Rabb School of Continuing Studies
Dec. 2, 2021
At the Rabb School of Continuing Studies, we take the issue of systemic racism very seriously. We have begun working on an action plan that we hope will promote conversation, introspection, and suggestions for positive change.
Staff members were asked to contribute suggestions for readings, videos, and other documents. The compiled suggestions cover a wide variety of race-related issues, including health disparities, climate justice, Indigenous peoples, intersectionality, global health and more. Staff members have been encouraged to add to this list, and read as many articles as their time allows.
All staff began by viewing the TED Talk, "How Racism Makes Us Sick" and we held an all-staff discussion about this on August 27, 2021, facilitated by Rabb School staff member Nicole Murphy. Our goal in this initial discussion was to come to a common understanding of systemic racism and to start the process of developing this plan.
All staff have been invited to contribute their thought about how we can reduce systemic racism within Rabb and at Brandeis. The following is a summary.
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Report the diversity of our staff, faculty, and students in each of the Rabb program units.
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Require job postings to remain open until there is a diverse pool of candidates.
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Ensure diversity in our Advisory Board.
- Set clear goals
- Set a clear timeline for achieving these goals
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Consider where we may lose instructor diversity as we phase out certain courses.
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Create a hiring guideline with instructions for advertising, interviewing, and composition of the search committee.
- Request and implement a training on implicit bias in hiring staff
- Request assistance from Human Resources in guidelines for advertising our job postings so they reach a diverse audience
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Include information about Rabb’s diversity on the Rabb website
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Diversify participation in GPS, Precollege, BOLLI, and Summer School. Enabling full participation in the Rabb School’s divisions by underserved groups, particularly people of color, is an important step towards ensuring racial justice. Scholarships are an essential means of ensuring equity.
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Work with Institutional Advancement on developing scholarships for students, by leveraging external relationships if needed, as well. Company will often match individual donations or considering sponsoring an event or initiative.
- Make Summer School more available to needy students by:
- Apply aid to summer study, when courses are less expensive. Summer School students who are Brandeis students already have their family-expected contribution on file
- Include a tuition discount for student who work on campus during the summer
- Offer a limited number of no-cost college credit-bearing spots in summer classes to diverse students currently attending a local community college, If an instructor has 10 students or 12 students, the instructor is paid the same, so we do not incur an additional expense financially.
- Expand financial aid and scholarships to include summer terms. Students will be able to graduate more quickly and with additional majors/minors/job skills. This would have the added benefit of freeing up residence hall space post-COVID 19.
- WOW (World of Work) scholarships help provide funding for food or housing for students in need of summer internships. This is a benefit to rising Juniors and Seniors. This should be available for students seeking classes to prepare for an internship.
- JBS scholarships should be moved out of Summer School’s bottom line to increase opportunity and help this marquee program expand.
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This year, Academic Services offered BUGS tutors for the first time as part of the extraordinary demand for summer classes. However, the Writing Center is still closed. These important resources should be available every summer.
Knowing our history as a prelude to taking responsibility for it. For the case for historical education as a starting point, see Bryan Stevenson in conversation with Ezra Klein.
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Offer BOLLI programming focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Include a diversity and inclusion piece in the GPS online orientation.
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Include sessions on intersectionality and taking action in all Precollege sessions.
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Audit all communications and marketing collateral to ensure content and photographs demonstrate diversity and inclusivity.
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Make Rabb’s commitment to inclusivity explicit on our website.
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Ensure that blogs, newsletters, etc., feature a diverse group of students.
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Update faculty directory to include photos for all (currently just some) to more accurately display our current diversity among instructors.
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Offer partnership opportunities with corporate partners and diversity & inclusion groups.
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Partner with student clubs
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Create an “Alumni of Color Board” to:
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Introduce and promote to BOLLI members
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Promote GPS Advisory Board opportunities
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Promote Rabb Board opportunities