The Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity is pleased to announce the following Towards Greater Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (TIDE) grant awards. We were thrilled to receive a large number of proposals, an indication of the broad commitment to building and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.
Spring 2021
Art Visionaries: How Faith Informs Social Justice
Organizers: Rebecca Park ‘22, Karla De La Fuente ‘22, Darío Herrera ‘22
By engaging with artists who center inclusion and diversity in their cultural production, campus community members will be able to witness the convergence of liberating and radical ideologies in a religious experience. Through a series of musical and creative performances, we aim to further understand the conflicting past of faith while also envisioning an inclusive, equitable future. We will invite musicians and other artists, specifically those who center social justice in their creative work as a way to deconstruct oppressive ideologies in their religious experience, to share their cultural production and stories with community members. There will be a follow-up conversation the week following each event.
Developing a Literary Toolkit for Discussions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Educational Institutions
Organizers: Taylor McClennen ‘22, Helene Ryu ‘22, Morinsola Tinubu ‘23, Mohammad Faizaan ‘23, Claire Shao ‘22, Amy Sosne, Center for Learning in Action
Building on work from last year, we will develop a booklist and instigate book club discussions surrounding the salient topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Williams College and the local schools of Mount Greylock Regional School District and the North Adams Public Schools (NAPS). The selection of books will originate from the website that we developed in our 2019 TIDE Grant (Confronting Race, Class, and Gender Bias in Education), and will result in the purchase of educational materials for each school, as well as inviting authors of the most widely distributed books to speak to the students. By providing a permanent collection of literary resources through recommendations made to the Williams College Library, books funded for the book club related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and books donated to the school districts, it is our hope that students and faculty within the Williams Community and that members of the broader local educational community continue to participate in these discussions at all levels of education.
From Bandung to BLM: Building Black-Asian Solidarity
Organizers: Joy James, Humanities, Dorothy Wang, American Studies
The focus of this project is to educate and foster dialogues among Williams students, staff, faculty, and surrounding and international community on concepts of coalition, dignity, and social justice. From Bandung 1955 to BLM 2020, African/Asian and African American/Asian American solidarity movements for peace and justice have been vibrant, contested, foundational, and fragmented since the end of WW II. These alliances have been both international and national. This proposal for a series of educational workshops titled “Past, Present and Future Afro-Asian Solidarity for Transformative Justice,” the historical and the current conditions for political and cultural allies that contribute to future democratic practices that transcend racial/ethnic divides.
Grey Matter TV
Organizer: Randal Fippinger, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance
The project will include an investigation into how art and mindful collaboration can help to amplify the voices of historically marginalized communities in Williamstown, resulting in a broad-based collaboration to begin the development of a community access TV series called Grey Matter TV. The scripted scenes of Grey Matter TV are set in turn-of-the-century Williamstown involving the White Oaks neighborhood (an enclave for many formerly enslaved peoples, Indigenous peoples, and multi-racial residents), the White Oaks Mission (the church began by celebrated Williams College professor Albert Hopkins to “clean up the neighborhood”), and the town government.
Supporting Pathways for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind, and Deaf-Blind High School Students
Organizer: G. L. Wallace, Accessible Education
The project will further the college’s efforts to support students with disabilities. In particular, print and online materials, as well as a video archive, will highlight existing campus resources, current student experiences, alumni experiences, and available alumni and career support. It is expected that this information might be used by a number of people and offices on campus and will support the college’s efforts to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. While institutions often talk about the importance of supporting students with disabilities, one way to ensure that support is to create a pipeline that filters out students with disabilities prior to matriculation. This is often not accomplished through intentionally architected malicious policies. Instead, it is the result of de facto processes that screen out students or create subliminal messaging that makes it difficult for students with disabilities to envision themselves as “part of the community.” Due to the invisible, de facto, and cultural nature of this problem, we must work to raise the visibility of our commitment to recruiting and supporting students with disabilities actively during the recruitment and admissions process.
Megamenu Social