Council on Racial Equity and Justice (COREJ)

The mission of the Council on Racial Equity and Justice (pronounced COURAGE) is to elevate research and amplify faculty, staff and student voices on matters of structural and systemic racism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness and the intersecting issues of oppression and power within the College of Education (COE). Members serve as advisors, liaisons, and data gatherers to provide the Dean of COE with recommendations on how to move forward with racial equity and justice initiatives, policies, and practices. Central to the mission of COREJ is having representation from all departments, faculty, staff, and students at all levels. The COE’s values of impact, excellence, diversity, inclusion, innovation, social justice, collaboration and community will undergird the work of the council.

Council Member Responsibilities

Operate from a set of principles that are derived collaboratively with other council members
Develop an assessment (e.g. equity audit) to research what is being done in each department around racial equity and justice
Design a comprehensive plan for COE in addressing inequities, clearly identifying markers of progress, and accountability
Draft a vision for COE to advance racial equity and justice efforts based on data gathered
Partner with the COE Senate, COE Faculty of Color, APT Committees, and other COE groups to advance racial equity, and justice goals

FACULY	STUDENTS	staff
Bridget Turner Kelly, Chair, CHSE	Nancy Camarillo, CHSE, Graduate Assistant	Jennifer Rice, Dean
Daniel Chazan, TLPL	Jillian Cordial, CHSE	Regina Cole, TLPL
Renee Garraway, HDQM	Genevieve D’Cruz, TLPL	Sonya Riley, Dean’s Office
Kimberly Griffin, CHSE	Peter DeCrescenzo, CHSE
Jioni Lewis, CHSE	Patrice Greene, CHSE
Rossina Zamora Liu, TLPL	Carly Holmes, TLPL
Doug Lombardi, HDQM	Pearl Lo, CHSE
Angela Stoltz, TLPL	Anna Mayer, TLPL
Tracy Sweet, HDQM	Jennifer McCatharn, CHSE
Lauren Trakhman, HDQM	Olivia Murphy, TLPL
Jennifer Rice, Dean	Antoinette Newsome, CHSE
	Michelle O’Connell, TLPL
	Ashley Ogwo, CHSE
	Jayna Resman, TLPL

Racial Equity Audits require unit reflection on the question, “Where are we building bridges and where are we creating barriers to increasing racial equity for COE students, staff and faculty?”

The COE Racial Equity Audit is designed to uncover and address structural bias in policies and practices. Members of COREJ will be leading/facilitating the racial equity audit process but everyone in COE will be involved as a participant in data collection, briefing and feedback sessions. Parts of the process, involving implementing action steps recommended as a result of the audit will be operationalized by the Dean of COE, department chairs, and other leaders throughout the college.

COREJ Racial Equity Audit

The semester prior to the scheduled racial equity audit review, the COREJ Chair will identify individuals from COREJ to lead different aspects of the racial equity audit team. These individuals will work through the racial equity audit process over the course of an academic semester. At the close of the semester, the team will submit a brief report along with goals, action steps, and timelines to the COREJ Chair. Reports will be collated, summarized, and shared with the COE Dean and then posted on the COE Diversity website. Progress toward the goals of eradicating structural bias will be monitored by the COE Dean’s Office, faculty, staff and student groups (e.g. Faculty of Color, Staff Affairs Committee, Senate).

Academic year	Fall semester	spring semester
Academic year 2020-2021	Introduction/planning stage	Student Experience (access, to entry, academic, student life)
Academic year 2020-2022	Student Experience Racial Equity Audit continued; Chairs and Dean’s Office will work with COE community to implement recommendations from Student Experience Audit	Faculty and Staff Racial Equity Audit; Review of Student Experience Audit
Academic year 2020-2023	Chairs and Dean’s Office will work with COE community to implement recommendations from Faculty and Staff Experience	Assessment of First Round of Racial Equity Audits; Plan for Moving forward for long-term audit, implementation and review process. Review of Faculty and Staff Experience Audit

Below is a list of reading resources on building equity in higher education.