Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Task Force

Explore. Connect. Make a Difference.

Faculty, staff, and students strive for excellence in the college’s engaged teaching and learning community to foster students’ academic, intellectual, and personal growth. The college prepares students to thrive in, and make a positive impact upon, a dynamic, diverse, and interdependent world.

Our Commitment

Colby-Sawyer College is committed to a campus climate that welcomes, values, and represents equity, diversity, and inclusion. We believe a diverse community is critical to the emotional, psychological, and intellectual growth of faculty, staff, and students. We are committed to removing barriers that have been, and continue to be, encountered by equity seeking groups, including but not limited to women, visible/racial minorities, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ IA.

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force is a joint faculty, staff, alumni, and student-led committee. The mission of this task force is to:

  • assess the current state of equity, diversity, and inclusion on campus
  • investigate and recommend implementation of the best practices to increase diversity on campus, including under-represented and discriminated groups
  • make both short-term and long-term recommendations to the Senior staff to institutionalize equitable and inclusive policies and make this community safer for faculty, staff, and students.

The work of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force will result in ongoing:

  • community education about issues of bias, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination
  • constructive dialogues about the discrimination of minority groups
  • structures, policies, and practices that promote interconnectedness, inclusion, and a sense of belonging

Our goal is that these outcomes will be evident at every level of the college: across the student body and alumni, among faculty and staff, within the administration, and into the New London community.

Equity: We value the fair and just treatment of all faculty, staff, and students. We will create opportunities and minimize the barriers that have prevented the full participation of historic and current under-represented and marginalized groups. We will actively challenge and respond to bias, harassment, and discrimination.

Diversity: We recognize the important contributions diverse perspectives and lived experiences bring to our community. We seek to increase our diversity in the faculty, staff, and student body. At Colby-Sawyer, we adopt a comprehensive definition of diversity and recognize that there are various ways that individuals and groups can be disadvantaged in traditional power structures. This expansive definition includes but is not limited to race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, religion, socioeconomic status, language, age, and cognitive and physical (dis)ability status and where all of these identities intersect.

Inclusion: Our college will continue to make our faculty, staff, and students feel welcomed, valued, respected, and supported to fully participate in our community. There will be an intentional, ongoing effort to ensure diverse individuals’ voices are heard.