UM System Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force releases recommendations after audit
The University of Missouri System’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force has released its recommendations following a system wide audit of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and practices within the UM System.
The audit was conducted by consulting firm IBIS and was part of a series of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives outlined by the UM Board of Curators on November 9, 2015.
“This audit is part of a series of UM System initiatives to address DEI challenges while fostering real change and sustainable solutions,” Interim President Michael Middleton said in a statement. “We have made significant, tangible progress on the initiatives established one year ago by the board of curators, and today’s release of the audit and recommendations for the university based on the audit’s findings, represent another important step forward.”
Within the recommendations, the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) Task Force has identified 29 top priority recommendations. Those include:
Mizzou Recommendations:
-Include Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) student, faculty, and staff recruitment and hiring goals into the University of Missouri strategic plan, consistent with the law and the University’s affirmative action program initiatives; ensure accountability, metrics and oversight.
-Identify best practices and ways to expand existing programs to enhance retention for students, faculty and staff with appropriate funding, accountability, oversight and metrics. Include representatives from Human Resources (HR), Graduate Studies, faculty, staff, and students.
-Establish a robust business and research case for diversity at MU; conduct a study with the clearly stated financial implications of strategic diversity for MU
-Support a Center for Teaching and Learning
-Establish an oversight council for accountability of implementation of ongoing and integrated DEI training and orientation throughout campus
-Establish incentive measures for DEI training and education
-Establish a process of achieving an aligned DEI scorecard/dashboard throughout the organization. A scorecard decentralizes the vision and provides everyone with the opportunity to contribute to the vision at multiple levels of the institution. have each unit develop a portion of the scorecard from its own vantage point.”
-Diversify the strategic communications staff and leadership team & provide inclusion and diversity training for communications staff
UMKC Recommendations:
-Promote the practice that advertising alone is not sufficient. Encourage departments to expand outreach during professional meetings, with underserved and minority population professional groups, etc.
-A year-long program should be developed that orients faculty to teach in ways that are inclusive and equitable and that engage with ALL students including students of color, first generation and international students, and others who might struggle to adjust to the demands of particular degree programs due to the lack of role models from their communities of identity. The program would focus on improving understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion while modeling strategies to better infuse diversity content into the curriculum and inclusive teaching techniques into the classroom.
-Students should have an orientation that incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion. Due to time constraints as the current orientation format is full, alternatives, including small student groups (during the freshman experience) following orientation or online activities, might be worth pursuing.
-Provide CDO with appropriate funding and resources so that they can adequately support their strategic goals.
Missouri S&T Recommendations:
-Identify DEI champions and establish a rewards system.
-Facilitate venues where students, faculty, and staff can participate in meaningful interaction and thoughtful engagement.
-Review job recruitment and hiring practices
-Encourage pursuit of grants in the DEI area.
-Develop department/unit liaisons to the diversity committee.
-Enlarge the Campus Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (by updating the members and charges for the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion).
UMSL Recommendations:
-Conduct a pay equity audit.
-Support the diversifying of administration
UM System Recommendations:
-Expand recruitment efforts beyond traditional networks.
-Develop a toolkit to seek candidates, ensuring a diverse applicant pool.
-Create a course designator for inclusive intensive coursework identified in myVITA.
-Develop a rubric in collaboration with faculty to identify what qualifies as an inclusive intensive course.
-Develop professional development across the system to support faculty creation of inclusive courses and curriculum
-Clarify myPerformance diversity competency and develop a grading scale to incentivize participation in DEI training.
-Require unconscious bias training for all participants of hiring teams.
-Increase support for campus teaching and learning centers to facilitate inclusive intensive coursework.
-Move Strategic Communications to report directly to System president and empower Strategic Communications to work with all campuses and implement bi-directional communications.
“The recommended action in response to the audit is a strategy to address gaps in what is provided to our students, faculty and staff in terms of diversity and inclusion when benchmarked against best practices in comparable higher education institutions,” Dr. Mitchell, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor of law at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said. “This is another milestone in the effort to make our campus more inclusive, welcoming and respectful for everyone in our university system.”
The full list of recommendations can be found here: www.umsystem.edu/media/president/deioffice/um-response-to-ibis-deiaudit-report.pdf
The UM System asset inventory of all DEI-related programming on each campus and at the system can be found here: www.umsystem.edu/ deiaudit / dei-asset-inventory
