August 2021 DEI Committee Blog

The August 2021 DEI Committee Meeting discussion topic focused on the issue of Equity within Postsecondary Education. The conversation was facilitated by WGR DEI Committee Member and Education Task Force member Dr. Heather Bloemhard, Assistant Director of Federal Affairs at Vanderbilt University. A group of over 30 WGR members on the DEI Committee and Education task force joined to engage in a discussion of this topic.

Dr. Bloemhard posed the following question to the group: “If racial equity is the end goal, how will we know what it looks like to get there?” In response, she offered the following statement from RaceForward: “We will know we’ve reached a state of racial equity when race no longer determines one’s socioeconomic outcomes and everyone has what they need to thrive.”

The presentation that followed was motivated in part by a Dr. Janice Underwood’s remarks during the 2021 DEI Virtual Summit, “You can’t change what you can’t measure, and you can’t measure what you don’t acknowledge. Make the inequities visible.” The presentation (which you can find here) endeavored to make the inequities related to access to higher education visible. The presentation included data visualizations showing the positive relationship between educational attainment and employment, median weekly earnings, lifetime earnings, and job gains. These data showed that formal education matters for economic opportunity! The presentation also included data visualizations that were disaggregated by racial and ethnic identity, which showed that Black and Hispanic college students carry higher rates of student debt, are overrepresented at less selective and for-profit programs, and have lower rates of persistence and degree attainment relative to their white peers. Member Bloemhard made a clear case: ensuring equal access to higher education should advance racial equity. Member Bloemhard shared the Racial Equity Scorecard for Policy and Programs to spur a conversation about policy solutions that could address these persistent inequities in higher education.

The discussion topic provided an opportunity for the meeting attendees to ponder three main issues: (1) What are the barriers to racial equity? (2) What are the possible policy solutions to make higher education more equitable? and (3) What additional information do we need? A multitude of ideas and suggestions were offered, many of which were also captured on a JamBoard (created by Dr. Bloemhard). The engaging conversation drew upon a rich array of member experiences, expertise, and knowledge about the culture, funding, and history of institutions of higher education. Dr. Bloemhard invited meeting attendees to reach out to her at heather.bloemhard@vanderbilt.edu with additional ideas, suggestions and ways to create meaningful, policy solutions. The DEI Committee is currently planning a follow-up conversation that focuses on k-12 education this October.

This month’s blog is authored by WGR DEI Committee Chair Gamble Hayden.

Join us for our next DEI Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 14th, where we will gather to discuss the topic of Age and Organizational Power -- register for the meeting here.