乐播传媒

Among workshops that 乐播传媒 held on Jan. 21 to honor Martin Luther King Jr., one stood out by virtue of its subject: 乐播传媒 itself.

Not the viewbook 乐播传媒 where faculty and students scale ever-higher peaks of achievement. Instead, a more prosaic place where, in back offices, kitchens, and workshops, College staffers make the academic fireworks possible.

And it鈥檚 a place whose achievements, perhaps, reflect what Benjamin Mays 鈥�20 had in mind when he exhorted mourners at King鈥檚 funeral to make the civil rights leader鈥檚 unfinished work 鈥渢ruly our own.鈥�

President Hansen considers a comment during the King Day workshop on diversity efforts in the 乐播传媒 workplace. At right is Ellen Peters 鈥�87, director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen convened 鈥淚nstitutionalizing Unfinished Work鈥� to illuminate those achievements. As 乐播传媒 has striven to make the campus more diverse and inclusive, Hansen explained, she has been struck by the intensity College staffers have brought to that effort. For the MLK Day workshop, she asked seven College administrators to share challenges and revelations they鈥檝e encountered along the way.

The King holiday, Hansen said later, afforded a plum opportunity 鈥渢o explore all the places on campus where people really are trying to do the unfinished work of social justice and inclusion.鈥�

We heard from Carmita McCoy, who is helping 乐播传媒 develop a concept from the Benjamin Mays Initiative: 鈥渟wing deans鈥� who help recruit a new class for Admissions one year, then spend the next year as a dean of students mentoring that same class, especially members of underrepresented groups.

Something she hadn鈥檛 expected, she explained, was the concern some African American parents expressed that their children wouldn鈥檛 be able to maintain their faith practices at 乐播传媒.

Bob Pallone, who works in Advancement, wondered how to convince alums of color that today鈥檚 乐播传媒 is more welcoming than the one they knew. 鈥淗ow do we understand what they experienced?鈥� he asked. 鈥淎nd how do we convey what鈥檚 happening now?鈥�

The diversity of diversities resonated throughout the workshop. In realigning staff assignments for the new dining Commons, said Dining Services head Christine Schwartz, she has encouraged her people to try out for jobs they really want.

Implementing this enlightened policy, though, sometimes brought Schwartz up against the effects of old, harsh inequalities 鈥� such as a worker who had gone through public school labeled as a special-ed student on the basis of a single, specific disability.

The diversity of diversities includes job classification. As Carmen Purdy, a presenter and the coordinator of the affirmative action office, pointed out, 乐播传媒 staff feel empowered simply to be heard.

The convener agreed. 鈥淚 talk about 乐播传媒 all the time, and I rarely have an opportunity to talk publicly about people who are behind the scenes,鈥� Hansen said afterward. 鈥淨uite invisible but so important to the college, just kind of making everything else happen.鈥�

Including, now more than ever, some unfinished work that just can鈥檛 wait.