The Clackamas print., March 13, 2019, Page 10, Image 10

NEWS
10
College plans for a plan
COLLEGE TAKES STEPS TOWARD A MORE INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY
BY EMILY ROBERTS
NEWS EDITOR
The college created a Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion committee in
an effort to create an environment
that is understanding for students
and staff of different backgrounds.
“ What I noticed when I came here
is that there is a lot of interest here
in diversity, equity and inclusion,
but there’ s a lot of o n e-offs,” said
Clackam as Com m unity College
president Tim Cook. “ There wasn’t
a cohesive overall plan to look at
how our students are doing, to look
at how our staff is doing, to look
at how the college is addressing
diversity, equity and inclusion.
I’ m glad people are interested in
it, but you just can’ t get there with
these little pieces here and there
without having some connection
to all th a t,”
The. DEI is comprised of faculty,
stu d e n ts, A sso ciated Student
Government arid'members of the
community. The college hired an
outside consultant to help as well.
G lobal Leadership So lu tio n s,
LLC, Inc. has a contract with the
college from Jan. 14, 201910 Dec.
31, 2021; th ey ’ve been hired in
order to help the DEI committee
develop a plan to improve the
community;
Jo h n G in sb u rg , d irecto r of
student life and Title IX coordinator
for students as well as the co­
facilitator of the DEI, said, “ Such
a plan is wide-ranging and could
have an im pact on m aking sure
that everything the college does
is inclusive, from hiring practices
to marketing to campus events.”
The consultants are being paid a
maximum of $49,999, according to
the contract. But where does.that
funding come from?
•Gook said , “ I have a sm all
contingency budget just to spend
on different initiatives, different
th in g s. I th in k they call it the
president’ s budget.”
From the money held aside
for the p re sid en t’ s sp en d in g,
he decided to put a portion of it
towards the diversity consultants.
C ook’ s past experiences with
Clackamas Print
co lleg e s may p ain t a clearer
picture. His previous employer,
Clark College iri Vancouver, Wash.,
had reportedly struggled with
inclusion and equity among both
students and sta ff.
“ My' experience there helped
inform me about what worked,
What didn’ t Work, trying to think
about those aspects” Cook said.
Step h anie Schaefer^ a fu ll-
tim e counselor and member of
the DEI, said, “ I would say higher
education as a whole was originally
designed generally by a specific
type of person for a specific type
of person. Ju st CCC being an
institution of higher education,
that’ ll happen, whether or not it’ s
intentional, that’ s just the system
of higher education. I would say
our country is built on practices
that exclude others.”
In 2017, Clackam asCom m unity • Caucasian
48.8% • Unknown
33.6%
C o lle g e ’ s dem ograp hics were
48.8 percent Caucasian. At least •H ispanic
-9 5 % •M ulti
3.1%
18 percent of students identified
• A s ia n
2.9% • A fr ic a n American
1.2%
themselves as people of color, but
33.6 percent of students did n’ t • Native American/Alaskan 0.8% • P a c ific islander
0.2%
id e n tify th eir racial or ethnic
background.
From 2013 to 2017, the numbers
for each ethnicity remained around
Photo provided by CCC
the same percentage, with the
Hispanic demographic rising from
7.4 percent to 9.5 percent. .
Cook has suggested that the
college could do a b etter job
attracting more diverse people
who better represent Clackamas
County.
But what’ s the plan for making
the co lleg e a better place for
everyone?
As Cook said, “ The overall plan
is that we have a p lan .”
The contract states that for
phase one for winter quarter is
an environmental scan. For phase
two of the same quarter is DEI
strategic planning. Phase three
is DEI strategic plan development.
Lastly , phase three of the fa ll
quarter is for the DEI strategic College staff got a lesson on how to address equity issues in the classroom
plan to be finalized and submitted during an all-staff meeting in September 2018, from Seattle-based company
Racial Equity Consultants.
ta the college’.
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