Bryn Mawr President Issues Statement On Diversity, Inclusiveness At College

Bryn Mawr College President Kim Cassidy released a statement Wednesday that discussed the college's commitment to diversity and inclusiveness during a time of tension and unease for many people in today's political climate.

In her letter to staff and the Bryn Mawr community, Cassidy highlights the recently formed Diversity Plan and the Bias Response Team at the college as steps toward ensuring everyone has a level playing field and any potential issues are addressed.

Cassidy also discussed resources for undocumented and international students in her letter.

Read Cassidy's message to the community in full below:

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff, In recent months, we have sent several communications from the College regarding issues of diversity on campus and in the country as a whole. While it is important for the College to address legislation and other events in real time, I also want to maintain focus on how we are addressing our long-term vision for an inclusive Bryn Mawr.

In the spring of 2016, students, faculty, and staff developed the Diversity Plan for Bryn Mawr, which includes a commitment to report on “our actions, progress, and plans to hold the College and each other accountable in creating the environment to which we aspire.” I write today to share both an update and a new resource.

We have added a number of new programs and more efforts are underway. I want especially to highlight the work in bias response, which put in place the Bias Response Team and a process to address incidents in real time. We are working to raise awareness of this resource, and I encourage you all to take a look. In addition, orientation for all community members – students, faculty, and staff – now includes diversity education, and we have added ongoing professional development for faculty and staff. We have also made progress on Perry Garden, which will offer our community a space in which to gather and to reflect on our complex history.

While we use the Diversity Plan as a map to our future, we are also mindful that we can adjust course as issues arise. Our online resource in support of undocumented and international students, for example, will be a new element of the 2017 Diversity Plan.

You can learn more about progress on the Diversity Plan on the Selected Works in Progress page of a new section of our website: brynmawr.edu/diversity. This section aims to highlight selected current projects related to diversity and inclusion at Bryn Mawr. We expect to update this section regularly as new projects emerge or existing projects make significant progress. We also want this section to be useful for the full community; please send any feedback or suggestions to communications@brynmawr.edu.

We are launching one project this spring that we expect to continue through the next academic year. Dean Jennifer Walters will convene a working group composed of students, faculty, staff and alumnae that will, over the next year, examine the College’s historical relationship to racism and other forms of exclusion and make recommendations on how best to acknowledge and recognize that history in the present day. The working group will hold events and opportunities for learning and dialogue. I want to invite those who are interested to nominate themselves or others to participate. To submit a name, please email Dean Jennifer Walters at jlwalters@brynmawr.edu.

I thank the many members of our community – students, staff and faculty – who contribute to the work of inclusion at Bryn Mawr. I look forward to working with everyone in the months and years ahead.

With best wishes,

Kim Cassidy

President

Cassidy and Walters recently released a statement regarding the Trump Administration's travel ban, saying it was "at odds" with education.

Image via Mark Goebel, Flickr Commons