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Bentley University

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
175 Forest St
Waltham, Massachusetts 02452
Phone
(781) 891-2000
Email address
ugadmission@bentley.edu
School Information
"When Harry C. Bentley first convened a class of 30 students on Huntington Avenue in Boston in 1917, his goal was to educate the next generation of accountants. Since opening our doors over 100 years ago, Bentley University has continuously reinvented business education and grown from those humble beginnings to become one of the top business universities in the U.S. "As a transformative lifelong-learning community, we prepare over 5,300 undergraduate and postgraduate students each year to use their business know-how to make a positive difference in the world. With a community of over 65,000 proud Falcon alumni, the impacts of a Bentley education stretch around the globe." (Source: https://www.bentley.edu/about/bentley-education/history)
General Information
Bentley University will be embedding Critical Race Theory into its admissions policies, as well as training for its employees. In an effort to avoid bias in admissions, the university will decrease the emphasis on standardized tests in the process. Staff and students may be required to undergo "racial justice" education. See developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • Enrollment Management developed plans to ensure "that there is no systemic bias in [the] admissions and scholarship processes." Bentley "transformed the academic evaluation process" to reduce the impact of standardized test scores for both admissions and scholarship considerations. The University reported that the changes resulted in a 21% increase in students who identify as Black or Hispanic.
  • On June 29, 2023, Bentley's President issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which reads in part as follows: "In anticipation of today’s ruling, Enrollment Management and other offices across campus have been working to review our procedures to make sure we are ready to comply with the Court’s opinion and to continue to attract racially diverse classes to Bentley...We will also continue to partner with organizations serving racially diverse communities to ensure we reach and attract talented applicants from those communities...know that at Bentley, we will always strive to ensure that our future Falcons continue to reflect the amazing diversity of the country and world in which we live. No court ruling or legal proceeding will change that commitment."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • Racial Justice Action Plan, developed by departments, will include racial justice education and training for staff and students.
  • Office staff and students in the Sustainability Student Leadership program are required to attend two "diversity, equity and inclusion trainings." The trainings will focus on "environmental justice and anti-racism education."
  • 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."
  • 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 University has provided "integrated racial justice training for staff" through the Student Affairs Division meetings, which include a racial justice education session during biweekly divisional meetings since June 2020. Topics have included "microaggressions and implicit bias, racism in education, colorism," among other related issues.
  • Office staff and students in the Sustainability Student Leadership program are required to attend two "diversity, equity and inclusion trainings." The trainings will focus on "environmental justice and anti-racism education."
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • 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."
Disciplinary Measures
  • 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." 
  • The University has a Bias Response Team that "ensures students affected by bias or a bias-related incident have access to appropriate resources and assists the University in its response in situations that may impact the overall campus climate around diversity and inclusion."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • 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."
  • Faculty are required to complete the "Bentley Baseline" program within the first two years of employment. The program is meant to provide a foundational understanding of DEI. Required training in the program includes "Anti-racism 101" and "Ally 101."
  • 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 Office of the Provost states the University is committed to five "principles for inclusive pedagogy" which states educators "teach in a way that recognizes differences in students’ backgrounds" and they "aim for an inclusive curriculum [by] including course materials from authors of diverse backgrounds and perspectives." Instructors are told they should regularly "think about their own biases and consider their possible impact on the classroom."
  • Human Resources provides mandatory training on "Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process" for all employees involved in "administrative searches for positions with managerial oversight of staff and/or programmatic areas."
  • Faculty are required to complete the "Bentley Baseline" program within the first two years of employment. The program is meant to provide a foundational understanding of DEI. Required training in the program includes "Anti-racism 101" and "Ally 101."
Program and Research Funding
  • 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."
Re-Imagining Policing
  • Campus Safety participates in annual anti-bias policing, de-escalation, and fair and impartial policing training.
  • Per the police racial justice action plan, Bentley plans to release an annual report of Police interactions including instances of "Hate Crimes, Use of Force, Arrests, and Referrals to judicial."
  • The University planned to "redesign the police vehicle and police uniforms to create options that make officers more approachable," in accordance with its Racial Justice Action Plan.
Resources
  • 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."
  • 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 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."
  • The Learning Design Team released an article titled "First Day of Class: High-impact Practices to Promote Inclusivity" to help faculty "foster inclusivity in [their] most diverse higher education classrooms." The article covers a number of approaches and principles to foster inclusive teaching.
Symbolic Actions
  • The University 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... Anti-racism requires a personal commitment involving direct engagement with ourselves and others."
  • Under the University's "Investments in Institutionalizing Equitable Systems and Practices," the Inclusive Excellence Council is developing a "racial equity scorecard" that will help the University "identify, regularly monitor and reduce racial equity gaps in strategic areas of access and success, climate and intergroup relations, education and scholarship, and institutional capacity and commitment."  
Last updated July 12th, 2024
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