{"id":11,"date":"2024-12-19T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/?p=11"},"modified":"2025-02-03T19:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T19:50:08","slug":"updates-regarding-campus-climate-dec-19-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/2024\/12\/19\/updates-regarding-campus-climate-dec-19-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"December 19 Update Regarding Campus Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Inserted by Dropdownizer plugin. Forces video embeds contained in dropdowns to have a size --><style>.dropdownizer__dropdown iframe { width: 100% !important; height: 100% !important; }<\/style>\n<p>Dear All,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Fall semester comes to a close, we want to update the Vassar community about a number of proactive steps that the College has been taking to address various incidents affecting climate on campus. (We do not have updates on the recent graffiti incident, which remains under investigation.) These steps include the formation of a campus climate group earlier in the fall, the appointment of a new Institutional Equity and Title VI coordinator, and programming for next semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the Campus Climate Group?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Vassar is committed to fostering an inclusive and healthy campus climate.* This requires identifying and assessing opportunities and challenges related to factors like race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, shared ancestry, and religious affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The campus climate group, which includes representation from the Dean of the College, Equal Opportunity &amp; Affirmative Action, Engaged Pluralism, and the faculty, meets weekly to review reported incidents and determine how they may impact the campus climate in a way that extends beyond the individual(s) directly involved. In addition to summaries of reports from Social Identity Harm Advocates and Equal Opportunity &amp; Affirmative Action\/Title IX (EOAA\/TIX), the group also considers social media activity and other concerns brought by students and employees (including faculty).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group identifies measures aimed at promoting a healthy and inclusive campus climate. Measures may include sharing educational materials, offering new training programs, facilitating dialogue sessions, and proposing policy changes. Recommendations are shared with partners and senior leadership for implementation, and their effectiveness is monitored to confirm they have the intended impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introducing Our New Institutional Equity &amp; Title VI Coordinator<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are pleased to introduce\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/eoaa\/2024\/12\/19\/eoaa-welcomes-brian-van-brunt\/\">Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D.<\/a>\u2014who is nationally recognized for his experience on Title IX\/VI, campus climate, and informal\/alternative resolutions\u2014as the College\u2019s new Institutional Equity and Title VI Coordinator. This important role has been established within EOAA\/TIX, where Van Brunt will serve as a senior staff member. He began his position on November 18th and oversees the College\u2019s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Van Brunt\u2019s primary responsibilities is to ensure that the College responds swiftly, effectively, and consistently to allegations of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, or national origin. This includes addressing issues related to shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics, and religious identities. The creation of this position is part of an initiative to enhance prevention education efforts and training offered by EOAA\/TIX over the past three years. Please feel free to reach out to Brian to learn more about his work or share your experiences on campus. He can be reached at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:bvanbrunt@vassar.edu\">bvanbrunt@vassar.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Programming for Spring 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to events on campus and in the broader world, the campus climate group is collaborating with the Engaged Pluralism (EP) team and EOAA\/Title IX to organize a variety of speakers and programs in the coming semester. In addition to panels, lectures, and reading groups on antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination, there will be workshops on the importance of and limitations on academic freedom, and freedom of speech. The EP team aims to strengthen the campus capacity for intergroup dialogue by having weekly restorative circles and dialogic spaces. Finally, the College has engaged an outside team of trained facilitators to provide opportunities for students, administrators, and faculty to create sustained and constructive dialogue across differences. We look forward to introducing this team early next semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing campus climate in a supportive way requires all of us taking care of each other and working toward ensuring Vassar is a wonderful place to live, work, study, and learn. Thank you to everyone for your efforts, and best wishes for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos L. Garc\u00eda<\/strong><br>Vice President for Technology and Human Resources<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Alamo-Pastrana<\/strong><br>Dean of the College<br>Professor of Sociology and Latin American and Latinx Studies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kimberly N. Williams Brown, Ph.D.<\/strong><br>Associate Professor of Education<br>Director of Engaged Pluralism and College Advisor on Inclusion and Engaged Pluralism<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*Campus climate refers to the quality of interpersonal, academic, and professional interactions within a campus community, encompassing attitudes, behaviors, and standards concerning respect for individual needs and diversity (Hurtado, 1992; Rankin, 2001). A healthy campus climate fosters inclusion, equity, and civil dialogue among diverse perspectives, which positively influences student learning and development as well as faculty and staff well-being. Research shows that individuals thrive in environments where discrimination is absent, and equity and respect are prioritized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear All, As the Fall semester comes to a close, we want to update the Vassar community about a number of proactive steps that the College has been taking to address various incidents affecting climate on campus. (We do not have updates on the recent graffiti incident, which remains under investigation.) These steps include the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/campus-climate-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}