Statement on Racial Justice
The Columbia College DEIA committee is dedicated to racial justice and is committed to healing, reconciling, and dismantling racism. This commitment is rooted in the belief that all members of our community are valued and needed.
As an institution of higher learning, Columbia College is obligated to address structural racism and the inequitable and racialized outcomes it produces. We also have the professional responsibility to be civil, respectful, decent, and fair to all people. The violence against, bias toward, and inequitable treatment of all human beings, particularly people of color, will not be tolerated. To that end, we will work as a community and with stakeholders in our College to address these ongoing issues and to counter racist views and practices.
The DEIA committee recognizes that our varying experiences and participation in systems of power and privilege make ongoing conversations about race and institutional racism challenging. Therefore, we commit to advocate for policies and practices that provide solutions to dismantling oppressive and discriminating systems and develop new strategies related to racial justice. We will also strive to foster a culturally diverse environment that is free of discrimination, bigotry, and hate speech.
We are dedicated and committed to this path of social justice and welcome others to walk with us in the journey.
Our Mission
T o examine the institution with a critical lens by acknowledging our diversity, creating a culture of unity, developing equitable practices, promoting an inclusive and fully accessible environment for all students and community members.
Goals
On behalf of Columbia College, t he DEI A Committee facilitates work toward ten working goals:
- Identify, attract, retain and graduate a diverse student body.
- Identify, attract and retain a diverse faculty and staff.
- Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion as a common goal in campus culture.
- Educate, train, mentor, and model an inclusive perspective through professional development.
- Connect the Columbia College Community to diverse services, information, and resources.
- Support faculty in the infusion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in curriculum.
- Demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride and positive social identities within individuals and diverse populations.
- Facilitate dialogue about human diversity using accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections to create comfort and joy in diversity.
- Recognize and understand unfairness, racism, and bigotry exist and create language to describe discrimination, and understand that discrimination hurts.
- Demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discrimination.
