From: Antonio Farias
Date: Friday, September 16, 2016 at 2:36 PM
To: Campus Community
Subject: Annual Report on Sexual Violence and Next Steps in Promoting Equity & Inclusion
Dear campus community,
I write to let you know about next steps in promoting equity and inclusion on our campus that include a new committee structure, an overview of sexual assault on campus in 2015, and efforts to continue the work to diversify our faculty and staff. The President’s Equity Task Force completed its charge and made its recommendations, and now we will build on that momentum. Already we have members of our community working on staff diversity, Title IX, and accessibility. Now a new Wesleyan University Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee is being formed to coordinate these efforts and others such as the Resource Center and the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff.
The Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee is comprised of the vice president for equity & inclusion, the faculty vice chair, the WSA president, and the chair of the Board of Trustees’ Campus Affairs Committee. This Steering Committee will build on the work of the Equity Task Force—including following up on its call to collaborate with students on the Resource Center—report on progress in all related areas, and make actionable recommendations on how to continue to build a more equitable and inclusive campus community where all may thrive. We are eagerly looking for volunteers to work with the Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee. Click here to sign-up now, and please encourage others to do the same.
Reports of sexual violence at Wesleyan decreased in calendar year 2015; you can find the annual report on Wesleyan’s Response to Sexual Violence here. The work is far from done, and we are continuing to improve our support for survivors, as well as our reporting and adjudication procedures. Each and every one of us must strive for a campus free of sexual assault, and I take this opportunity to issue the reminder that all faculty and staff, except those who have confidential status, are required by law to report incidents. While nearly all faculty and staff have undergone a two-hour Title VII/Title IX workshop, our goal is for 100% participation. We continue to update our website as a resource for information on reporting incidents and accessing resources.
Wesleyan is rolling out a new program for opportunity hires that should enhance efforts already underway to increase faculty and staff diversity. We will miss staff and faculty who have recently gone on to other positions, and we will work to ensure that all our employees can flourish here and contribute to the rich living-learning environment that our students count on. I encourage you to visit http://equity.wesleyan.edu/, where you’ll find timely data and communications pertinent to campus climate and culture concerns, including trend lines on employee diversity over the past five years.
Our collective embrace of the work ahead will enable us to build a university where all may succeed, and with that in mind we encourage you to join us for a yearlong conversation on Love and Justice, which will begin with a campus dialogue at Memorial Chapel, September 19th at 4:30 pm, with professor David Kyuman Kim, on the topic of Love & Justice: A Radical Love Approach. RSVP here.
Best wishes this semester,
Antonio Farias
Vice President for Equity & Inclusion/Title IX