Keene State College

The Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Keene is "charged...with providing institutional leadership in [the]…recruitment and retention efforts of underrepresented faculty, staff and students, and creation of a strategic inclusive excellence plan for the campus."

On November 6, 2023, Keene State announced that it "named a three-person Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Faculty Fellow Team to assist colleagues and to help create and sustain a campus culture grounded in these principles and practices." One of the objectives of the team is to "[c]ollaborate with campus partners on efforts related to recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds."

The college president announced, "Both our first-year seminar and new student Orientation provide sessions that explore and educate students on how bias works, how it impacts all of us and how to address it in their lives. The seminar and Orientation sessions also point students toward resources that are available to help them."

The Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity provides consultation on "issues associated with diversity, multiculturalism and social justice" through "workshops with employee groups" and "discussions with faculty and supervisors associated with difficult dialogues in work and class environments...."

On November 6, 2023, Keene State announced that it "named a three-person Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Faculty Fellow Team to assist colleagues and to help create and sustain a campus culture grounded in these principles and practices." The work of the team includes "curriculum development, faculty professional development support and recruitment/retention/persistence efforts."

The college president announced, "We reviewed and refined our reporting and policies around bias incidents. Specifically, we created a Bias and Hate Reporting platform for any member of our college community, or the greater Keene community, to use for reporting concerning incidents on campus and off campus. These reports will initiate investigations."

The college pledged to "Provide new equity and diversity training for all faculty and staff."

As of 2021, Keene State College is now offering a new Bachelor of Arts in “Anti-Racist Studies.” The degree requires 120 credits and students can choose from a number of courses offered by the college in topics such as anti-racism, diversity, restorative justice, and decolonization. Through the new major, it is anticipated that students will be able to “invesitgate the experiences, expressions, and possibilities - voiced and embodied, principally, by people of color” so that they can then “engage Anti-Racist practices to identify and repair harm done by racism.”

Keene offers a B.A. Major in "Inequality Studies" which is described as follows: "This program uses a multidisciplinary approach to explore that question in four focus areas: (1) Exploring voices and experiences of marginalized people; (2) Investigating inequalities in culture and society; (3) Repairing inequalities; and (4) Activism to highlight and address inequalities."

On November 6, 2023, Keene State announced that it "named a three-person Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Faculty Fellow Team to assist colleagues and to help create and sustain a campus culture grounded in these principles and practices." The work of the team includes "research, scholarly work, and academic support."

Led by the college’s Holocaust and Genocidal Studies department, Keene State College partnered with the Keene Police Department to undergo training on implicit bias and ethics.

The college president announced, "We are again launching our campus commission for diversity, equity, and inclusiveness that will actively incorporate these values into the ongoing work of the college. Also, we will be conducting a top to bottom review of the college and how we operate, to ensure that any possible areas that are vulnerable to allowing for bias are recognized and changed."

The college has a course, HGS261 The United States and Genocide, that covers United States history as a history of genocide. The course “will address genocidal practices and institutions in US History (including settler colonialism and slavery), the US role in the Genocide Convention, US foreign policy, and recent genocide prevention efforts, and restitution.”

On October 20, 2021, as part of the 2021 Grayson Lecture at Keene State College, Prof. Dennis Britton delivered a lecture titled, “Pitiful Shakespeare” on the history of race, critical race theory, and Shakespeare.

As part of the college's 2023-2024 Academic Catalog, the course "Reproductive Justice" draws on "concepts from critical race theory, critical legal theory, and feminist theory, among others, students will explore the history informing ideas about reproduction, including eugenics, abortion debates, inequality in access to reproductive services, and similar topics."

As part of the college's 2023-2024 Academic Catalog, the course "Intro to Inequality Studies" explores "notions of social identity that have generated deep and abiding inequalities." Students will "analyze social inequalities of colonialism, racism, and other divisive structures."

As part of its mission, Keene states that it "values diversity in community, curriculum, and co-curriculum" and that "[t]hese values are intimately connected with our priorities of academic excellence and student success and institutional effectiveness, sustainability, and financial stability."

The Office of Student Diversity, Belonging, and Equity at Keene State "offers ongoing weekly, monthly, and annual programming that is both social and educational...."

On March 28, 2024, as part of Women's History Month, Keene State presented awards to six women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion.