Steps toward racial equity

Last fall, Luther joined an alliance of more than 50 colleges that hope to advance a commitment and attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion on their campuses. The Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance offers member schools resources like eConvenings, rubrics, videos, readings, and case studies, and it’s developing a pair of workplace climate surveys for member institutions to gauge how different groups of employees experience their workplace.

This new alliance complements Luther’s work with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) to launch a collaborative anti-racism initiative, which aims to help develop anti-racism skills and knowledge in faculty, staff, and administrative leadership; build partnership across campuses among communities of color; and collect and analyze data related to past and current institutional practices that have created disparate impact among communities of color.

In a September email, President Ward wrote, “By pursuing this initiative together and leveraging the power of the consortial approach, the ACM colleges will develop infrastructure, access resources and expertise, and coordinate collective efforts that can have a much greater and more positive impact on our communities than Luther College could achieve working alone.”