Diversity & Inclusion
Building Capacity for Inclusive Excellence
Every community becomes more vibrant, creative, and energetic when its members bring a diversity of views and experiences to its common life.
An Ongoing Commitment at Saint Rose
Since its founding in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, The College of Saint Rose has been committed to creating an inclusive community. Unfortunately, hundreds of years of racial, ethnic, religious, and other types of bias and discrimination are knitted into the fabric of society. So we recognize that the work of unraveling that bias and discrimination and making sure all students and employees at the College feel at HOME must be intentional and ongoing.
This area of the website serves as a central resource to our community. It is where we share our values around inclusion, increase our knowledge, detail the process for reporting and addressing incidents of bias and discrimination, and offer updates on our efforts. It will also provide ways for the campus community to become part of this movement and serve as a forum to share ideas and feedback. You can find on-campus and community resources here, as well.
How will we build the capacity of the Saint Rose community?
I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community.”
– Janet Mock
Our stories need to be told and we must take the long journey from the pain of realizing the harm members of our community have experienced to a place where there is integrity, interdependence, and mutual respect in our community. We are committed to working toward healing.
We are striving to build Saint Rose’s capacity of inclusive excellence of diversity and resilience. The work of reconciliation will be guided by the collective trauma recovery framework. There are three pillars: Active Listening, Speaking From the Heart, and Acting With.
Active Listening
Speaking from the Heart
Acting with
Active Listening: Center and focus on the speaker instead of one’s own perspectives – this improves mutual understanding without debate and judgment.
Speaking From the Heart: Communicate honestly and consistently to build trust.
Acting with: Engage with the community to create action plans and resolutions to create a community that operates with integrity, interdependence, and mutual respect.
Values
- Integrity
- Interdependence
- Mutual Respect
Racism is America’s original sin. It is a virus every bit as deadly as COVID-19 that has infected our nation since its inception and unless and until we address it, people of color will continue to die and our nation will never heal. Racism, whether the institutional racism which privileges some at the expense others or the daily acts of hate and discrimination diminishes us all. It denies that most profound truth, that all of us are created in God’s image and each of us is entitled to dignity and respect.”
– The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, in a statement after the murder of George Floyd
- August 7 Meeting on Diversity and Inclusion Update (August 7, 2020)
- Campus Conversation on Diversity and Inclusion Update (July 24, 2020)
- Campus Conversation on Diversity and Inclusion Set for July 24 (July 23, 2020)
- An Update on Creating a More Inclusive Community (July 14, 2020)
- Saint Rose Outlines First Action Steps on Addressing Bias Reports (June 26, 2020)
- Saint Rose Shares Suggested Action Steps from ‘Planning Action for Tomorrow’ Discussion on Racial Injustice (June 22, 2020)
- Saint Rose to Observe Juneteenth Beginning June 19, 2020 (June 18, 2020)
- A Call for Unity Around Racial Justice and Inequity (June 1, 2020)
Message from Yolanda Caldwell, Chief Diversity Officer
We are intentionally creating space for our Saint Rose community to build its capacity for inclusion. This endeavor calls for awareness, courage, and determination. The College today remains committed to its founding values and reaffirms its desire to improve the lives of all individuals by providing an excellent education, advancing citizenship, and realizing career attainment. We value our diversity and are moving intentionally forward in advancing principles of equity and inclusion.
There are far too many in our nation who have been left out or left behind due to poverty, bias, and discrimination. Over 100 years ago, the College of Saint Rose was founded to provide educational opportunities for marginalized, vulnerable, and disenfranchised students. Our founders supported women who were left out of the paradigm of social, educational, and economic upward mobility. Today, there are still remnants of the nation including women who are excluded from opportunities to build communities from positions of leadership. The College of Saint Rose has adopted a framework to respond to the challenges that emerge from doing transformative work. The framework centers on active listening, speaking from the heart and acting with. As the community works within these guiding principles, our work to build our capacity of inclusive excellence strives forward. The goal of inclusive excellence is to develop and be a community of leaders who support policies and practices that provide equitable access to opportunities and resources.
