Inclusion and Diversity

1. To enhance the quality of life of individuals and families across the lifespan by creating and maintaining a body of students, faculty, and staff that reflects the cultural diversity of the state of Virginia and the national population.
2. To create opportunities for intellectual stimulation which is derived from an appreciation of multiple perspectives that are brought to the center and are allowed to flourish with a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff.
3. To build an infrastructure that promotes representation from underrepresented groups in decision-making processes across the curriculum and administrative affairs of the college.
4. To foster a supportive forum that channels and rewards internal and external collaborative initiatives and partnerships that recognize interlocking systems of race, class, gender, and age in our discovery, learning, and engagement agendas.

The stories are horrific and horrifying: Police bursting into Breonna Taylor’s home and shooting her eight times; neighbors chasing and fatally shooting jogger Ahmaud Arbery; a police officer pressing his knee to the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes, long after Floyd managed to draw his last breath. Those lost lives were all precious.

The protests that have since swept across the nation all make a claim — violent policing and unpoliced, racially motivated violence reveal the racist double standard at the heart of the American contract, and it is past time to stand up in righteous refusal of these injustices. Read more >>