December 15, 2023

IDEA Newsletter – December 2023

Newsletter

Community Minded Practices

In the global landscape, more than 30 nations find themselves in conflicts of diverse nature, varying in types, scale, and the toll they exact on human life. Where the gravitational pull towards “choosing sides” is particularly intense, we recognize the need to carve out space for dialogue across differences. We also know that in a community that holds so much diversity – ethnically, racially, religiously, politically – it is our collective responsibility to ensure our community’s ability to deal with asymmetries of power and representation and reframe discomfort to acknowledge each other’s humanity. As we close out the semester, we ask that we all start the new year with a promise to prioritize our own mental and physical health, and also consider the impact our words and actions have on others.

DEI Framework

The final iteration of the new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion framework is now available. Last fall, we shared a draft of the framework, and asked for community feedback. We are now pleased to introduce the College’s new diversity, equity, and inclusion framework that aims to capture Community, Trust, Justice, and Mattering here at Scripps. This framework may be used to guide departmental and institutional policies, practices, and priorities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Learn more about the history and the development of the DEI Framework here.

Committee on Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity (CIDE)

The 2023-2024 Committee on Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity is focused on two main projects for the academic year: updating the Scripps Land Acknowledgement and part two fo the Student Belonging survey.

The update to the Scripps Land Acknowledgement is in partnership with Dr. Hao Huang and local indigenous community members, and is focused on expanding our understanding of how our campus occupies the ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabrielino/Gabrieleño Uto-Aztecan/Nahuan speaking peoples (Tongva, Kizh, Shoshone, Cahuilla, Serrano), specifically the village of Torojoatngna (now called Claremont).

The 2024 Student Belonging Survey will be administered in the early part of the spring semester. This survey was developed and administered by the Equity and Justice Team in the spring of 2023 in response to the results the Fall 2021 National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates (NACCC) student survey. With the spring 2024 survey, we are looking to capture students’ feelings and perceptions of belonging and inclusion on campus, and provide the data to various campus departments in an effort to continuously address concerns of mattering and belonging on campus.

Learn more about CIDE here.

Updates

Spring Funding Opportunities

The Spring 2024 Racial Justice and Equity (RJE) Fellowship student application is now available.

The Racial Justice and Equity Fellowship Program provides grants for research, internships, and community-engagement projects designed to advance scholarship and explore topics relevant to the following: racial justice; inequality; equity; criminal justice reform; intersectional, interracial, and intraracial violence; community-engaged projects; and related areas. The spring fellowship is only open to students.

Departments looking to expand their DEI efforts internally can contact Mary Hatcher-Skeers about developing a Departmental DEI Action Plan. Departments who complete these plans may apply for funding to support their efforts. The maximum total funding request for department is $5000. The next round of funding requests will open in March.

Learn more about DEI funding opportunities here.

Spotlight

Jennifer Martinez Wormser

White woman with brown hair and a pink coat in front of a book

Jennifer Martinez Wormser ‘95

This semester, Jennifer Martinez Wormser ‘95, Director of the Denison Library and the

Sally Preston Swan Librarian, led a lunchtime workshop presenting the library’sDEI Departmental Action Plan. The Denison Departmental Action Plan is a great example on how even a department with a pre-existing culture can expand efforts for diversity, equity, and inclusion. If your department is interested in developing a DEI Action Plan, please contact Mary Hatcher-Skeers.