BY SHANZEH AHMAD
Edgewood College has been working to abide by updated diversity and inclusion practices stemming from steps outlined by Student Senate in April. This is in response to acts of hate and racism on campus earlier this semester.
Ana Jimenez-Diaz, 2017-2018 president of Student Senate, said in an email that after they organized a Talk-Back and a Walk-Out in reaction to racism on campus, Student Senate also held a Town Hall meeting around the topic of diversity and inclusion on campus. “This Town Hall was planned with Dr. Flanagan,” said Jimenez-Diaz. “Students, faculty, and staff were able to provide feedback and suggestions to both Student Senate and Dr. Flanagan about the Next Step document.”
The Next Step document can be found online at: https://edgewood.sharepoint.com/CampusCommunications/Forms/AllItems.aspx?viewpath=/CampusCommunications/Forms/AllItems.aspx&id=/CampusCommunications/Student%20Senate%20next%20steps%20Rubric-%204-12-18.pdf&parent=/CampusCommunications.
President Flanagan sent out an email on Wednesday, Apr. 25 that included this link as part of his “Spring Semester Update.” The document includes proposed steps by Student Senate and actions being taken by the College in response.
Flanagan said that working with Student Senate was important to keep the ball moving. “I worked pretty closely with Ana and at times with Nick and Erin who are the advisors to Student Senate,” said Flanagan.” “The update says what was asked for and here’s where we are.”
The Edgewood College Board of Trustees has also taken action. Flanagan said the board decided to require each board member to complete cultural competency training before the September board meeting, among other things.
“We want everyone in our community to be able to work effectively across multiple dimensions of diversity,” said Flanagan. “There are clearly disparities in society, and we are helping to address those trends in society.”
According to Flanagan, the College is being more proactive than it’s been before.
“What I did not want to do was wonder if anyone thought, through silence or inaction, that it wasn’t a big deal,” Flanagan said regarding actions taken immediately after the incidents in late January and mid February.
Flanagan’s priority in response to these incidents was to act swiftly and appropriately. When planning for the Diversity Forum held on Monday, Feb. 19, the options were to take more time to plan or take immediate action.
“I believed it was more important to move forward quickly,” said Flanagan. “Good tomorrow beats perfect in a month. You’d love perfect tomorrow if you could do it, but that was the thought process.”
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