May, 10, 2022

Dear Sewanee Family,

In a historic statement in September 2020, the University’s Board of Regents called for Sewanee to become a “model of diversity, of inclusion, of intellectual rigor, and of loving spirit in an America that rejects prejudice and embraces possibility.” With the Regents’ resolve and vision, we laid out a set of initiatives for the University’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

Since that time, we have provided updates about every six months on progress toward those goals. Below is the latest update on these critical initiatives.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
Racial Equity Progress Six Month Report

Revised Institutional DEI Statement

At the University of the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ, our commitment to inclusion and belonging is grounded in our core values of community, courage, flourishing, and inquiry. We seek to build a community enriched by our diversity and centered on equity, justice, mutual respect, and shared responsibility.

Martin Luther King, Jr. University Holiday (Floating)
Starting Jan. 16, 2023

We will redouble our efforts to recruit, retain, and support students from historically underrepresented communities.

• The University is partnering with the National Hispanic Institute (NHI) this summer to host the  Collegiate World Series (CWS) program for Hispanic rising high school juniors. The CWS, considered the capstone program in NHI’s three-year leadership development series for aspiring young leaders, combines a focus on the college application process with an introduction to inquiry-based learning, which NHI alumni use in their decision-making processes as future leaders. 
• The Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of the Dean of Students, and the Office of Residential Life are partnering to launch the Multicultural Living Learning Program in Smith Hall, fall 2022.
• The Office of Multicultural Affairs will transition to the Office of Inclusive Excellence, July 1, 2022. Using a framework of inclusive excellence, the office will be positioned to better address issues of student diversity, identity and intersectionality, and inclusion and belonging.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Student Success, and campus partners are using findings from the National Collegiate Campus Climate (NACCC) student survey (administered spring 2021) to design high-impact practices to better support diverse student populations.
• The Benjamin Network, a group of Sewanee’s Black alumni from the College, is partnering with Student Success, Admissions, and Career Readiness to support Black student recruitment and success.

We will redouble our efforts to recruit, employ, and retain faculty and staff from historically underrepresented communities.

• The Center for Student Success and Flourishing’s new hires include student success and career readiness coaches from historically underrepresented communities.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion administered the National Collegiate Campus Climate (NACCC) staff survey to assess the campus culture and to provide an opportunity for University staff members to voice their opinions about diversity, promotion and tenure, professional development opportunities, and institutional commitment to equity and inclusion.
• The chief diversity officer coordinated an inclusive leadership assessment, with training facilitated by the Racial Equity Institute, and discussions with Cabinet members to develop inclusive and equity-minded leadership and decision-making.

In consultation with Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation scholars, we will continue its work to develop a comprehensive truth and reconciliation program around race in the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ that serves as a model for our region and our country.

