committee

DEIB Strategic Planning Task Forces
Because of the scope and complexity of the guiding questions, strategic planning for DEIB at Rollins will be structured around a set of task forces, each with a specific charge to research an area and make recommendations.

DEIB Task Force 1: Student Recruitment and Retention
Co-Conveners: Brian Barilone and Zaire McCoy
DEIB Steering Committee Liaison: Zaire McCoy
Members: Kristina Bracero, Cristalle Choi, Seaneka Collie, Arielle Etienne, Brandy Fransen, Chris Lewis, Jaheim Morris, and Marissa Sanchez

Strategic Questions. As our student body continues to become more diverse, do we have the right recruitment, admission, and financial aid policies and practices? Are there things we should do differently to optimize the educational experience of our students from diverse backgrounds and support their retention and thriving while at Rollins and beyond?

DEIB Task Force 2: Faculty and Staff Hiring and Retention
Co-Conveners: Emily Russell and David Zajchowski
DEIB Steering Committee Liaison: Donna Lee
Members: Victoria Brown, Mary Edwards, Juan Franco, Samantha Guillaume, Adam Lahlou, and Brian Walkup

Strategic Questions. Do we have effective faculty and staff recruitment and hiring policies and practices in place to increase the representation of faculty and staff of color and from underrepresented identities? What should we do differently to support the personal and professional thriving of faculty and staff of color and from underrepresented identities? Are our faculty and staff development programs adequately responsive to our campus constituencies, their rights, and their needs?

DEIB Task Force 3: DEIB Training and Capacity Building
Co-Conveners: Nancy Chick and Sam Vega
DEIB Steering Committee Liaison: Matt Hawks
Members: Miranda Jung Arjona, Kourtnie Berry, Aspen Fox, Stephanie Gonzalez Guittar, Carley Matthews, Kyle Meyer, Mary Choi Robinson, and Jennifer Queen

Strategic Questions. Do our new student orientation and student development programs do an excellent job ensuring that all students understand the basic principles and behavioral expectations of DEIB? Do our faculty and staff orientation and professional development programs advance organization-wide understanding of, respect for, and cultural competence in DEIB? Do all of our orientation and training programs actively cultivate a campus culture that is DEIB affirmative?

DEIB Task Force 4: Institutional Policies, Practices, and Procedures
Co-Conveners: Amy Armenia and Matt Hawks
DEIB Steering Committee Liaison: Doragnes Bradshaw
Members: Daniela Golob, Stephanie Gonzalez Guittar, Sarah Laake, Jonathan Monti, Sam Sanabria, Sendy Sejourne, Elizabeth Smith, and Keith Whittingham

Revised Strategic Question (March 30, 2022). A diverse and inclusive organizational culture will have fair, unbiased, and equitable policies, procedures, and practices to create a sense of inclusion and belonging. This requires the elevation and inclusion of the voices and experiences of oppressed, marginalized, and underrepresented identities while acknowledging and giving consideration to intersectionality. Recognizing the current climate and call to action regarding systematic and systemic oppression (racism, sexism, ableism, homoprejudice, etc.), initial emphasis and scrutiny will focus through an anti-racist+ lens. How can we strengthen our current approaches to ensure they are fair, well understood, and trustworthy, beginning with those related to managing conflict and addressing bias motivated acts and claims of discrimination?

Original Strategic Question. A diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizational culture will have clear and effective policies, practices, and procedures for mediating conflict and adjudicating claims of bias or racism. Are our current approaches fair, well understood, and trustworthy?

DEIB Task Force 5: DEIB in the Academic Program
Co-Conveners: Tracy Kizer and Eric Smaw
DEIB Steering Committee Liaison: Micki Meyer and Meghal Parikh
Members: Cristalle Choi, Alise Fortune, Ena Heller, Karlye Martorelli, Zoe Pearson, Monica Saad, and Rob Sanders

Strategic Questions. Do our general education and disciplinary programs equip all of our students to understand and appreciate the scope of diversities in our campus community, nation, and world? Do they engender values of mutual respect across differences? Do they cultivate an understanding of the historical legacies of inequality and discrimination? This task force will work in cooperation with the CLA Curriculum Committee and the SGA Academic Affairs Committee.

Charge

The Global Challenges Strategic Initiative Steering Committee is charged with developing multiple models, both short term and longer term, to infuse preparation for contributing to one or more pressing global issues into the overall education of a Rollins student, across the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), Crummer, and Holt. These models will be developed with ongoing collaboration and consultation of all Rollins constituencies. The deliverable will be a strategic plan with models/pathways, timelines, milestones, and metrics.

Global Challenges Strategic Initiative Steering Committee

Meetings