LCC Faculty Colleagues,

Please find below a statement from the LCCEA Racial Equity and Social Justice with recommendations for recruitment and retention of BIPOC Faculty.

Recommendations for Recruitment and Retention of BIPOC Faculty

The Committee on Racial Equity and Social Justice has been working to envision a future for a more just campus, including concrete strategies for increasing recruitment and retention of BIPOC faculty. The Committee presents these strategies as a matter of public concern with recommendations to: raise awareness of challenges to recruitment and retention, give voice to faculty concerns, and present concrete ideas for a future that is more inclusive and equitable for the benefit of the students, Lane Community College, and the entire community. 

The LCCEA Committee on Racial Equity and Social Justice calls for the implementation of the following action items in order to increase recruitment and retention of faculty from diverse backgrounds, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty.

Recruitment

1. Expand/amend protected classes in Board Policy 505 (Affirmative Action) to include: first language(s), socioeconomic status, and LGBTQI status. Expand definition of diverse workforce to include LGBTQi, non-binary identities.
2. Establish Diversity Recruitment Plan to include targeted recruitment at colleges and universities that have a relatively high percentage of minority graduate students with progress toward recruitment and retention goals reviewed on an ongoing basis, no less than annually.
3. Expand scope of the College Affirmative Action (AA) plan; add Board of Education annual review and approval of plan, plan metrics, and assessment of progress. 
   1. Ensure that the annual AA Plan consists of three overarching components: 
      1. an annual focus which is measurable, rigorous, progressive, aggressive, and timely;
      2. a 3-year focus which is more strategic with specific goals to achieve, and; 
      3. a 5-year plan with projected outcomes. Ensure significant effort and dedicated resources are used to quantifiably and statistically increase the AA “Protected Classes” which are underrepresented at the College.
4. Post all contracted faculty positions according to standard academic hiring cycle and  within a reasonable timeframe in advance of Fall term.
5. Add a requirement to post to at least 5 publications and/or services that actively promote or recruit diverse applicant pools for every contracted faculty position.
6. Establish a new requirement to extend recruitment time if the candidate pool is not sufficiently diverse and provide annual report on candidate pools, interview recipients, and faculty hires.
7. Provide access to interviews for part-time faculty seeking contracted positions who are members of protected classes under AA plan.
8. Establish and implement a diversity faculty fellowship program with the first year for fellowship awardees, a career pathway for faculty from underrepresented ethnic minority groups to move to FT positions,enhanced professional development funding, and appropriate workloads to facilitate professional development.
9. Establish an internship/mentorship program for potential faculty who have career technical experience especially in trades but no teaching experience; explore partnerships (e.g. Oregon community colleges, K12, UO, OSU, PSU) to promote K12 and community college teacher hires in CTE after internship at LCC.
10. Remove barriers to moving to Lane County for newly recruited faculty of color (e.g., moving stipends).
11. Ensure that all levels of management and upper administration positions include strong representation of ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQi community, including through: required external posting of all positions, required internal posting of all interim positions, and interim positions limited to twelve months.
12. Review and revise hiring policies and practices for systemic racism and disparate impact (e.g. newly implemented criminal background check prior to hire, implementation of hiring bias training, consideration of blind review processes.) 
13. Discontinuation of favoritism and any/all practices that do not provide equitable opportunities, which includes all steps within hiring practices starting with formation of search committees and creation of job postings. (Please see expanded definition of this item in document in front of you.)
    1. Posting of all internal faculty leadership and coordination positions for all qualified faculty to apply.
    2. Discontinuation of the provision of contracted faculty overloads that displace part-time faculty.
    3. Prior to providing overloads to contracted faculty, provision of  the opportunity for assignments to all qualified part-time faculty.

Retention

1. Consider Loan Forgiveness as a tool for recruitment and retention. 
2. Promote opportunities and professional development for employees from ethnic minority groups, including expanded funding for additional degrees and leadership development opportunities.
3. Appropriate workload consideration for any/all bilingual/multilingual faculty who use these skills in faculty work, including tribal languages and ASL teachers. 
4. Provision of trained mentors with diverse racial, ethnic, and/or linguistic backgrounds for new BIPOC faculty. 
5. Funding for regular collaboration opportunities for faculty of color, LGBTQi+, or other marginalized communities, who are isolated in departments or disciplines with few/no other teachers of diverse backgrounds.
6. Appropriate workload considerations in recognition of the additional work (e.g. committee service and student mentorship) BIPOC faculty do.
7. Adoption of a restorative justice model (with adequate education and professional development) in dealing with bias, discrimination, and related complaints, especially ones affecting BIPOC, LGBTQi, and other underrepresented populations.
8. Provision of mediation upon request when cultural insensitivity, bias, and/or microaggressions have led to concerns and/or conflict affecting ethnic minority faculty. (Please see expanded definition of this item in document in front of you.)
   1. Mediation by third-party, external, and culturally literate, professional mediators. Qualified, culturally literate college employees with mediation expertise and experience have the opportunity to serve as mediators with appropriate workload consideration. 
   2. The person who experienced the negative behavior or microaggressions has the opportunity to choose internal peer facilitation or external mediators.
   3. The person who experienced the negative behavior or microaggressions has the opportunity to move or request the move of the other party (e.g. to a different office,  reporting structure, or alternative team structure). 
   4. Assurance that no person experiencing cultural insensitivity, bias, and/or microaggressions may be demoted, financially penalized, or face any retribution.
   5. Appropriate workload consideration for peer facilitation (e.g. culturally competent counselors) in response to bias incidents. 
9. Equitable provision of leave time to accommodate family care needs and bereavement
10. Appropriate definition of family to be more inclusive of extended and non-traditional relationships.
11. Expanded list of paid holidays to be more inclusive (e.g. Juneteenth, Indigenous People’s Day, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Kwanzaa.) 
12. Assurance that faculty from diverse backgrounds within disciplines receive course assignments, recognition as faculty, salary schedule placement equity, and compensation consistent with the faculty contract.
13. Retirement incentives prior to and in order to obviate layoffs stemming from budgetary concerns. Recognizing that most, but not all, program cuts result not in layoffs but in contracted faculty transfers to other disciplines that they are qualified to teach, it is important to encourage faculty professional development, and provide additional, funded professional development for faculty seeking certification in a discipline outside their primary teaching area in lieu of layoff.
14. Expansion of requirements and funding for Cultural Competence Professional Development.