Office of the President

Our Commitment to Action

July 1, 2020

Dear Campus Community:

As a result of centuries of racial injustice and inequity, people of all races and backgrounds are occupying streets around the world in protest and organized resistance to dismantle systemic racism.

As an institution wholly grounded in our values of inclusivity and social responsibility, we too must reflect on institutional racism and continue to ask ourselves honestly and intentionally, “What has Cal Poly Pomona done to identify and dismantle institutional racism?” “What actions will Cal Poly Pomona take to further identify and dismantle institutional racism?” And on a personal level to ask: “What can I do to dismantle systemic racism?”

In the past weeks, members of the Cal Poly Pomona community have reflected on these questions in several arenas – the Academic Senate, Associated Students, Inc., in the colleges, in divisional units, and among the president’s leadership team. This reflection has provided us opportunities to also recognize the sustained actions that have already been taken to create and support a diverse and inclusive community. It also confirms that much more needs to be done.

To be transparent and to hold ourselves accountable, we are developing a dedicated webpage to track, communicate and monitor past, present and future actions. We will announce the launch of the webpage in the next few weeks and encourage you to visit.

Below are several examples of those actions. 

What Has Cal Poly Pomona Done to Identify and Dismantle Systemic Racism?

  1. Created an Office of Inclusive Excellence & Diversity with the mission of cultivating a diverse, inclusive, welcoming and respectful campus community.
  2. Developed “CPP Listens,” a bias-reporting tool available to students, faculty and staff to address issues and track patterns of racism and bias on campus.
  3.  Developed the Inclusive Excellence Council as a standing, representative body of faculty, staff and students to advise the campus on strategies to cultivate and enrich an inclusive and diverse campus community.
  4.  Incorporated Unconscious Bias Training into the campus’ training schedule.
  5.  Launched a ‘Fearless Campus’ pilot program to train faculty on how to create supportive, accessible, inclusive and equitable classroom environments.
  6.  Hired an Executive Director of Student Inclusion & Belonging with responsibility for developing programs and initiatives that enhance students sense of inclusion and belonging.
  7. Institutional sponsorship of an annual membership in the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, the benefits and resources of which are accessible to all CPP faculty.
  8.  Developed and earned a $28,000 grant from the CSU Chancellor’s Office to support faculty diversity efforts.
  9.  Launched the Campus Equity Dialogues series co-sponsored by Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to address persistent equity gaps in higher education.
  10.  Established the Male Success Initiative with the goal to improve college access, retention and graduation rates for male students of color.
  11.  Revising our institutional processes for receiving, managing and addressing complaints related to discrimination, misconduct and equity to increase accountability and transparency.

What Will Cal Poly Pomona Do to Combat Systemic Racism?

While CPP has taken actions to address systemic racism and increase representation of underserved communities, we recognize that there is always more to be accomplished. We must not be satisfied. Below are some of the further actions that we are committed to undertaking. We will provide an annual report of continued efforts.

  1.  Establish a community-based Police Engagement Team to partner with UPD on campus safety and engagement.
  2.  Conduct a campus-wide climate survey to assess matters of access, equity and inclusion across the campus. This survey will enable us to gather meaningful data necessary to enact impactful change in an effort to be diverse and inclusive.
  3.  Actively review and amend, as needed, campus policies and procedures for exclusionary practices.
  4.  Continue to identify and systematically eliminate barriers to student access and success.
  5.  Identify and systematically eliminate barriers to employment access and success.
  6.  Develop a campus wide Diversity Plan to increase the representation of underrepresented faculty, staff and students with outcomes-based metrics to track our progress. 
  7.  Develop an Allyship Program to provide ongoing learning and training about actions one can take to actively combat racism and bias on campus.
  8.  Collaboratively develop a statement of Principles of Community for Cal Poly Pomona with input by students, faculty and staff to serve as an affirmation of the value of each member of the campus community and as a guide for our personal and collective behavior, part of which calls out racism as antithetical to our values and campus community.
  9.  Increase educational programming around race, racism, equity and inclusion.
  10.  In partnership between the Office of Inclusive Excellence & Diversity and the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence, develop a Faculty Equity Advisory Board charged with developing an equity-minded faculty pedagogy professional development series
  11.  Require colleges to identify and commit to concrete actions they will take to improve the diversity of their students, faculty and staff and create inclusive classrooms, practices and environments and hold the leadership accountable to those actions as part of annual performance assessments.
  12.  Require each division to identify and commit to concrete actions they will take to improve the diversity of their staff and create anti-racist practices and environments.

What Can You Do Right Now to Combat Systemic Racism:

  1.  Join a CPP Inclusive Excellence Council subcommittee 
    https://www.cpp.edu/inclusive-excellence/council.shtml
  2.  Share your experiences on Inclusive CPP 
    https://www.cpp.edu/inclusive-excellence/cpp-listens.shtml
  3.  Join the IE Summer Reading Book Club 
    https://Bit.ly/CPPsummerbook 
  4.  Choose a Learning Resource 
    https://www.cpp.edu/inclusive-excellence/resources.shtml
  5.  Become more politically active and aware of the issues while supporting and voting for candidates committed to the change you want to see.

Cal Poly Pomona is committed to the work of diversity, inclusion, equity and the elimination of systemic racism. We must have the courage and the commitment to live our values in everything that we do and a shared commitment to hold one another accountable.

 

Dr. Soraya M. Coley
President

Dr. Sylvia Alva
Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dr. Reginald Blaylock
Presidential Associate for Community & Campus Partnerships and Student Experience

Nicole Butts
Presidential Associate for Inclusive Excellence & Diversity

Dr. Christina Gonzalez
Vice President for Student Affairs

Nicole Hawkes
Chief of Staff

John McGuthry
Vice President & Chief Information Officer

Daniel Montplaisir
Vice President for University Advancement