UW-Madison faculty and administration are sharing strategies for furthering campus climate discussions in the wake of several incidents of hate and bias within the last few months.
In a recent address to the Faculty Senate, UW-Madison dance professor Chris Walker explained that it is the everyday microaggressions students of color must face on campus, more than publicized acts of discrimination, that have a more significant impact on their educational achievements.
Walker said although conversations about this topic may be difficult, they should not be shied away from in class, and added that his department has already begun to stand up against discriminatory incidents.
“I work with 15-20 students of color every semester,” Walker said at the meeting. “I have to rebuild spines, I have to rebuild students in their own identity, I have to remind my students that they belong here and that they’re valuable.”
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement and other campus officials have compiled tools to promote inclusion and diversity, such as cultural competency training for faculty members and detailing ways to report incidents of hate and bias.
The university also created the website campusclimate.wisc.edu, which is home to progress reports for initiatives to improve equity and inclusion efforts on campus.
The initiatives listed on the website include hiring additional mental health professionals to service marginalized student groups, a pilot cultural competency program for incoming students similar to the Tonight and AlcoholEdu programs and holding a university-wide session to talk about issues of hate and bias, which occurred in early April.
Also included was UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s call for proposals from the campus population with suggestions for how to improve campus climate, which will all be collected this Thursday. Blank said in an earlier post on her blog that she would provide funding for the most promising proposals.
UW-Madison Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Patrick Sims also underlined the need for all groups on campus to partake in discussions surrounding campus climate.
“It takes a community,” Sims said at the meeting. “Having allies of the majority who are equally committed and passionate about it—not just happening on the backs of those who are numerically in the minority, but also racial and ethnically in the minority. We want everyone involved in that conversation, because everyone is part of the solution.”