I invited all members of the Saint Rose community to engage in the work of being an example of transformation. You are welcome whether you are a current student, finding your voice and your path in what will be a new post COVID world or a new student looking for a home that is committed to growth, improvement, and making a difference in the world. You are welcome whether you are a current employee, working to support the development of young leaders or someone looking to become a member of the team that believes in opening doors and opportunities for all. You are invited to join us on the road to better as we work to ensure that everyone who is a part of our HOME, knows that they and their contributions are valued, respected, and appreciated.
The College of Saint Rose community engages highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students in rigorous educational experiences. In the progressive tradition of the founding Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, we welcome students from all religious and cultural backgrounds. In addition to developing their intellectual capacities, students have the opportunity to cultivate their creative and spiritual gifts in a diverse learning community that fosters integrity, interdependence, and mutual respect.
The College delivers distinctive and comprehensive liberal arts and professional programs that inspire our graduates to be productive adults, critical thinkers, and motivated, caring citizens. Our engagement with the urban environment expands the setting for educational opportunities and encourages the Saint Rose community’s energetic involvement and effective leadership in society.
The College of Saint Rose is a diverse learning community that fosters integrity, interdependence, and mutual respect. Inclusive Excellence supports the advancement of reciprocal cultural sensitivity across campus, in order to build a culture that promotes the appreciation of diversity in every aspect of the College and the surrounding community. We are a place that values diversity, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, socio-economic status, religion, ability, age, veteran status, and nationality.
Our institutional approach to Inclusive Excellence describes a quality of academic and professional experiences that are realized when all individuals have an equal opportunity to succeed. Inclusive Excellence infuses diversity into the institution’s recruiting, admissions, and hiring processes; curriculum and co-curriculum; and administrative structures and practices.
Inclusive Excellence is central to our role as an engaged urban institution with a rich array of liberal arts and professional programs. This approach, grounded in our Catholic heritage, provides opportunities for greater learning, understanding, and growth for all of our students within local, national and global contexts.
Bias and Discrimination Reporting
What is bias?
Bias or Hate Incident: Acts of prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage.
Hate Crime: At the federal level, a crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
How to report bias actions:
Did you experience or witness an incident of bias or discrimination? There are many options and resources available to you. Visit our bias and discrimination reporting section to access the forms, learn about the process, and find additional resources and points of contact.
The Bias Response Policy:
The need to revise the College’s policy for reporting and investigating incidents of bias and discrimination became clear in the summer of 2020, prompted by discussions about racial injustice that were happening not only in our own College community but around the nation. Our students shared their experiences, and it was important, especially as a college that was founded with the mission of creating an inclusive community, that we addressed their concerns.
It is essential that every member of our community feel at HOME at Saint Rose.
The new bias response policy – which was drafted by a diverse and representative committee of campus partners, including faulty, administrators and staff, alumni, and students – was approved by the President’s Cabinet on September 3, 2020.
Action Steps to Make Change
Addressing bias and discrimination is not a sprint. We are not looking for a quick fix. We are committed to the deep, deliberate, and thoughtful work to dismantle systemic racism at Saint Rose.
Resources
On-Campus
- Safety and Security: 518.454.5187
- Title IX Coordinator: titleix@strose.edu 518.223.2550
- Counseling Center: 518.454.5200
- Spiritual Life: 518.454.5296
- Health Services: healthservices@strose.edu 518.454.5244
- Residential Life: reslife@strose.edu 518.454.5295
Off-Campus
- Albany County Crime Victims and Sexual Violence Center: 518.447.7716
- Equinox – Domestic Violence Services: 518.432.7865
- Albany Police Department: 518.438.4000
Contact Us
Yolanda Caldwell
Mailing Address
Office of Intercultural Leadership
The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
