Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity

A small group of faculty, working under the name JEDI Knights (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion [Carleton] Knights), began the year by having a listening session with a small group of departmental alumni of color both on Zoom and on email. 

What we heard:

• Although she wasn’t looking for people with a common experience, one woman found community in SWiMS (the predecessor of GeMMS which is Gender Minorities in Math and Stats).  She enjoyed being a mentor in SWiMS and learning from Carleton alumni about their professions.  She would suggest a similar type of group for students of color.
• One participant said she didn’t find that students were rude to her because she was a particular ethnicity, but she did feel that she received microaggressions because she is a woman.
• An alum suggested we have a Tour talk or a 2-credit course on Ethics of Math/Stats.
• An alum had an English prof who said kind and encouraging things to them; they thought that faculty shouldn’t just pick out students of color but should be encouraging to all students.  They thought paired mentoring like GeMMS does would be really great and agreed that a student group for students of color could be helpful.
• One alum suggested we gather data on where in the four years we lose students of color to mathematics/statistics.
• We heard that talking about and being aware of students of color is good for community health.
• The alumni appreciated when professors from the next natural class would advertise in the prerequisite class so that they could meet their next potential professor and hear a bit about what the next class would be like.
• We heard that hiring faculty with more diversity is very important, though white faculty members can be mentors for students of color as well.
• We heard that hiring more faculty who can do research with students is important.
•  We heard that a Tour talk on how to combat racial microaggressions could be helpful.

Actions we took in 2021-22:

• Starting in the Fall of 2021, each term our department offered a loaning library with texts from some of the intro-level classes that can be borrowed for the term by students for whom it would be a financial hardship to purchase the textbooks. 
• We held listening sessions with departmental alumni of color (see above).
• We used a Tour of Math talk time to discuss rehumanizing mathematics and making all feel welcome in our classrooms.  Led by Claudio Gómez-Gonzáles and using some video clips of Rochelle Gútierrez, the hour was an honest and heartfelt conversation between students about the importance of making mathematics and the mathematics classroom welcoming for all.  Approximately 45 students attended.
• The JEDI bookshelf in the Math Skills Center was started to offer students interesting literature about the ethical use of mathematics and statistics, and making the subjects open for all.
• In our tenure track hiring this year, we listened to the student call for faculty who have, as our ad said, “a demonstrated commitment to attracting and retaining students from underserved groups and who will contribute to our vibrant college-wide culture of undergraduate research.” We hired two new mathematicians of color which, when taken with our current early-career POC faculty member in the department, helps to move our faculty demographics to more closely track the student population.
• We added an additional section of Math 101 each year to decrease the class size for this introduction to calculus for students who need some review of high school mathematics ideas along the way.
• We began experimenting with using TAs and prefects in some of our introductory classes as an additional avenue of support for our students.
• We awarded the first Sy Schuster Prize for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion in our department. 

Next Steps for 2022-23:

• We plan to continue and slightly expand the textbook loaning library.
• We plan to continue holding listening sessions each year with a select subset of students, alumni, and faculty of color.
• We plan to run another Tour talk on a discussion of an EDI topic.
• We plan to continue to encourage faculty a) to seek out opportunities to encourage all students to continue with their math/stats studies, b) to give microaffirmations, and c) to help make the transition from one class to the next more welcoming.
• We plan to continue experimenting with using TAs and prefects in some of our introductory classes.
• We plan to launch a student group in mathematics and statistics for students of color. 

Throughout the 2020-21 academic year we gathered input from our students about our work on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE) and how they experience our department community. We were interested in hearing from all of our students, but we especially wanted to learn more about the experiences of our students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Color (BIPOC).  

Gathering Data

The input we gathered from students came primarily from three events we held during winter term.

• In January of 2021 we held a listening session for BIPOC students who took courses in our introductory sequences (specifically, Math 101, 111, 120, 210, 211, 232, 240 and Stat 120, 220, 230 or their math equivalents) in the fall of 2019, the winter of 2020, or the fall of 2020. We asked in particular about how well-supported (or not) they felt by the department, about any barriers to success in math or stats they have observed here, and about specific ways faculty can make their classrooms more supportive of BIPOC students. Four students participated, and they shared a variety of important insights and suggestions.

