Climate and Intergroup Relations
Fall 2020 ReportDuring the past year, there have been multiple opportunities for meaningful interactions across our differences, enhanced dialogue, and ongoing intercultural learning across the campus. Continuing these types of initiatives, and encouraging participation in them, will be instrumental in creating a community of mutual respect and civility.
Climate Survey
The HEDS Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey is an initiative that has been implemented as an ongoing College practice to inform the areas to address for improving campus climate. It will be administered triennially. The results of the most recent survey, conducted in spring 2020, are not satisfactory and indicate the need for, and importance of, our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The report was shared with the Board of Trustees and at a faculty and staff meeting. The full report can be found here.
Honoring and Respecting the LGBTQ+ Members of Our Community
Issues pertaining to the LGBTQ+ (lesbian gay, bisexual, trans*, queer/questioning) community continue to be pressing concerns. Students, faculty, staff members, and alumni have reached out to me since I began my service as president to talk about their experiences, sometimes painful, and their hopes for how our community might address these issues.
By way of action, we have hired Ms. Erin Corry to work with both the Offices of Mission and Ministry (OMM) and Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) as our LBGTQ+ Resource Coordinator. Ms. Corry comes to PC with over a decade of undergraduate ministry experience with InterVarsity/USA and has spent many years ministering to the LGBTQ+ community. We also have asked Dr. Dana Dillon, a professor in the theology department with a specialization in moral theology, to serve as our Theological Praxis Consultant. Together, Ms. Corry and Dr. Dillon are working to summarize Church teaching in a body of work that will continue to guide our practices. I am grateful for their efforts thus far and am confident and excited about their work in the weeks and months to come.
Thus far, the OMM and IDEI teams have engaged with the Board of Trustees Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, our National Alumni Council, the Presidential Committee on Equity and Inclusion, as well as focus groups of LGBTQ+ faculty and staff, members of the theology and philosophy faculties, members of SHEPARD, Student Congress, and alumni. We have learned a lot along the way and are dedicated to becoming more and more a place where every member of our community feels welcomed, loved, and respected. We also are committed to doing this in a manner that explores and explains the goodness, beauty, and fullness of the Church’s teaching on human sexuality. It is my desire that every one of us might be able to speak honestly about our experiences, ask questions of one another in charity, and delve into the Church’s teaching in a manner that will help us to know and love one another more. This difficult and sensitive work will take time and I appreciate your patience with the process. But we are headed in a positive direction and I am confident that the work will bear good fruit.
Our next steps in this process involve engaging additional members of the community on these questions for the remaining weeks of the spring and into the summer. This will prepare us for broader engagement throughout the Fall 2021 semester with students, as well as more faculty and staff, on these important questions. Ms. Corry will prepare an institutional report with recommendations for where we need clarity, education, and resources. We will hire a long-term professional staff member to oversee this work, which will become part of the comprehensive Statement on Diversity at Providence College.
Additional and ongoing information can be found here on the IDEI website.
Town Hall Meetings
In November 2020, College leadership held an open-invitation community conversation for faculty, staff, and students. The topic of discussion was centered around the ongoing issues surrounding the prevalence of systemic racism on campus. The goals of the virtual gathering were as follows:
- to shed light on the College’s systemic level issues, the plan for addressing these challenges, and a vision for the future;
- to provide the opportunity for the entire community to have a voice and participate in the dialogue related to systemic racism on campus; and
- to begin to heal and work together as we pave the way for a more accepting, loving, equitable, and inclusive community.
Informal Communications
Last fall, I launched a series of Friarside Chats for students, faculty, and staff to discuss important campus issues and concerns with me in an informal setting. Attendees set the agenda for these opportunities to share insights on a range of topics that are most salient to the individual constituent group. To stay informed and to encourage dialogue, I have and will continue to engage with Student Congress, BMSA, and other student organizations, as well as participate in meetings of the Faculty Senate.
