Bentley University

University will be developing plans to avoid bias in admissions. Decreases emphasis of standardized test results.

Racial Justice Action Plan, developed by departments, will include racial justice education and training for staff and students.

The school's Office of Sustainability said in an update, "Beginning in the fall of 2021, the Office of Sustainability will require all Student Sustainability Leaders to attend two anti-racism trainings."

The university encourages its respective divisions to create trainings. It writes, "Learning and development programming is essential in ensuring that our faculty, staff, and students can develop the skills and competencies to create an equitable environment. By institutionalizing this training, we ensure continuity as new members join the Bentley University community."

The school said that it will, "Ensure that all students (undergraduate and graduate) understand the impact of race, racism, and systemic racism in society and organizations by embedding persistent opportunities for learning and reflection in curricular and co-curricular experiences."

In the Fall of 2023, the Office of the Provost at Bentley launched the "Inclusive Teaching Fellows Initiative," a "a cohort-based program for faculty to take a deeper dive" into the principles of inclusive and "just" teaching methods.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion's Fall 2023 DEI trainings include: "Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process," "Anti-Racism 101 Workshop," and "Ally 101 Workshop."

The Office of Institutional Equity was launched in the 2022-23 academic year and would "reinforce our values by interweaving our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice within a centralized and resourced office charged with ensuring timely, consistent and equitable responses to reports of bias, discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct." 

On its "Assistant/Associate Professor, Sociology (Race & Ethnic Relations)" job listing in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the university said, "Candidates are expected to develop a program of teaching and research in the sociology of race and racism, be able to teach some of the department's existing courses in race and racism (which include Race and Racism in the U.S., and Capitalism and Slavery), develop new courses, and support various departmental and university anti-racism initiatives...The Bentley University Department of Sociology offers an undergraduate major in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and functions as an integral part of a Business University committed to anti-racism."

The Office of Sustainability will have "DEI trainings for Office Staff and Student Leaders." On the trainings, the school writes, "The Office of Sustainability will coordinate two diversity, equity and inclusion trainings for office staff and students in the Sustainability Student Leadership program. The training will include environmental justice and anti-racism education. Student Sustainability Leaders will work closely with Office of Sustainability staff to incorporate environmental justice programming and initiatives into the office’s campus education and engagement work."

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion created a "Bentley Baseline," which is a "self-guided professional development series to be completed within the first two years of employment at Bentley" where faculty/staff "begin or continue professional development within DEI." As part of the program, faculty and staff undergo "Universal Experiences" (such as "Ally 101 Workshop," "Anti-Racism 101 Workshop," and "Accessibility 101 Workshop") and have a Personal Growth Plan (such as "Bentley Brave Activities/Dialogue Groups"). Other opportunities, such as "Promoting Equity Together (P.E.T.) Projects" and "Racial Equity Working Groups," are available for "faculty and staff who have been previously activated in engaging DEI in their roles."

The school launched the "Inclusive Excellence Learning and Development program" for employees. The program is composed of "Bentley Baseline" (which is "a set of foundational experiences that all employees are encouraged to complete within their first two years at Bentley") and "Bentley Forward."

The university launched "Promoting Equity Together (PET) Projects," which are "short-term cross-divisional systemic change projects to enable inclusive excellence on our campus." One project is "Equitable Space Design," which create "safe spaces that affirm the identities... of BIPOC communities."

The Racial Justice Task Force recommended that the president charge the Inclusive Excellence Council to "Solicit and award brave space mini-grants to encourage shared participation in the creation of opportunities for dialogue across differences. Award grants for projects starting in Fall 2021."

The Racial Equity Course Development Grants at Bentley "will provide summer stipends for faculty to develop new undergraduate and graduate courses at Bentley that explore issues of race in the United States."

As part of its 2021-22 sustainability commitments, the university will "Focus on Anti-Racism in Sustainability and Climate Action Plan Implementation." The school writes, "A key criterion for this work was that every goal, strategy or tactic identified in the process had to be reviewed for its impact on diversity, equity and inclusion with a focus on anti-racism. This focus will continue through implementation of the plan which will begin during the 2021-2022 academic year. Detailed implementation plans for each focus area will be created with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind and carefully reviewed to ensure a focus on antiracism strategies." As part of these strategies, the school will have an "Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Project."

The school's Office of Sustainability wrote, "Over the past year, the Student Sustainability Leaders worked to incorporate the intersectionality of racial justice and sustainability into the office’s education and engagement programming. Notable highlights include: (1) A week-long immersive educational program on environmental racism held in the Student Center, where attendees were able to learn about various aspects of environmental racism through signage and art installations throughout the building, , (2) A program designed to celebrate the university’s 70% carbon footprint reduction, while engaging students in discussions of how Bentley should address climate change and climate justice by 2025 and (3) Online educational engagement through Instagram posts including the history of environmental racism and environmental justice."

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion announced its Inclusive Excellence Learning & Development Model (IELDM), which is composed of Awareness (of "what our identities are, how those identities have affected our lived experiences and what other identities experience when navigating the world."), Allyship, Advocacy, and Agency. It also contains Core Practices which are "actionable steps and routines that influence how we operationalize and evaluate diversity, equity and inclusion work. They represent external tools faculty and staff can use and adapt as they engage DEI in their roles."

The school has a new director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The university released its "Racial Equity Tool Kit," which "is an interactive guide intended for the Bentley University community to reflect on their everyday practices that may contribute to or perpetuate systemic racism and racial inequity. It is intended for individuals or groups at any point in exploring and planning racial equity and anti-racism work." The Tool Kit is divided into a Foundational section and an Operational one. The school writes, "The Foundational section includes questions to help prepare your group to start conversations around race, racism, and systemic racism as well as questions to introduce you to concepts and allow you to practice moving from individual reflection to systemic reflection. The Operational section is divided into five areas related to Bentley University processes: Learning, Development, and Training; Policies and Procedures; Learning Environments; Inclusive and Equitable Campus Interactions; Marketing and Publications."

The school announced that it will, "Build capacity of all faculty and staff to understand and work in racially diverse organizations by embedding learning about race, racism, and systemic racism in all professional development and learning opportunities and recognizing and encouraging participation."

The school said that it will, "Create more intentional spaces for brave engagement about race and social justice." It elaborated, "Anti-racism work must include the intentional connection between social justice and the personal lives of our community members. Bentley must begin to invest in developing more and greater spaces for brave engagement and dialogue focused on topics of race and racial identity. If we are not able to discuss our identities and how those identities impact our experiences with others, our learning simply remains in a space of theoretical practice. Anti-racism requires a personal commitment involving direct engagement with ourselves and others."

The school said that it will, "Develop an institutional racial equity plan by intentionally engaging in a continuous process to identify and close racial equity gaps in achievement and access and work to provide more access to data by creating a more robust reporting mechanism."

The Racial Justice Task Force recommended the creation of the Inclusive Excellence Council "with a specific charge from the President to advance the operationalization of our campus-wide efforts to advance our commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice."

On April 29, 2021, the Bentley announced that it would offer a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion major for undergraduates where students can "choose from two pathways: a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a focus on critical and theoretical approaches to social justice, and a Bachelor of Science degree, which emphasizes the importance of DEI in organizational strategy."

The BIPOC Solidarity and Whiteness Accountability affinity groups are "for employees who wish to bravely and authentically engage with their experiences as racialized individuals."