• On February 2, 2021, we held a discussion of the documentary Picture a Scientist, which had been available for viewing on Vimeo. Seven students participated in this conversation, and they shared a couple of things faculty can do to make our community more welcoming to women and other minoritized students.

• On February 5, 2021, we held a Tour of Mathematics Anti-Racism session, in place of one of our usual talks in the Tour of Mathematics (Math 206). As part of that session, students in the Tour discussed IDE work our department has been doing, and offered suggestions for new IDE initiatives. Approximately 55 students participated.

Appreciation

We’re grateful to all of the students who participated in these events, and who contributed their insights and suggestions. Thank you! Your participation in these conversations makes our department stronger, and helps us find ways to better foster the welcoming and inclusive community we want.

Themes

Each of our events touched on different aspects of the student experience in our department and of our IDE work, but several themes emerged.

On the conversations themselves:

• Students appreciate these conversations. In fact, they want to continue to have conversations about racism, diversity, and marginalization, as they play out in our community and in the broader fields of mathematics and statistics, both now and in the past.

• At the same time, students noted that Carleton has had conversations on these topics in the past, often without any apparent change. They want to see meaningful action to address the issues these conversations uncover.

On the make-up of our department:

• Many students felt our department would benefit from having a more diverse faculty, and especially from having more BIPOC faculty members.

On feeling welcome in their courses in our department:

• Students found their courses more welcoming when they felt they were seen as whole people, and when they could see their professors as whole people. They value getting to know, and being known by, their professors beyond the subject of the course.

• Students also found their courses more welcoming when their professors had flexible policies around grading, late work, scheduling of office hours, etc.
  
• Students reported that it is helpful when professors make it clear starting on the first day of class that they are allies and committed to antiracist and IDE aims. 

And a couple of other topics:

• Students felt it would be useful to advertise opportunities that are particularly relevant for minoritized students. These could be opportunities specifically for BIPOC, first-generation, or gender minority students, or they could be opportunities known informally to be especially good for such students.

• Different students reported different experiences with the Math Skills Center (MSC). Some found it an essential part of their success in our courses, while others found it difficult to feel comfortable there, or to even bring themselves to go in.

Next Steps

Based on these conversations, our department plans to take the following steps.

• We will work to provide formal opportunities for our students, especially our BIPOC students, to tell us how they experience our community and our courses, and we will continue to take action to improve, based on feedback we receive.

• Our department is committed to diversifying our faculty along many dimensions, including race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, and socioeconomic status of origin. We will continue our efforts to hire a diverse collection of faculty members, e.g. by using hiring criteria that value contributions to diversity in our department, by using hiring practices that aim to reduce implicit bias, and by advertising positions and outreach to appropriate organizations. We will also work to foster a welcoming, supportive, and equitable working environment for all of our faculty.

• In the fall of 2019 we introduced activities to the training of Math Skills Center tutors aimed at helping them build a welcoming and inclusive environment in the MSC. In the fall of 2020 we added activities to this part of tutor training aimed at surfacing ways race can influence interaction in the MSC and at raising awareness of implicit bias. We will further expand and refine the training of Math Skills Center tutors to make the MSC as welcoming and inclusive as possible to all students.

• In 2021-22 we will start to create a textbook library where students can borrow textbooks for their Mathematics and Statistics courses, when buying or renting those books would be a significant financial burden.

• We will seek out and advertise opportunities that are particularly relevant to minoritized students.

• In 2021-2022 we will begin experimenting with using TAs and prefects in some of our introductory classes as an additional avenue of support for our students.

• Several of the suggestions students made concerned interpersonal interactions and class-specific policies on late assignments, collaboration, assessment strategies, etc. These seem best addressed by individual faculty in their specific classes, rather than as department initiatives. We will maintain, regularly update, and circulate a document with student comments and suggestions that arise in IDE conversations. We will also regularly seek, share, and reflect on best practices and new pedagogical approaches.