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Elon University

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
50 Campus Drive
Elon, North Carolina 27244
Phone
(336) 278-2000
Email address
admissions@elon.edu
School Information
"Elon is a selective, mid-sized private university renowned as a national model for engaged and experiential learning. Students work closely with faculty who are dedicated to excellent teaching and scholarship. The curriculum is grounded in the traditional liberal arts and sciences and complemented by nationally accredited professional and graduate programs." The university has more than 7,100 students and 447 full-time faculty, with over 60 majors available. (Source: https://www.elon.edu/u/nav-about/) (Source: https://www.elon.edu/u/about/elon-at-a-glance/facts-and-figures/)
General Information
In addition to requiring students to undergo anti-racist training, Elon University has announced that its faculty will infuse "inclusive pedagogy" into their curricula. The university announced that it will infuse anti-racist content throughout its curriculum. See developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • Elon's Love School of Business 2020-2025 Strategic Plan states that it would "Implement varied recruitment strategies to reach faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds, ranging from engaging prospective undergraduates to attracting seasoned professionals to join the LSB community."
  • Elon's School of Communications 2020-2021 Diversity Assessment and Diversity and Inclusion Report states that it would "Recruit a student body reflecting the diversity of the population the university serves through school initiatives, faculty participation in multicultural weekends on campus, and working with Admissions on recruiting students from diverse backgrounds."
  • Following the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling, the University stated it "will focus on new initiatives and recruitment." The University replaced "two of the 'Think Fast' short answer questions on the Common Application."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • New and Returning Students will be required to take anti-racist training.
  • Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds's book "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You" was selected as the 2021-2022 common reading for incoming students and "will serve as a starting point for conversations about racism in the United States."
  • One of the authors of the 2021-2022 Common Reading, Jason Reynolds, delivered the Common Reading lecture "focused on his work on this year's selection, 'Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.'"
  • The university announced, "In fall 2020, Student Involvement, New Student Programs and the Center for Race, Equity & Diversity Education implemented anti-racism programs and offerings for new and returning students. These efforts were incorporated in new student orientation and student leader training."
  • The Intercultural Learning Certificate Program is "based in the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education that all teacher education students beginning with the class of 2022 will complete." This Program offers "an experiential deep dive into issues of social justice, inclusion, equity, and diversity through an intentional structure of an orientation session, academic coursework, co-curricular engagement, experiential learning project, capstone and a digital portfolio capturing your collective experiences."
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • Faculty will be responsible for infusing “inclusive pedagogy” into their curricula.
  • The existing Diversity Course Database "will be retooled and organized with courses that include substantial content related to social identity and social justice related to systems of oppression in the United States."
  • On February 8, 2023, in an article titled "College Board makes major changes to AP African American Studies curriculum," Elon News reported that the College Board "released a stripped-down curriculum for its new Advanced Placement African American Studies course, removing topics like critical race theory on Feb. 1 — the start of Black History Month." According to the article, "The new curriculum makes contemporary topics including the Black Lives Matter movement optional to teach nationwide."
  • On September 15, 2022, in an article titled "New racial equity course requirement driven by Elon students," Elon News reported on Elon’s new "advancing equity initiative, centered on the addition of a four-credit course focused on racial equity." The course would first be introduced as a requirement for the class of 2027 in the fall of 2023.
  • Beginning in the Fall of 2023 at Elon University, "the teaching faculty have voted to add an Advancing Equity requirement (AER) to the Core Curriculum graduation requirements." Learning outcomes for AER courses are described (in part) as follows: "Students will apply real and/or theoretical solutions to systemic racism and other forms of oppression including how historically marginalized groups advocate for self, resist oppression, and build solidarity."
  • Elon's Love School of Business 2020-2025 Strategic Plan states that it would "Integrate diversity and inclusion content into the LSB curriculum to demonstrate the business case for diversity" and "Enhance proportion of LSB students engaged in diversity-related educational experiences, such as enrolling in courses and minors that expose them to more diverse beliefs, ideas, and worldview that will enrich their learning within the LSB."
  • Elon's School of Communications "2020-2021 Diversity Assessment and Diversity and Inclusion Report" outlines "the ways in which diversity and inclusion are woven throughout the curriculum" and states that it would "Emphasize the importance of domestic and global diversity and the historic and current contribution of diverse voices in society, as evidenced by course objectives on syllabi."
  • Elon's School of Communications 2020-2021 Diversity Assessment and Diversity and Inclusion Report states that faculty member Colin Donahue "required students in his Media Writing course" to cover speeches from Ibram X. Kendi, the author of “How to Be an Antiracist.”
  • The School of Health Sciences at Elon University states that it would "create course content and co-curricular programs that prepare healthcare providers who are committed to advancing health equity, reducing health disparities, and serving all patients with the grace and dignity they deserve."
  • The University Faculty approved a proposal to include, “Equitable Thinking: An understanding of methods to address or remedy injustice and inequality” as one of eight Learning Goals in the Core Curriculum.
  • The University offers a "Poverty and Social Justice" minor, where students are required to take "COR 4430: Poverty and Social Justice," along with 12 credits from classes such as "Race, Class, and Gender," "Stereotyping and Prejudice," "Ethnic and Race Relations," and "Christianity and Social Justice" among others.
