President Bergman recently announced a new action plan created by The Presidents Council for Diversity Equity and Inclusion entitled the Blueprint for Progress. Aiming to better the college’s policies and practices to further fair access to resources. On April 12 President Bergman hosted an open campus discussion to hear feed back from students on the proposed actions and expectations for the plan.

The goal is that with this plan the Gustavus community can become a place where each person is committed to developing an understanding of personal identity and embrace their shared responsibility to be an inclusive community.

“During the kick-off we did some small group work where I especially was able to inquire into community members’ questions, concerns, ideas, and suggestions; everyone gave me particularly strong and helpful feedback that I will use as part of the next step in our PCDEI plans (which is to develop action plans for the next couple of years toward achieving the Blueprint goals).” Lisa Dembouski, Education Division Committee member, said.

The purpose of this event was to establish Gustavus Adolphus College as a more liberal arts learning community, especially as it enters into the 21st century.

The college aims to become an inclusive environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion are emphasized and implemented. This will be done through four areas of focus.

One of the areas of focus was Teaching, Research, and Learning, which means that Gustavus will grow by taking into account diverse voices and experiences in order to increase understanding of the world. This consists of two strategies like constructing a Multicultural Teaching and Learning Program for students.

This means educational opportunities such as a variety of academic classes that focus on multicultural lectures. Along with that, there will be leadership development training and important campus events.

As for faculty, there will be an employee orientation that will teach incoming employees about the expectations regarding cultural and community standards. Going through this orientation will be a requirement and will be documented by the college. Additional areas of focus discussed were Recruitment and Retention, Safety and Security, and Institutional Structure and Governance.

One of the goals for recruitment is to focus a lot on racially underrepresented students and international students. Along with that, employees will be recruited and hired based on a standard that helps the enrollment at Gustavus increase with a multicultural student body.

Another goal proposed during this event was to provide support systems by those who are affected, are initiators, and the community in regards to discrimination, comprehensive bias, and harassment.

There will also be institutional oversight to make sure the DEIC (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee) will be doing its proper job in implementing these policies. Compliance oversight will be required in order to check if the DEIC is being responsible and held accountable of Federal and State policies. Lastly, the Blueprint for Progress will do its best to establish a climate change assessment committee.

“[I] was impressed not only with the number of people who were at the Kick-Off for the Blueprint, but also at the quality of their thoughts and ideas. Multiple times I caught myself feeling gratitude for the bright, thoughtful, engaged, and insightful community I work in.”Dembouski said.

Joyce Amakoue, member of the Class of 2020, also worked on the Recruitment and Retention subcommittee. “[I] learned that in order to make progress, everyone that is subject to the changes/effects need to be involved and included in the decision making. Also, it’s very important to take into account other people’s opinions.” Amakoue said.  All in all, the Blueprint for Progress will consist of various important goals in order to make Gustavus a more inclusive, welcoming environment for the future.