Anti-Racism Action Plan

On September 28, 2017, MCC was made aware of a tweet by an MCC student on his/her personal Twitter account. The post included racial slurs and hate speech. The tweet was removed from public view later that same afternoon, but not before many had captured and shared the offensive remarks in screen shots.

Reaction from the college community was strong. Racism and hate speech are not compatible with MCC's values.

Over the subsequent weeks and months, an action plan was developed and implemented. Progress is regularly reported here.

October 6, 2017

Preventing, Identifying, and Responding to Bias

  1. Create a website to communicate quickly and transparently to the College community about the hate speech incident.
  2. Establish a Bias Incident Response Team and procedures and protocols for reporting and responding to allegations of bias.
  3. Require equity and inclusion training for all MCC employees, beginning with the College's non-contract employees, officers, and president.
  4. Require implicit bias training for all search committee members
  5. Review the curriculum for Criminal Justice and Public Safety Training programs to assure that it includes instruction in and assessed learning outcomes related to implicit bias in policing.

Improving Inclusiveness and Equity

  1. Establish a new college-wide convening on Inclusiveness and Equity that will be held annually on the Brighton and Downtown campuses to provide an opportunity for professional development, education, dialogue, and action.
  2. Establish an easily accessible and highly visible website--Empowering Excellence, Integrity, and Inclusion--to track all College action steps identified below and to communicate with the College community on matters related to equity.
  3. Convene a task force composed of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and--as needed--external stakeholders to review and make recommendations on improving equity in College search, hire, and promotion processes in a way that will improve the alignment between the diversity of our faculty, staff, administration and that of our student body.
  4. Establish a timeline for improving representation, especially among the College's teaching faculty, for public report to the MCC Board of Trustees.
  5. Charge the President's Advisory Council--which includes representatives from President's Staff, Deans, Directors, SGA, SEGA, Faculty Senate, Faculty Association, Support Staff, and CSEA--with recommending college-wide strategies to improve equity in student success.
  6. Review the College's General Education curriculum to assure that it includes assessment of learning outcomes related to the College's values: integrity, excellence, empowerment, inclusiveness, collaboration, and stewardship.
  7. Review the First Year Experience curriculum to assure that it includes assessment of learning outcomes related to the College's values: integrity, excellence, empowerment, inclusiveness, collaboration, and stewardship.
  8. Include the College's values on all letterhead and in all course information sheets to assure they are regularly communicated inside and outside of MCC.
  9. Establish an online, anonymous portal for suggestions to improve operations, practices, and climate at the College and report out quarterly on the changes MCC is making in response to these suggestions.
  10. Provide bi-annual reminders to the College community through the Employee and Student Tribune on the following: Student Code of Conduct; Student Bill of Rights; Employee Code of Conduct; Grievance Procedures; Bias Incident Response Team; and EthicsPoint Anonymous Hotline

Building a Shared Understanding of our Rights and Responsibilities

  1. Develop a policy on Freedom of Speech that will include a clear definition of speech protected by the First Amendment and identify the procedure for reporting a bias incident at the College.
  2. Hold a forum on the First Amendment and the rights and responsibilities associated with free speech.
  3. Review and recommend changes, as appropriate, to the Student and Employee Codes of Conduct to address violations related to social media postings.