Hamilton College

On June 29, 2023, Hamilton's President released a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling to end race-based admissions programs at universities. The statement reads in part as follows: "This is an issue of the utmost importance to the College, to higher education, to society, and to me, personally and professionally. Last year, Hamilton joined 32 other liberal arts colleges in filing an amicus brief with the Court that stressed 'the educational benefits of a diverse student body and the societal benefits of educating diverse future leaders.' I have written about the history and importance of affirmative action in the Washington Post and The Hill and spoken about it often."

Since 2018, the college has "increased training for staff, students, and faculty members to guard against implicit bias (in interviewing, programming, teaching, and daily interactions)."

Through the Days-Massolo Center at Hamilton, "Students and faculty host workshops and training sessions about diversity, equity, and inclusion." The Center also "serves as a central resource for exploring intersections among gender, race, culture, religion, sexuality, ability, socioeconomic class, and other facets of human difference."

Since 2018, the college has "fully implemented a new requirement offered across the curriculum designed to help students gain 'an understanding of structural and institutional hierarchies based on one or more of the social categories of race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, age, and abilities/disabilities'".

On February 14, 2022, Hamilton News published an article titled "Diversifying the Economics Curriculum," which discusses the overhaul of Hamilton's Economic curriculum. According to Professors of Economics Ann Owen and Paul Hagstrom, the new curriculum "'systematically exposed students to using economic theory and methods to understand the causes and consequences of inequality, including social, structural, and institutional features of the economy that are often overlooked in a traditional introductory sequence'."

Hamilton has a "Bias Incident Response Team," outlines its reporting protocols, and provides a link to report an incident.

The Days-Massolo Center at Hamilton College flies a "Black Lives Matter" flag at its headquarters.

The president pledged to increase resources for diversity and inclusion, including "$200,000 per year for the next five years to boost funding to the College’s equity and inclusion initiatives" and "$139,486 raised during a fiscal year-end campaign from alumni to support Hamilton’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programming in the wake of national protests against racial injustice."

On January 30, 2023, Hamilton News announced that the college (and 13 other institutions) have been awarded "an $8.05 million grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) as part of HHMI’s Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) initiative titled 'Increasing Capacity to Support Equitable and Inclusive Learning Environments for Introductory-level STEM Students across the LCC2 Learning Community'.” Additionally, "the awardees will each receive approximately $377,000 in funds, and $2.7 million will be applied collectively."

As of Fall 2021, the college is offering a course named “Racism and Anti-racism” that discusses the abolitionist movement and modern anti-racist authors.

On July 16, 2023, Hamilton's President, David Wippman, Co-authored an article in the Hill titled "Oklahoma is turning a blind eye on its own history." The article discusses Oklahoma's ban on teaching CRT in public schools and the authors state, "Oklahoma’s 2021 legislation prevents educators from fully analyzing what virtually all U.S. historians (not just adherents of critical race theory) agree is voluminous and irrefutable evidence that racism is not only the product of individual prejudice, but has been embedded in our nation’s legal, social, economic and political practices."

Hamilton provides extensive anti-racism resources and states, "Hamilton’s diversity, equity, and inclusion staff has compiled the following list of resources to deepen our community’s understanding of systemic racism and the concrete steps we need to take to address it."

Collaborating with the Dean of Students Office, organizers created a "Vigil of Hope" where "organizers would email a 'racial equity commitment card' that Hamilton community members could use to document their commitment and take personal responsibility for systemic change."

In June 2020, the president pledged to form an "Advisory Council". The council is composed of "students, alumni, trustees, faculty, staff, and senior campus and local leadership...committed to helping Hamilton stand in greater solidarity with Black and other historically marginalized community members." The council will hold listening sessions, recommend immediate "action steps", and coordinate a review of existing policies/structures.

In June 2020, the president promised to expedite a new "equity and inclusion plan".