包容和学术自由的努力仍在继续

Three events the week of March 18 and a new membership in a Council of Independent Colleges initiative show ongoing investment in education and skills for faculty, staff, 和学生.

Bryan Fair is a University of Alabama law professor who will be on campus March 19 and 20, meeting with students, giving a public lecture, and providing a 车间 on 学生的言论自由和包容.

言论自由和培养包容性社会哪个更重要?  

Thanks to ongoing high-profile incidents on college campuses, a narrative has developed that these two bedrock values of American life and higher education are opposed to one another, that supporting free speech means endorsing hateful content or that ensuring 为所有人提供安全空间需要摒弃某些想法. 

但是一个关键点是 校园言论自由及包容工作坊 由美国笔会为华盛顿的教职员工提供帮助， far from being in opposition, both are core values of higher education that require 彼此. 

“Trying to understand is the purpose of dialogue, higher education, and freedom of 表达式. 言论自由是包容性的引擎。 of the Project on Civic Dialogue at American University and PEN America 车间 facilitator. “Academic freedom exists to ensure freedom to engage in knowledge production unfettered 通过审查，而不是阻止有标准. 学术自由和第一修正案 是地板，不是天花板.”   

Schwartz explained that higher education uses free speech and academic freedom to develop and test ideas in search of truth, which means ideas the community believes are wrong should be confronted through respectful dialogue that illustrates how those 想法不符合学术工作的标准. 

Schwartz and her co-facilitator—Neijma Celestine-Donnor, associate dean for diversity, 股本 & 马里兰大学社会工作学院也提倡包容性 for early and ongoing efforts to educate students, faculty, and staff about free 表达式 包容，在他们访问之前就开始的工作，这个学期还在继续. 

It will next be addressed on Tuesday, March 19, in Decker Theatre in a public lecture, “Free Speech/Hate Speech: Legal and Educational Perspectives,” to be delivered by 布莱恩·费尔，托马斯·E. 阿拉巴马大学斯金纳法学教授.  

公平是由多元化办公室带到校园的 & 包容与不包容 only provide the lecture, but he will also be on campus for two full days - visiting four classes, meeting with students, and delivering a student 车间, “Free Speech & 包容:实践参与规则.” 

“Professor Fair is a constitutional law professor and 2019 九州娱乐官网 honorary 学位获得者. 他专门研究种族问题，宪法第一修正案，以及美国的不平等问题 多元化事务副教务长艾丽莎·奈特(Alisha Knight)说 & 包容和 高级股权管理人员. “费尔教授的访问是为了补充美国笔会 retreat that was held in January, but unlike PEN America, his visit will focus on 我们的学生.” 

继费尔本周早些时候的访问之后，中美两国开展了一个联合项目 希勒尔 和 正义、公平、多样性和包容(JEDI)倡议 at the College will be held Friday, March 22 on “Mitigating Antisemitic (Micro)aggressions.” 

The activity-based 车间 will focus on helping people learn how they can, as bystanders, recognize, interrupt and address microaggressions, which can range from subtle comments 公然的歧视行为. 所有学生、教职员工和管理人员 被邀请，但必须通过电子邮件回复 (电子邮件保护) 3月20日星期三中午前.   

Sarah Arradondo, chemistry professor and JEDI director, said her volunteer team began collaborating with 希勒尔 a year ago on the session, which emphasizes learning and practice, the approach JEDI has taken in the 40 车间s it has provided at Washington 自2021年成立以来.  

“We're trying to introduce people to the fact that these conversations or these topics 都很有挑战性，我们都在走自己的路. 所以让我们一起变得更好吧。” Arradondo说. “我希望有人能够参加从未参加过的绝地武士会议 done this before and be able to have a 车间 experience and be better at the end 它的. 你通过说这是练习来简化它. 作为人，我们应该 to practice things that are challenging instead of expecting that everybody is good 一直盯着它. 你练习得越多，你看到的越多，你就越好.” 

教师新资源 & 员工支援工作

Arradondo目前正在参加一个微证书课程 独立学院归属倡议委员会, in which Knight and Provost Kiho Kim enrolled the College earlier this year, largely because the credential had data showing its impact: 98 percent of course-takers reported 这有助于他们的专业实践，82%的人报告了更积极的信念 关于包容性教学，甚至是34%的20岁以上的学生 深度学习的经验. 该项目追踪学生的自信程度 are in each 它的s subject areas before and after the course, showing improvements 在所有类别中占50%以上. 

每年将有六名教职员工参加这门课程，该课程提供的课程是 implicit bias, microaggressions, and impostor phenomenon and requires people in the course to apply what they’re learning in their work before they complete the course. In addition to Arradondo and Knight, Assistant Dean for Student Engagement and Success 崔西娅·拜尔斯(Tricia Biles)是第一批上这门课的学生. 

“I give Alisha a lot of credit for being intentional,” Biles said, noting that she has already passed on some information to the Bias Education Response Team she chairs, 就像阿拉多多和绝地武士的引导者们分享的那样. “这是与 美国笔会，和Bryan Fair一起，致力于跨文化事务. 有很多层次 正在发生的努力.” 

Ultimately, ongoing staff and faculty training, consistent programming 对每个人来说 on campus and in the community, and a shared commitment to an environment of consistent learning and respect will maintain the culture of inclusion important to everyone.  

As powerful and targeted as the Belong microcredential course may be, it is not the only or even the primary benefit of the College’s new membership in the 属于计划. There are also short webinars and videos on relevant topics, a library of curated 资源，以及向其他成员学习的机会. 

九州娱乐官网的任何人都可以访问 属于计划 resource library, and Arradondo, Biles, and Knight all said the resources can provide deeper understanding, concrete tools, and improved skills for anyone at the College 致力于建立一个更具包容性的社区. 

“This program is also speaking to the ways in which certain populations of students 有没有经历过偏见，无论是隐性的还是显性的歧视. 它正试图 help those who have been, I'll say, minoritized in higher education,” Knight said. “But when we think about providing support to students so that they are embraced by their program or department, it creates this open environment that is absolutely good 对每个人来说.” 

——Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven