Office for Institutional Diversity

2017 Reedies Against Racism Demands (exactly as stated by RAR)

1. Day off: The last Monday of September is a paid day off for everyone at Reed until our demands are met.
2. Investment reform: Change the operating bank of the school from Wells Fargo to a bank that is not invested in the prison industrial complex or environmental racism. Transparency and reform regarding Reed’s investments in unethical companies.
3. Community safety: Preference in CSO hiring process for applicants not affiliated with the police. No CSOs with current police-affiliated jobs. Mandatory anti-racism training for CSOs. Release comprehensive AOD demographic data (by student) to RAR annually. Faculty sign a petition saying they won’t call the cops.
4. Admissions transparency: Release comprehensive admissions data (by student) to RAR annually.
5. Financial aid reform: Create need-based emergency reparations grants for black students. Schedule college admissions visits to all predominantly black schools in Oregon. Preference for low-SES students in the housing lottery. Board Plan B is the minimum for financial aid packages. Regularly adjust off-campus housing stipend to rising housing costs.
6. Creation of space: Dissent policy reform (strike “orderly processes” and “such acts”). Build a brick-and-mortar students of color center.
7. Curricular reform: Release the new Hum 110 syllabus to RAR. One CRES visiting faculty for 2018–19. Include demographic data (of student respondents) in the faculty review process.

2016 Reedies Against Racism Demands (exactly as stated by RAR) 

1. Paid day for 9/26 for all Reed staff in honor of the boycott.
2. Transparency and long-term reform regarding Reed’s involvement in exploiting prison labor and their investment in companies (i.e. Wells Fargo) that profit from the incarceration of black and brown people, (i.e. NSA and GEO stocks).
3. Reform CSO, AOD Review Panel, and JBoard practices and sanctions to move away from carrying out racial profiling and requiring community service, and move towards restorative justice policies.
4. Transparency regarding the demographics of students given AODs.
5. The creation and implementation of appropriate scaffolding to bridge the gap between low-SES high schools and Reed through improving the educational services already provided.
6. Revise the system of outreach that Reed implements within marginalized communities. Ensure that the amount of visits to low-SES and/or predominantly POC high schools match the amount of visits to predominantly white high schools.
7. Alter the Housing Lottery to explicitly prioritize low-SES, international, and students with disabilities.
8. The adjustment of Meal Plan costs for students in need, so that students are only responsible for meal plan dollars and Reed covers building costs as well as the fixed costs of Bon Appetit.
9. A transparent yearly review of the off-campus housing budget in relation to inflation.
10. The creation of a paid student position for a black student in the MRC that is specific to tending to the needs or concerns of black students.
11. The establishment of a paid staff position to participate in the maintenance and organization of the Black Student Union.
12. More transparency from the admissions office regarding graduation and retention rates by race, gender, and SES.
13. The required freshman course should be reformed to represent the voices of people of color. Lecturers should structure delivery and analysis of content that is sensitive to and proactive for inclusive practices. There should be an articulated understanding that “foundational texts” are subjective and that the importance of the course is to foster student’s abilities to read, write, and listen/respond. Before this is accomplished, Hum 110 should be conscious of the power it gives to already privileged ideas and welcome critique of that use of power. This could be done by 1) allowing alternative readings that critique texts on the current syllabus, 2) making Hum 110 nonmandatory until reform happens or 3) alternate options for Hum lecture.
14. Every HCC counselor should have a background in talking about race and queer issues. Counseling positions in the HCC are to be held by at least one black person, who has competence in addressing black bodies, with the express priority of serving black students.
15. Mandatory conferences for building race sensitivity for staff and faculty that includes the input and participation of Students of Color. Contracting a qualified educator to lead continuous mandatory workshops and conduct check-ins with students and professors.
16. The hiring of more tenure-track black faculty, with a greater quantity of dialogue at more consistent intervals between students and faculty search/hiring committees.
17. Increased funding for Peer Mentor Program (PMP), ensuring that the amount of mentors and general resources correspond to the need, i.e. the number of marginalized students in the incoming class.
18. The passing and implementation of the CRES proposal by CAPP, with the understanding that CRES is to be taught by people of color. The administration/faculty is responsible for the construction of a one-year plan for funding CRES, while seeking long-term funding for the program that will be incorporated into the endowment.
19. The alteration of Reed’s Operating Principles and Diversity Statement, to reflect a focus on antiracism/anti-oppressive rather than diversity.
20. Revision of the process of investigating racial bias against tenure-track faculty through CAT.
21. The inclusion of a question on professor evaluation forms about the general openness of professors and their handling of racial topics, gender topics, and queer topics. The addition of an optional question that allows students to indicate their race.
22. Annual anti-oppression workshop for all students, faculty, staff, and administration.
23. In addition to the existing grievances process, allowing Honor Cases to be brought against faculty by students, adjudicated by a review board consisting of students and faculty.
24. Expand options for international students’ employment opportunities.
25. Improvement of financial aid, especially the creation of particular scholarships for black students.