Dear Lehman College Colleagues:
Today, I write with one purpose but two distinct messages.
First, I want to join CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez in expressing, on behalf of Lehman College, our sympathy for and solidarity with the families and friends of the eight people – including six Asian women – murdered in Atlanta mid-March. I imagine their grief at this moment is unbearable and is shared by many, but particularly those in the Asian community. This brutal event has understandably added to fears arising from escalating anti-Asian and misogynistic rhetoric and actions.
Hateful speech has come from many places, including very high ones, and it inevitably inspires hateful actions. Along with the Chancellor and our other CUNY colleagues, I reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion for all, and our determination to be a place where those values are lived out every day.
In that spirit, I also write to update the campus on the report of the Campus Climate, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and subsequent developments.
Campus Climate, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force Overview
The Campus Climate, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force that I commissioned last summer met bi-weekly for 90 minutes during the course of the Fall 2020 Semester. The task force created and disseminated an informal campus wide survey to assess strengths, opportunities and weaknesses of diverse approaches to hiring and promotion; curriculum and professional development; the need for an administrator focused on Diversity & Inclusion to further the work of implementing equitable approaches throughout the campus community; incident report training and campus events and activities.
The work of the task force – which culminated in a report of recommendations I requested and was delivered on December 15, 2020 – is not in itself a comprehensive quantitative or qualitative analysis; rather, it is a snapshot of ongoing opportunities to expand and improve upon the racial climate at Lehman College based on the informal survey sent to the campus community during Fall 2020 and based upon task force knowledge during the period this report was written.
To achieve its goal within a short, three-and-a-half-month period, the task force followed the following process:
Defining Scope of Work: The group agreed to focus primarily on issues of race, but its approach also considered class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and immigration status. Student, staff and faculty constituents were considered as well, along with focusing on curricula, human resources -- including hiring practices -- and campus wide events.
Fact finding: Given the short period of time during which to conduct its work, as well as the vast scope of work, the task force centered on identifying areas where Lehman College was doing well, where the college could improve in areas identified in the scope of work and uncovering gaps to be filled in Lehman’s approach.
Key Areas for Examination: In subgroups of two task force members each, the group examined, collected information and reported to the group on its findings in the following areas:
o Campus Climate Survey
o Curriculum and Professional Development
o Human Resources and Hiring Practices
o Diversity and Inclusion Position
o Incident Reporting and Training
o Campus Events and Activities
Campus Surveys: The task force sent a series of surveys to the following groups:
o Department Chairs
o New Hires
o Human Resources
o Student Government Leaders
o Writing Across the Curriculum Faculty and Staff
o General Counsel’s Office
Recommendations
Among the recommendations highlighted in the report are:
- More comprehensive curricula revisions and updates like a recent revision to the Lehman College English Department curriculum, which de-centers European texts and writing and adds appropriate inclusion of Black, Latino and other diverse perspectives that are more reflective of the interests and identities of the student body;
- More robust diversity and inclusion training, particularly for departments where faculty and staff may be inclined to suggest that diversity is not an implicit part of their area of study (e.g., Natural Sciences);
- A better dissemination of diversity, hiring and retention resources based on the work and information the Human Resources department already has available;
- Regular syllabi revisions and workshops that will help keep all departments up to date with regards to how diversity and inclusion are centered or reflected in their classes, and;
- The development of more a nuanced incident reporting system that helps track more than the very rare violent outburst or hate crime as an indication of how race, ethnicity or LGBTQ+ identity is received or treated on campus writ large.
The task force believes these recommendations are only the starting point for how the Lehman College campus community can begin to build on an already strong foundation with regards to updating and improving the ways diversity and inclusion are built into the fabric of our institution. It affirmed that following through on its findings is the work of all of us to do, not just one person or people representing one ethnicity or other marginalized identity. As a result, the task force felt that a more thoroughly scientific and evidence-based survey should be conducted by a consulting firm or consultant and, when the budget allows, that there be at least one or two additional hires whose responsibilities will be to continue to institutionalize solutions to the gaps in Lehman College’s approach to diversity and inclusion for years to come. Curricular expertise would be important for one of these hires, so that departments would have assistance as they review their curricula with a diversity and inclusion lens.
Follow-up
Immediate follow up to the work of the Campus Climate Task Force started in early 2021 and has included engaging external consultants to conduct a campus climate survey that will help determine what the campus thoughts and experiences are, which will inform the next steps. The survey will be for students, faculty and staff and will include on-campus focus groups and discussions. We are interviewing two promising, experienced organizations and plan to enter into a contract with one of them in the coming weeks. Planning will take place through the remainder of the Spring term and work on campus is scheduled to begin in the Fall. This work will be funded by the MacKenzie Scott gift to the college.
The college will also establish a campus events committee. Although that committee is not yet formed, this spring we are having at least two series of talks that directly fit within this theme. The first faculty workshop and idea exchange in the ATLAS series, “Teaching with Transformative Texts” -- sponsored by the Teagle Foundation -- launched last week with, its first talk, titled, “Fighting Structural Racism: Transformative Texts for a Critical Pedagogy.” It was given by Silvio Almeida, a Mellon Visiting Professor in the Center for International & Global Studies at Duke University. The next talk will be, “Educating for Freedom: Frederick Douglass as a Transformative Text,” by Roosevelt Montas, a Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English and Director of the Freedom and Citizenship Program in the Center for American Studies at Columbia University.
Also last week, we began a Distinguished Speaker Series sponsored by Campus Life focused on developing race-based dialogues and learning best practices for fostering anti-racist environments. The inaugural session, featuring Jane Elliott, was very well-attended. Coming up next are nationally known experts on race in education, Stephen John Quaye and Shaun Harper. I strongly encourage everyone to attend these sessions.
The committee currently working on the new website will also be asked to develop a webpage dedicated to the college’s ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, but that committee will need feedback derived from the broader climate survey to determine what the campus community deems relevant for that page.
In another related development, CUNY has received a $3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to reimagine and further develop CUNY programs in Black, race and ethnic studies. A commission has been established and will begin meeting in early 2021. Over the next eight months, it will develop recommendations for Chancellor Matos Rodríguez regarding the one-time use of $2.7 million over two years for curriculum development. All CUNY campuses will be involved, and this will be complementary to the follow up to the task force report.
We should all understand that this is ongoing work that in many ways will never be completed. Misunderstanding, ignorance and even hate are going to remain woven into the American fabric for a long time to come, and as a campus that values every individual, regardless of their identity, we will remain committed to sustaining that work. Our diversity does not shield us from issues of racism and discrimination in American and global society, and we must be thoughtful, honest and open to discovery and re-thinking.
Daniel Lemons
