Saint Mary's College of California
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

In compliance with applicable law and its own policy, Saint Mary’s College of California is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse student and employee population and does not discriminate in its admission of students, hiring of employees, or in the provision of its employment benefits to its employees and its educational programs, activities, benefits and services to its students, including but not limited to scholarship and loan programs, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability.

https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/academics/schools/kalmanovitz-school-of-education/non-discrimination-disclosure-statement#:~:text=Saint%20Mary's%20College%20of%20California,concerns%20related%20to%20sex%20discrimination.

Saint Mary's Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) strives to promote a safe, hate-free environment where all people can live, work, and learn. BIRT’s primary roles are to recommend preventative education as well as report and respond to bias incidents and hate crimes.

In addition, Campus Assault Resources and Empowerment (formerly Sexual Assault Crisis Response Team) provides a 24 hour, confidential hotline, and work with victims and liaison to public safety and Moraga police department.

Actions of the past three years include:
BIRT - online, anonymous hotline. Team meets within 24 hours to develop plan and strategy, email to community, facilitate floor meeting with adviser, post laminated letters explaining events that have taken place to increase awareness. (review past reports)

The Team operates on the basis of the Lasallian Core Principles to promote understanding, respect, civility, and education. The team operates towards the following objectives

1. Assist students who report bias incidents and support students who report bias incidents.

2. Keep annual statistical records of bias incidents on campus. At the end of each year compile a statistical summary of the reports received during the year.

3. Promote conversation about diversity issues and meet with student groups to engage in or moderate discussions about diversity on our campus.

To recruit students from historically underrepresented communities, Saint Mary has developed strong relationships with high schools and communities in those regions. Additionally, several resources and programs are offered to first-generation and historically underrepresented groups, including a one-on-one mentorship from faculty and staff, increased financial aid packages, peer mentoring, support networks, their own first year advising cohort, etc. These programs have increased the number of prospective students from underrepresented groups. Success can be seen in our becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in 2018.

To recruit faculty from historically underrepresented populations with the goal of getting a diverse pool of applicants, we actively connecting with, continue our strong relationships with minority-serving institutions with hopes of drawing in graduate students, post-docs and early career faculty into our hiring pool.

For underrepresented students, Saint Mary's offers a number of counseling and support programs. The High Potential Program and TRIO Student Support Services Program supports students from underrepresented backgrounds in a variety of different ways. Each "high potential" student has their own mentor and advisor, separate from their academic advisor, to ensure they are supported emotionally as well as make sure their material needs are met. The program aims to motivate, prepare and support our underrepresented students at Saint Mary’s for academic success and graduation.
Additionally, after several calls from students, staff and faculty to have counseling services that are inclusive to the experiences of Black students, including a black therapist and/or counselor on the Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), Saint Mary’s was able to hire a black clinical psychologist/ therapist who has knowledge and experience working with black and multicultural students and who is committed to addressing the impact of racism and social injustice in their work.

CAPS offers a weekly healing circle for African-American/Black identified students on campus.

Events on healing from racial trauma are offered to students and staff. For example: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/events/44-days-caps-mental-health-series-mind-body-healing-racial-stress-and-trauma-dr-shawan
Lastly, Saint Mary’s hosts a variety of programs and events to celebrate and support underrepresented student groups on campus. For example, the Intercultural Center hosts cultural weeks highlighting historically underrepresented and traditionally marginalized groups, including the Latinx Cultural Week, Pacific Islander Cultural Week, Asian Cultural Week, Middle Eastern & North African Cultural Week, LGBTQIA+ cultural week, Expressions of Blackness Cultural Week as well as graduation celebrations for each historically underrepresented groups: The Annual Black Graduate Celebration, the Annual Lavender Graduate Celebration (LGBTQIA+ Community), the Annual Asian & Pacific Islander Graduate Celebration, the Annual Latinx Graduate Celebration.

For Staff and Faculty from underrepresented groups, there are several peer support programs including the Black Leadership Coalition and the Afro-Latinx, Latinx and Indigenous Peoples (ALLIPAS). These support programs host a number of restorative healing and support spaces, including https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/events/44-days-caps-mental-health-series-mind-body-healing-racial-stress-and-trauma-dr-shawan and https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/events/sunset-circle