Dear Luther Community,

Last fall, we shared with you an  outline of the ongoing campus-wide effort toward building a more equitable and inclusive Luther College. To that end, we are pleased to provide you a mid-year update that reflects that work.

Training: Anti-Racism, Implicit and Unconscious Bias

Opportunities for professional development and training have been active and robust.

At the opening of the school year, Professors Char Kunkel and David Thompson presented a faculty workshop titled, Confronting Pandemics: Building Culturally Responsive Education. The workshop addressed how Luther College is responding to the pandemic of racism and meeting its responsibility to create an inclusive campus community and equitable learning.

Vice President Scott delivered training on unconscious bias to several departments on campus, including Admissions and Financial Aid, Alumni and Development, Athletics, Campus Safety and Security, Marketing and Communications, Residence Life (Resident Assistants), and Student Success. VP Scott, in collaboration with Professor Char Kunkel, also provided training to the Decorah Police Department in September; a follow-up training session is being planned.

After much research to find an instrument, Human Resources and the Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusion are pleased to introduce campus-wide training on unconscious bias, which will be launched late March. The online training will be provided by EverFi. The training for faculty, staff, and incoming students will cover topics such as allyship, identity, power, privilege, unconscious bias, and oppression bias. The EverFi training will serve as one element of a broader set of DEI professional development resource tools available to the campus community.

Consortial Work

At the beginning of the fall 2020 academic year, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) launched an Anti-Racism workshop series. These 90-minute workshops, presented every fourth Thursday of the month since September, have been well-attended by members of the Luther community. Well over 100 faculty and staff participated in these workshops, which may be found on the ACM Diversity website. The Anti-Racism workshop series will continue throughout spring 2021.

In November, President Ward  announced that Luther College became an inaugural member of the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance (LACRELA) sponsored by the  Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California. Key components of the alliance include quarterly meetings for the member colleges’ presidents, a campus climate survey, and 12 eConvenings on various aspects of equity that will begin on February 17. Luther will send eight different faculty and/or staff members to each of these three-hour, synchronous learning sessions. Luther’s Council for Equity and Inclusion (CEI) will coordinate campus participation and will invite faculty and staff to attend the sessions.

Institutional Resources, Policy, and Procedures

Luther’s CEI is currently reviewing best practices and resources within the ACM for support of LGBTQIA members of our community, with the goal of creating and strengthening existing resources via policy and practice recommendations to the cabinet. Vice President Scott has requested that other DEI officers within the ACM address this topic as well.

The Offices of Assessment and Institutional Research, and Institutional Equity and Inclusion are reviewing five-year student outcomes regarding race and ethnicity. A final report will be delivered to President Ward in May.

After a successful pilot this fall, Admissions will seek approval of a policy for Luther College to become permanently test-optional. Azaria McKay, Coordinator of Diversity Recruitment, will hold virtual workshops for first-generation students that will serve as an introduction to the admission and financial aid process of the college search. Revisions to the role of Coordinator of Diversity Recruitment are also under consideration to strategically focus efforts on building relationships with school districts and community-based organizations.

The Luther College Athletics Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee is collecting data from the NCAA and the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research, listening to our current student-athletes and staff, and conducting a survey to drive the short-term and long-term strategic plan for the Athletics Department.

Lectures and Webinars

Luther College faculty, staff, students, the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement, and the Center for Intercultural Engagement and Student Success hosted and/or sponsored several virtual interactive lectures and webinars on racism, antiracism, xenophobia and white supremacy. Several of these events were held in conjunction with the Civic Sustainability Initiative, a collaborative project “designed to build connections, foster conversation, and inspire actions toward a more just and livable world.” Community participation in these lectures was robust (combined attendance of 667). You can still view the virtual lectures on the original online calendar event listings.

Student Safety and Well-being

In October, the Decorah Police Department launched a bias incident reporting process. The Bias Incident Report is located on the Decorah Police Department website. Individuals may include contact information or remain anonymous when submitting a report. Reports can still be submitted in person. A Bias Response Team within the Decorah Police Department will respond to all submitted reports.

Task Forces and Working Groups

In response to feedback from current students and alumni, the Music Department unanimously agreed to launch an Anti-Racism Task Force. Chaired by Professor Brooke Joyce, the task force includes faculty, staff, and students. The task force meets weekly to study the intersection of racism and music and to make policy recommendations to the music faculty. In November, the task force hosted a forum of former music majors and non-majors from 1958-2020; several follow-up conversations with alumni have since transpired and will continue.

The Nursing Department initiated a comprehensive assessment of the diverse student experience within the major, as well as the program's process for recruiting, retaining, and supporting diverse students within the major. The department is keenly interested in student satisfaction and perceptions of belonging and community. A department working group is developing a plan that demonstrates to students and community partners that diversity and inclusion is a priority and that providing students an inclusive learning environment that develops culturally competent care and leadership skills is a key objective. The department is reviewing retention data of students from diverse backgrounds and the use of campus support services in the hope of providing early and targeted support to students who may be struggling.

Alumni and Development created a DEI working group. The group meets every other week to discuss salient issues, share sources of information, and develop and present topics for continuing education. A focus of the working group is increasing awareness among the alumni and development staff regarding how DEI topics inform engagement with alumni, donors, students, faculty, and staff.

The Athletics Department convened a DEI committee and is collaborating with peer schools in the American Rivers Conference, as well as with conference leadership, to initiate DEI work. Chris Garcia-Prats, assistant athletics director and head men's soccer coach, is Luther’s "Diversity and Inclusion Designee." A role now recognized by the NCAA, the Diversity and Inclusion Designee will ensure that DEI work moves forward and remains current with resources, educational opportunities, and action inside Luther’s athletics program.

The Athletics Department also meets weekly as a staff for conversations about DEI. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee's (SAAC) sponsored a Unity Walk in the fall that started on Bentdahl Commons and finished in the football stadium with student and staff speakers. The athletics social media team conducted a campaign from September to November entitled, "More than an athlete" that used the hashtag #NCAAInclusion. The campaign aligned with a national campaign with the same name for Division III Athletics.

DEI workshops for staff in Admissions and Financial Aid will be held this summer.

We are appreciative of the work being done across Luther College, led by students, faculty, staff, and alumni, even as we acknowledge the work before us. The hires of key senior leadership roles will give us an additional opportunity to ensure that each division of the college is committed to a comprehensive effort to be the inclusive community we aspire to be.

Sincerely,

Jenifer K. Ward
President

Lisa Scott
Vice President for Institutional Equity & Inclusion and Student Success