Dear Scripps Students, Faculty, and Staff,
In keeping with Scripps College’s commitment to strengthen a campus-wide culture of inclusion, last year, the administration initiated a process to evaluate the effectiveness of current policies and practices with respect to bias incidents on the Scripps campus. The Dean of Students Office and SCORE have conducted preliminary research to define priorities and evaluate best practices in bias-incident prevention, which will inform the next stage of dialogue about Scripps’ own policies and protocols.
To facilitate community engagement in this important effort, I am establishing a working group to be co-chaired by Dean of Faculty Amy Marcus-Newhall and Dean of Students Charlotte Johnson. The working group will be charged as follows:
- review existing “best practices” for addressing bias incidents on college campuses;
- evaluation of Scripps current policies and practices in light of identified best practices;
- consult with respective constituencies (faculty, staff, and students): and
- recommend next steps with regard to Scripps current policies and practices.
In addition to the co-chairs, the working group will include the Director of the Office of Human Resources, two Scripps faculty members, two Scripps students and two Scripps staff members. The Dean of Faculty will work with faculty to determine faculty membership. Likewise, the Dean of Students will work with students to determine student representatives. Staff Council will help to select staff members. You can learn more about what constitutes a bias incident and Scripps’ current policies and protocols here.
The working group will convene this fall 2016 with the goal of completing its work and issuing its report prior to the conclusion of the current academic year. I look forward to receiving the group’s recommendation, and I will keep you apprised of their progress.
Sincerely,
Lara Tiedens
President