Earlier this month, the College of Education at Northern Illinois University published a Diversity Strategic Plan outlining its goals to improve shared understanding of diversity, close the gap on student success, recruit diverse faculty/staff, and embed diversity issues in the curriculum. In their introduction they note a theme that is also true for BC:

“Despite our commitment to these ideals as an institution, we continue to see a gap between our stated goals and values and the lived experiences of our student body. Most notably, we continue to see a dearth of students from historically marginalized groups enrolling in and graduating from our college. Therefore, it is imperative that the COE reexamine and create an institutional context, a curriculum that actively encourages respect for diversity, fosters students’ ability to understand the fundamentals of diversity (such as identity, cultural competence, and social justice), and nurtures education professionals for whom these values are indelible characteristics.”

Check it out – view a pdf of the full report here.