Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Access

All members of senior staff have worked with our respective teams to develop divisional DEI goals for 2022–2024. We hope that these goals will also support the larger strategic priorities of the College as articulated in our emerging strategic plan. Reminding ourselves of the important distinctions between diversity, equity, and inclusion, we want to ensure that we track our progress within each of these domains.

• Diversity goals: focused on cultivating a community that reflects diversity in social identity/ies (along race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, national origin, religious/spiritual practice, etc) and acknowledges diverse perspectives and experiences.
• Equity goals: Policy and systems-level work to ensure fair and just access to opportunities and resources, in recognition of the advantages and disadvantages that have historically existed and still exist.
• Inclusion goals: Authentically bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy making in a way that shares power.

Admission & Financial Aid

• Student Recruitment and Engagement
  • Continue the ongoing evaluation of student recruitment and engagement practices in support of our mission to give all students the opportunity to consider the possibility of a Haverford education, particularly those who have been historically excluded from US higher education.
  • Assessment of virtual engagement practices and their effectiveness in creating more opportunities - and more inclusive opportunities - for engagement.
  • Engage on the topic of student success and thriving, connecting this to an examination of what we are seeking in students we admit and what we mean by "academic excellence".
• Application Evaluation
  • Assess the new (and temporary) Test Optional admission policy, and move Haverford towards an ongoing policy
  • Continuing the assessment and revision of application evaluation rubric, process, and training.
• Financial Aid
  • Engage on the topic of the Discount Rate: impact of the current discount rate on enrollment, cost and benefits of a change to the discount rate
  • Work on assessing the overall efficacy of financial aid policies. There should be particular focus on the summer earnings expectation.
  • Work on ways of making the financial aid process and financial aid award information more transparent; this should lead to revision of information in all places (website, portal, on aid awards themselves, etc.). This also includes developing stronger pathways for students to directly engage with financial aid.
• Staff support
  • Continue to develop and invest in training, support, and professional development for all staff.
  • Assess and invest in ways we can do a better job of supporting staff of color and other staff from marginalized identities.

Communications

• Clarify Communication’s role as an authority and as a resource to other constituents at the College
• As a team and in collaboration with campus partners, discuss and evaluate the complications of representation.
• Use DEI lens/insert DEI thinking into Communication’s “Best Practices” training.
• Formalize feedback structures that allow departments to communicate what they’re hearing/seeing around DEI culture, climate, programs, projects, and initiatives.
• Regularly interrogate depictions as purveyors of stories and ask “are we telling enough stories/ the right stories?”
• Develop standards for deployment of inclusive language—with special attention paid to use of acronyms—so that those outside of working groups and committees can easily and better understand, identify with, and support the work of the College.

Dean’s Office

• Increase the proportion of professional staff members of color to more closely align with the demographics of the student body
• Increase the visibility of professional staff members with “hidden” or “invisible” identities
• Increase participation of underrepresented students in student governance and leadership positions
• Increase representation of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students and staff in Athletics Identify and address financial barriers and equity gaps for students Improve the residential experience and overall campus climate through policy development and enforcement.
• Identify and address equity gaps in the academic experience for students
• Increase student-focused campus wide DEI education and programming
• Enhance student support services by implementing equity-minded practices

Finance & Administration

• Expand and continue to incorporate the College’s goals of its antiracism and DEI work into the agendas of three Board Committees (Audit and Risk Management, Finance, and Property);
• Through Human Resources, further expand outreach efforts to solicit and encourage underrepresented persons’ employment opportunities with the College while refining on-boarding programs and support for all colleagues so they feel fully welcome and included in all aspects of the College community.
• Meaningfully expand training of management and staff with respect to DEI and antiracism;
• Promote awareness of internal growth opportunities at the College;
• Through the Compensation Advisory Committee, design a set of salary and benefit principles and analytics that helps to foster the realization of our antiracism and DEI objectives;
• Campus Safety will make meaningful progress with respect to DEI and related initiatives in order to develop strong and positive relationships with all students, faculty, staff, and the broader (local) community;
• Analyze vendor relationships and expand opportunities to work with a broader set of local and underrepresented businesses and federally-recognized MBEs/WBEs through improved outreach, analytics, and policies;
• Review and improve the College’s financial policies and practices in order to make beneficial changes in support of our antiracism and DEI objectives;
• Through Facilities, enhance accessibility in collaboration with ADS, student spaces, and residence halls/cultural centers as outlined by residence life/student life;
• Enhance connections, access, and pathways with neighbors to make sure all are – and feel – equally welcome on the campus; Complete the promised community partnership review that assesses connections with, and service to, the surrounding community;
• Create and communicate an effective plan for funding around THRIVE, DEI, and CDO staff and programming;
• Support the successful hire of our next Chief Diversity Officer;
• Support budgeting for DEI and antiracism work in other divisions and departments, with particular focus on student compensation and other forms of financial support while bringing transparency to student billing and the cost of attendance;
• Develop specific goals and expectations for training department managers, supporting, staff, and assessing progress with respect to DEI and antiracism work.
• Develop processes whereby each department will assess its DEI and antiracism policies and practice, and memorialize these steps in relevant DAPs;
• Support offices that provide assistance to summer camps and Serendipity.
• Identify and scale appropriate parameters for an expanded affirmative action policy.

Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA)

• In collaboration with Human Resources and other appropriate stakeholders, establish a structured plan for ongoing DEI learning and development.
• In collaboration with the Office of the Provost, establish and implement a formal faculty mentoring program.
• Establish formal liaison structures that facilitate on-going partnerships between all departments and IDEA.
• Connect the work of Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC) and Strategic Plan Working Groups to all DEI projects/programs relying on data “controlled” by and/or housed in Institutional Research (IR).
• Conduct internal “‘audit” to track DEI program resources across college-funded vs. donor-funded initiatives.
• Introduce and socialize the role of inter/intragroup dialogue as a way of sustaining progress around racial healing and transformation
• Identify and scale appropriate parameters for an expanded affirmative action policy.

Instructional & Information Technology Services (IITS)

• Partner with IDEA and Human Resources to leverage best practices to generate diverse candidate pools and an inclusive and fair hiring process which controls for bias.
• Examine with campus partners data collection and adjust where possible to maximize opportunities to collect and, where appropriate, display data that reflect the rich diversities and identities of the campus community. This collection and display are in service both of individual representation and the college better understanding its communities and their experiences.
• Examine IITS policies and practices to ensure equitable access to support and computing resources for students, faculty, and staff.
• Examine end-user engagement to uncover any hidden assumption or biases and to ensure consistent and equitable access to IITS systems and services.

Institutional Advancement (IA)

• Use best practice models from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), including the Zero Tolerance Pledge and work with outside consultants to create actionable steps for DEI practices in Institutional Advancement
• Conduct ongoing implicit bias training
• Create a roadmap for student engagement in philanthropy by:
  • Collaborating with other areas: Dean’s office, IDEA, Admission
  • Creating student internships
  • Considering a curricular component for philanthropy education
  • Focusing on post-graduation young alumni engagement
• Create space and time for speaking more about DEI goals within IA
• Provide more focused conversations among Institutional Advancement senior team (IAST) about DEI
• Review, audit, and assess systems, policies, events, and communications with a DEI lens
• Generate philanthropic support for the work of the IDEA Office at Haverford as well as DEI-related functions, programs and activities at the College.
• Enhance event/program conceptualization and planning to be inclusive of BIPOC constituents and heighten BIPOC alumni, families, and friends participation and engagement.

Investment Office

• Formalize diversity data collection to be included in investment recommendations
• Continue conversations with investment managers regarding DEI policies and goals, and expand funnel of investment funds led by people of color and women
• Identify additional investment funds led by people of color and women for current investment or monitoring for future investment
• Seek diverse candidate pools for office hiring (employees and student interns) and committee membership
• Review investment policy statement to ensure equitable practices in selecting investment funds

Office of the President

• Leadership and Shared Governance
  • Advance institutional antiracism action
  • Launch of IDEA office and CDO search
  • Facilitate the Board of Managers’ work to develop DEI literacy and practice
  • Support and help shape the Corporation’s work around DEI literacy and practice (via the Corporation Advisory Committee and Corporation Standing Nominating Committee)
  • Continually provide opportunities to support DEI literacy and practice for the Senior Staff
  • Faculty and student shared governance
  • Seeking and committing new financial support to campus-wide IDEA advances
• Planning, assessment, and accountability
  • Liaise with Antiracism Accountability and Advancement Group (AAAG) to advance the College’s work toward becoming an antiracist institution (via Chief Diversity Officer )
  • Integrate DEI priorities across strategic planning (via Strategic Planning Steering Committee)
  • Develop and implement assessment strategies to support equitable student success (via Institutional Effectiveness Committee)
• Operations
  • Provide demographic data for transparency and decision support (via Institutional Research and campus partners)
  • Advance sustainability work through inclusive programming, including environmental justice programming (via Council on Sustainability and Social Responsibility and Committee on Environmental Responsibility)
  • Create and foster inclusive practices and events, such as Commencement

Provost’s Office

• Expanding outreach protocols to deepen candidate pools across race, genders, sexualities, abilities.
• Enhancing hiring practices to include the possibility of Cluster Hires based on thematic and scholarly needs.
• Retaining both newly hired, and currently hired faculty by building a stronger mentoring model.
• Supporting policies and programs related to faculty compensation that foreground equity and inclusion.
• Advancing perspectives across the curriculum and initiatives reflective of both inclusive and accessible methodologies and the rich diversity of faculty and student scholarship distinctive to Haverford.
• Reviewing and assessing student demographics in relation to how undergraduates engage with curriuclar and co-curricular opportunities through both an expansive summer working group and annual standing committees.
• Creating and completing a new restorative justice process that expands students' suite of opportunities for those who believe that they have been harmed in the classroom on the basis of their identities.