CCSC Top 5 Priorities Committee

Name: Chris George

Date: February 14th, 2016
General Topic: Issues of Race and Diversity
Objective: The objective of the CCSC is to address concerns held by students with minority
identities to foster an increasingly accepting, inclusive, and diverse campus community.
Methods:

Draft a Plan to Improve Institutional Diversity and Inclusion

o Brown University has introduced the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Plan,
from which Columbia College should model our own diversity plan. Browns plan
includes goals that are oriented around improving academics, the campus
community, faculty/student diversity, the curriculum, as well as knowledge and
accountability in light on increasing diversity and inclusion. Link to plan:

https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-diversity/pathways
Addition of More Faculty Members of Color
o Although Columbia has a substantial record of hiring faculty members from
minority backgrounds, there remains a dearth of diverse staff in STEM fields as
well as preceptors of color teaching Core classes. With the Cores focus on the
development of the Western world, it is critical that Core preceptors come from
increasingly diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Additionally, students of
color majoring in science-related fields could go their entire 4 years in Columbia
College without once being taught by a professor of their own racial background.
In reference to their diversity and inclusion plan, Brown University outlined a
goal of doubling the amount of faculty members from underrepresented groups by
2022. This will be accomplished by requiring departments to create diversity and

inclusion plans, creating endowed professorships, connecting with diverse earlycareer scholars, and creating a pipeline from postdocs to faculty. The CCSC

believes that Columbia College should consider and advocate for such a plan.
Continuing to Diversify Counseling and Psychological Services Staff
o Although Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) has recently made
tremendous efforts in adding staff members from minority backgrounds, including
a transgender counselor, some students who have used CPS continue to raise
concerns about feeling uncomfortable when talking to a staff member who is
unable to truly connect with them due to discrepancies in race or other identities.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue to add staff members of different ethnicities
and cultural backgrounds who can relate to the problems that students are facing;
particularly a staff member who identifies as a black man and a staff member who
has served in military combat position. Additionally, internal CPS diversity
trainings should increase to continue to confront any staff biases. Brown
University has recently implemented a plan to improve their mental health
services by reviewing their current practices and focusing on providing more

culturally competent services.

Improved Accessibility to and Expansion of Safe Spaces for Minority Students
o Presently, there are only two minority student safe spaces on the Columbia
Campus: the Malcolm X lounge for black students and Stephen Donaldson lounge
for LGBTQ students. Due to recent concerns about the condition of the Malcolm
X lounge involving lack of space during meetings and damage to the door and
interior, it seems necessary that Columbia conducts renovations on current safe
spaces and increases the number of safe spaces on our campus. In addition, access
to the Malcolm X lounge is quite limited, as only the executive board members of

certain identity groups including ASA, BSO, and CSA are allowed swipe access
to the lounge. It may be more helpful to the campus community to have swipe
access expanded for students of color who want it, while still retaining the ability
to reserve the room for events. There are also no student safe spaces for other

minority groups, and this should be addressed with increasing student demand.
Ethnic Studies Component of Global Core
o Though the current Global Core requirements encourage students to focus on
geographically or historically different cultures, they do not encompass a broad
range of ethnic cultures in the courses offered. As part of the predecessor to the
Global Core, Major Topics, students were able to take courses that focused
specifically on elements of ethnic cultures such as Black Churches in Harlem,
which would not be possible under the current Global Core framework. Many
student groups have brought up the idea of an ethnic studies component of the
Global Core in which students would be able to fulfill one semester of the
requirement with a course focused on confronting issues of race and diversity and
appreciating ethnic cultures. Many courses, such as Intro to African-American
Studies and Race, Ethnicity, and Narrative, in the Russian/Soviet Empire are
available to be offered for this requirement.