KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Western Michigan University (WMU) announced Wednesday that it will be launching two new initiatives to continue addressing systematic racism, as well as racial justice on campus.
According to the university, Mountaintop Initiatives is a new $2 million investment to advance the University’s charge toward racial justice.
In addition, the newly formed Racial Justice Advisory Committee will lead efforts to address systemic racism and racial inequities on campus and identify actions to build a campus-wide culture of change.
This comes after the announcement of the WMU Athletics Diversity Task Force, which is meant to discuss issues of inclusion and diversity on the Western Michigan University campus and throughout the Kalamazoo community.
“It is a time for action–and that action must be fulsome and authentic in addressing both individual actions and the systems that perpetuate injustice,” WMU President Edward Montgomery said in a statement. “The problems that we must address are deep-seated and some of the toughest facing humanity. They are the insidious inequities that hide in the shadows in practices and policies, culture and in our understanding of each other. That is the difficulty of our challenge.”
In WMU‘s current fiscal year budget approved by the Board of Trustees on September 17, Montgomery called for a $2 million investment in the “Mountaintop Initiatives: Continuing the Climb fund” as a down payment to pursue meaningful social change.
“With these resources, we will continue our work in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s address, ‘I’ve been to the Mountaintop.’ I will be seeking proposals from the entire community, especially the Racial Justice Advisory Committee, for investments and initiatives that advance racial justice at WMU,” Montgomery said. “This initial investment will fund efforts that will move us toward a campus rich in human diversity, strong in our desire to dismantle unjust and inequitable systems and united in an effort to demonstrate that hate and racism have no place among us.”
He adds that information about how to formally submit proposals for the Mountaintop Initiatives will be coming soon.
Meanwhile, the new Racial Justice Advisory Committee (RJAC) will identify issues of systemic racism and racial inequities at WMU and recommend actions the WMU community can take to create a culture of change.
The committee is led by Dr. Candy McCorkle, vice president of diversity and inclusion. Officials say it is a broad collective of the campus community comprised of representatives from the Board of Trustees, the Office of the President, vice presidents, deans, student government, bargaining units, faculty, staff, students and alumni.
“The charge for this committee is to ensure that we have a collective investment in the future of our campus,” McCorkle said in a statement. “The RJAC is not just making recommendations to administrators, but looking at what we all can do to begin to change our campus. The work we are engaging in will not be easy or fast because it requires that we begin to identify the problems of the original systems and structures that have created disparities.”
The RJAC will provide a recommended list of actions for areas across campus, identify how research, teaching and engagement could promote inclusion at WMU and in the community, offer recommendations for accountability and provide opportunities to shape change across a broad group of participants.
The new committee will make recommendations for specific areas of campus including, but not limited to:
- Training and education for faculty to create equitable and inclusive learning spaces.
- Training and education for staff to create equitable and inclusive work environments.
- Training and education for students to create an equitable and inclusive campus culture.
- Reviewing policies and practices that foster racial inequities.
- Recruiting, supporting and retaining faculty and staff of color.
- Recruiting, supporting and retaining students of color.
- Creating programs of study that foster, promote and include equity and inclusion of diverse perspectives and ways of knowing.
- Creating a review process of policing practices.
- Identifying means to report bias incidents.
- Developing review and responses for past and future naming of buildings, spaces and awards to align with institutional values.
Readers can see the full RJAC charter at this link for more information.
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