• Representatives from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Vice-²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s Office, the Chaplain’s Office, the College, and the School of Theology will participate in the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ 2022 Institute on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) to be trained as facilitators for racial healing circles and to develop a proposal for Sewanee to become a designated TRHT Campus Center. 
• The chief diversity officer charged the Council for Indigenous Engagement (CIE) to develop an action plan to foster relationships with local indigenous communities and the Tennessee Trail of Tears Association; to identify and highlight faculty research or course listings that focus on history, government, language, literature, art, music, economy, or the world view of indigenous peoples; to develop programs and/or initiatives to enrich the Sewanee community’s understanding and knowledge of indigenous/American Indian life and heritage; and to make Sewanee a welcoming and inclusive place for indigenous/American Indian students, faculty, and staff. The CIE work is currently consulting with the Roberson Project and the Tennessee State Archaeologist.
• The Roberson Project’s work has continued to broaden and deepen over the last year. Thanks to a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges, the project is collaborating with filmmaker Zaire Love, who has produced a 24-minute video, “Making Our Way,” which is planned for general release in September 2022. “Making Our Way” tells a story of the University and the surrounding community through the voices of present and former Black residents of Sewanee and present African American students in the College. This moving and landmark documentary is unusual in foregrounding people whose lives and experiences have been omitted from past accounts of the University’s history. A slate of programming and campus dialogues will be organized around the September release.
• A multi-year grant from the CIC is funding two major inter-campus initiatives with potential for broad impact on diversity, equity, and inclusion on multiple college campuses: first, the Roberson Project is preparing to launch an online database () it has designed over the last year. It will recruit teams from other campuses to partner in collecting and disseminating information about college monuments and memorials to Confederates and slave-owners. The pilot phase of this project is scheduled for the fall. Second, the Roberson Project led a collaboration with teams of faculty, archivists, and students leading courses at five diverse college campuses, all of whom partnered with leaders of community organizations to create public history and community archiving programs. The Roberson Project, buoyed by the achievements of this first year, will seek a follow-up grant to expand the program next year and continue to develop its website () as a resource for support of such projects on other college campuses. In relation to that work, the project is expanding its community-based public-history support programs (see the website ) in new partnerships with African American community organizations in Franklin County and other neighboring counties. 
• The project sponsored presentations on diverse topics related to its work, among them the following: a forthcoming documentary, "Mecklenburg County," which narrates the evolving relationship between two men, one Black and the other white, whose lives are deeply entangled in the history of slavery and Jim Crow; and a series of programming on the subject of reparations for slavery, culminating in the November campus appearance of Dr. William Darity and Kirsten Mullen, authors of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-first Century (UNC, 2020).
• The Roberson Project, as an extension of its designation as a Legacies of American Slavery regional center, is organizing a national conference on “Memory and Commemoration” Oct. 6-9 in Sewanee. In addition, it is planning a spring conference, “The (Un)Freeways Roundtable,” which will bring students and scholars to Sewanee to generate teaching and research opportunities on the subject of forced (and predominantly African American) labor in the construction of public and private infrastructure in the American ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ. As a centerpiece, it will feature the archaeological work the Roberson Project has supported at the Lone Rock Stockade in neighboring Grundy County, an epicenter in the rise of 19th-century convict leasing. 

We will work with faculty to foster curricular approaches to presenting the full history of the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ.

• The School of Theology is working with faculty to support fresh innovations in pedagogy and mentoring that equip students to navigate challenging conversations on race with skill, empathy, and knowledge.
• Deborah Jackson, associate dean for community life, is leading the School of Theology faculty and staff in “Words for G.R.A.C.E.,” a year-long project for faculty and students to build a foundational language in order to have meaningful conversations about race.
• In February 2022, Chief Diversity Officer Sibby Anderson-Thompkins delivered a keynote lunch talk entitled, “I Can't Believe What You Say Because I See What You Do: Aligning Aspirational Anti-Racist Rhetoric With Action” at the annual Episcopal Parish Network conference in Atlanta on behalf of the School of Theology. 
• During the fall 2021 semester, the associate dean of the College, the Center for Teaching, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs sponsored Dr. Carlton Green (director of diversity training and education at the University of Maryland) in presenting a workshop for faculty titled, “Reduction of Harm.” Dr. Green offered virtual consultations for faculty through this academic year.
• A third round of 11 faculty members were given grants from the Dean of the College to support DEI-informed innovations in their courses, bringing the total up to 21 faculty members who have received these grants in the past year. A panel highlighting the work of the first round of grant recipients took place in the spring semester, and another will be scheduled for later in the fall.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion launched the Conversations-Rich Education for Anti-Racist Teaching/Learning Environments (CREATE). Originally funded through a grant awarded by the Associated Colleges of the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ (ACS), CREATE supports training on implicit bias, microaggressions, and bystander interventions.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Multicultural Affairs, Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX, the College, and Human Resources have secured a contract with Vector Solutions for required Title IX training and foundational education on diversity, equity, and inclusion to all students, faculty, and staff. Campus-wide training will begin in fall 2022.

We will appoint a campus commission to evaluate the names and stories behind buildings, monuments, and places on the Domain to identify naming principles and practices and ensure that, in every instance, there is an appropriate balance between the contributions of the namesakes and the values of our University.

• The Names and Places Committee was formed and began its work in August 2021. Members of the committee are researching and educating themselves on similar work done by other institutions. After this research and education step, a skeletal framework of guiding principles to evaluate honorifics on the Domain will be established. Next, they will gather input from Sewanee constituents to further develop the principles and process for evaluating honorifics. After the process for evaluation has been developed, each honorific on the Domain will be examined, and recommendations will be developed. A final report will be submitted to the Board of Regents at its June meeting. Learn more here. 

My best regards,

Nancy Berner
Acting Vice-²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ and President