Disciplinary Measures
  • The university president called for a "redesign of Elon’s bias response system to be as effective and transparent as the law allows." Specifically, the university president requested "a public dashboard that provides the Elon community with data regarding incidents of racism on campus as well as the actions taken by the university."
  • Elon has a Bias Incident Reporting Form and states that "Bias-related incidents, including slurs based on racial or ethnic identity, faith tradition, gender expression/identity, sexual orientation, ability and others create, a hostile educational, living and working environment and such acts are not tolerated in our academic community."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • As part of a requirement for the "Associate Director of The Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education" position, the university requires "at least 3-5 years of progressive post master's experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion work or a related functional area in higher education" and, "Theoretical knowledge of student development, identity formation, racial equity, and social justice."
  • The university said, "Going forward, all future merit pay increases for faculty and staff will be based in part on their commitment to professional development related to diversity, equity and inclusion."
  • The university said that it will, "Implement Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Anti-Bias Training For All Employees." The university said, "The Office of Human Resources will immediately enforce the university policy of requiring all faculty and staff to participate in an online training program titled 'Preventing Harassment & Discrimination for Higher Education.' This training includes modules that address discriminatory behavior, inclusivity, microaggression and bystander intervention."
  • Elon's School of Communications 2020-2021 Diversity Assessment and Diversity and Inclusion Report states that "all faculty and staff completed the required university bias and harassment training by July 1."
  • Vice President and Associate Provost Randy Williams called on faculty to “infuse anti-racist content and pedagogy throughout the curriculum.”
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • The deans of the schools and colleges of Elon University released a "statement on racism and police brutality" which says "[We] stand unequivocally united against racism and police brutality... We believe black lives matter."
  • The Peace and Conflict Studies program released a statement that it "condemns all acts of racial violence and police brutality" and that "[the acts] are the manifestation of racial and patriarchal economic inequalities rooted deeply in the capitalist system."
  • During "The State of Blackness: Education, Politics and Law” panel where issues of DEI, Affirmative Action in Admissions, and Black Lives Matter were discussed, a panel member stated, “Anti-woke to many people is actually anti-Blackness."
Program and Research Funding
  • In an effort to "Expand Aid for Black Students to Attend and Experience Elon," the Division of Inclusive Excellence reported that as of August 2022, the Elon Black Alumni Network (EBAN) and University Advancement staff "continue to demonstrate leadership toward tripling the endowment of the Black Alumni Scholarship." Additionally, the scholarship endowment "was valued at $350,000 in 2020, and the goal is to increase it to $1 million by 2025." 
  • Elon's School of Communications 2020-2021 Diversity Assessment and Diversity and Inclusion Report states that the school "won a grant to begin the Scripps Howard Emerging Journalist program which aims to recruit primarily junior BIPOC [Black Indigenous People of Color] students to participate in virtual and on-campus training."
  • The mission of The Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education is to "advance the conversation on student diversity education campus-wide and to develop intercultural competence while providing race and ethnicity related advocacy, services, and programs to faculty, staff and students, particularly those from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities."
  • The DEEP Social Justice program provides space "for the Elon community to learn about, reflect on, and apply concepts of social justice with a foundation in racial equity." The program offers resources and hosts workshops.
Resources
  • Belk Library posted a compilation of "Anti-Racism Resources".
  • The Belk Library also has an "Anti-Racism Resources" page, which includes Ibram X. Kendi's "How to Be an Antiracist" and Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility."
  • A university official has been promoted to "the new position of Vice President and Associate Provost for Inclusive Excellence." The official's "responsibilities cross all divisions of the university and he provides transparent leadership on Elon’s progress in the important goals related to diversity, equity and inclusion."
  • On February 24, 2022, Elon News published an article titled "Evolving education: Elon University professors reflect on teaching Black history today," which discusses how "Teaching African American studies and critical race theory proves challenging for some Elon University professors" due to the debate in the North Carolina legislature on the topic of teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools and universities.
  • On May 2, 2022, in an article titled "Cheat Sheet: Understanding relevance of critical race theory," Elon news reported on how Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation "illustrates how CRT plays [a] role in government."
  • Elon's Division of Inclusive Excellence links to the University's Diversity Course Database which includes hundreds of courses from the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communications, Love School of Business and School of Education and "identifies courses according to the way they address seven dimensions of diversity – race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability and global."
  • Students in the Periclean Scholars Class of 2024 led "exercises and discussion questions" related to "antiracist writing and thinking" as peer-educators.
Symbolic Actions
  • The university is planning to, "Develop and Implement a New Procedure for Naming and Renaming Campus Spaces."
  • The University offers "William Harper Teaching About Anti-Black Racism From Elon's History" with a resource titled "The Paradox of White Progressivism" which discusses "Harpers’ complex career" and "invites readers to grapple with the meaning of early-twentieth-century white progressivism, which coexisted with white terror and segregation."
  • The University "canceled an event for white people to process their complicity in injustice." The event was to be held for “White-identifying” individuals to speak openly and avoid “retraumatiz[ing] people of color.”
  • Black students are honored through an "annual cultural ceremony" which is called "The Donning of the Kente."
  • A residential hall named after the University's fourth president, William A. Harper, was renamed due to "racist behavior."
Last updated September 24th, 2024
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