Cuyahoga Community College’s Response and Stand for Racial Justice

In the summer of 2020, Dr. Alex Johnson, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C)’s president, decided that the college needed to take a public stand against systemic racism in America. Johnson charged a team of leaders, representing faculty, staff, and students from across the Dr. Matthew Carey Jordancollege, with organizing the effort, known as the “Tri-C Stand for Racial Justice” (SRJ). The first task the SRJ leadership team set for itself was to create a mission statement. The SRJ intent was to clarify, at a high level, what intended goals were to be achieved and what the ethos of SRJ would be. After much discussion, the following statement was adopted:

Tri-C’s Stand for Racial Justice seeks to advance racial equity and healing at Cuyahoga Community College and across Northeast Ohio through education, dialogue, and action. We stand together in the name of justice for all, committed to reconciling the facts of race in America in a spirit of inquiry rather than indoctrination. We recognize the complexities involved in addressing racial injustice and resolve to engage in these difficult conversations within a framework of civility, without losing sight of the evident realities of systemic racism and structural inequities in our community and our nation.

It is worth taking a moment to note three features of this statement. First, SRJ looked outward as well as inward, seeking to impact the whole of Northeast Ohio rather than merely the college community. Second, SRJ is committed to offering something more than “mere talk.” Third, SRJ emphasizes the reality that race in America is a complex and sometimes subtle matter; that civility is important; and that the SRJ approaches salient questions without claiming to know all the answers in advance.

The good will the SRJ has engendered to date can presumably, and at least in part, be attributed to its commitment to approaching contentious issues “in a spirit of inquiry rather than indoctrination.” SRJ’s goal has been to strike a balance between two opposing errors: indecisiveness, on the one hand, and stridency and closed-mindedness, on the other. The SRJ seeks to inform action, and to ensure that action is wisely taken and grounded in serious questions addressed thoughtfully from diverse perspectives.

Once the SRJ leadership team had clarified its mission, its next step was to create a structure that would enable it to work effectively and Dr. Magda Gómezinclusively. Three task forces were created, corresponding to three principal areas of concern alluded to in the mission statement. Each task force was assigned a chairperson, a member of the college-wide advisory committee who would oversee the work of the task force and report monthly to the advisory committee with updates and feedback.

SRJ Task Force #1 was created to address the college’s culture, values, training, and education. The task force’s charge includes to: ensure a college-wide atmosphere of inclusivity and respect by reviewing and revising policies and guidelines for student organizations, academic departments, and programs; enhance and promote training for students, faculty, and staff, including workshops on unconscious bias and microaggressions. The task force also has a goal to create and implement new programming for the Public Safety Center of Excellence and devise strategies for integrating the discussion of racial justice into existing curricula.

SRJ Task Force #2 focuses on college-wide events and activities. It assists with the development, enhancement, and promotion of programming sponsored by various diversity and equity groups.