Dear Members of the UW Bothell Community,
I am pleased to share with you the UW Bothell Diversity Action Plan, developed by the campus Diversity Council with contributions from key partners, including the campus community.
UW Bothell’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive campus is embedded in our mission and core values, and is one of the seven priorities of our 21st Century Campus Initiative. This commitment to diversity is one that I strongly hold as a personal value; for that reason and others I am proud to embrace the forward-thinking and action-oriented work of the Diversity Council.
Led by Chair Wayne Au, the Council conducted research into issues facing diverse constituencies at UW Bothell and consulted widely with the campus community. By the end of May, the Council developed a draft Diversity Action Plan (DAP), which was then reviewed during a campus public comment period. In summer 2015, the revised DAP was then submitted to me. You will find the plan posted on the diversity website here: http://www.uwb.edu/diversity/action-plan .
This thoughtful plan outlines a clear set of recommendations and will serve as the foundation for our work in continuing to build a diverse and inclusive campus. I would like to thank Wayne and the Diversity Council members for their leadership in developing these recommendations. I also thank all of you for your input and engagement in the process.
I am charging the Diversity Council as the body responsible for leading implementation and assessment of the DAP. In support of DAP implementation and to ensure increased integration of our diversity efforts with students, the Diversity Director will now report to the chair of the Diversity Council and the dean of student affairs.
In the plan, you will find a set of recommendations. Below I’ve listed some of the critical recommendations and our actions to see them fulfilled during the 2015-2016 academic year:
Begin the establishment of a temporary diversity and inclusion center to centrally house student affinity groups and serve as a diversity-related programming room.
I am committed to seeing this recommendation fulfilled. I ask students to work with their student government to prioritize student programming needs and related space considerations. The ASUWB will submit that priority list to Vice Chancellor Ana Karaman. She and the UW Bothell Space Utilization and Provision Group (SUPER-G) will then work to determine feasible options that can be implemented during this academic year. Currently, ASUWB President Dominick Juarez is recruiting students to be involved in this process through the Student Diversity Council.
Reconstitute the UW Bothell Campus Diversity Council to more intentionally include membership from all campus units and appropriate diversity-related student groups.
I am in the process of forming the new council, to begin meeting soon.
Identify additional, temporary, reflection room(s) to meet the needs of UW Bothell students, staff, and faculty.
The SUPER-G committee has been working with student and diversity leaders to consider options and has identified a temporary space that is being considered by student leaders and may be available as soon as winter quarter
Establish gender neutral bathrooms in all buildings.
We are moving to include gender neutral bathrooms in all UW Bothell and UW Bothell-leased buildings. Currently there are gender neutral bathrooms in the Activities and Recreation Center, Discovery Hall, UW Beardslee Building, and UW Beardslee Crossing.
With oversight and assistance from the Campus Diversity Council and the Director of Diversity, and under the authority of the Chancellor, all major academic and staff units will undergo self-assessment, diversity planning, and reporting.
I will ask the Diversity Council, with Diversity Director’s support, to lead our campus work to implement this recommendation during this academic year.
Request a formal report from the UW Bothell campus constituencies that have been exploring childcare options for our community, and coordinate with the UW system-wide work group that was established to examine childcare issues and solutions at our university as a whole.
In order to build on the important work of students and others to identify potential solutions, I am asking Vice Chancellors Susan Jeffords and Ana Karaman to work with campus groups to implement this recommendation.
Diversity is a core value of our campus and I know that campus leadership shares my commitment. I will be asking all units to embrace these recommendations and bring them to reality at all levels of the campus. The Diversity Action Plan is OUR plan and I look forward to working with all of you to achieve our goals.
Sincerely,
Wolf
Bjong Wolf Yeigh, Ph.D., F.ASME
Chancellor and Professor
