Samford University

The Office of Admissions has a "Multicultural Recruiter" who "leads the Diversity Recruitment Team and facilitates a communication plan for students of color." The Office of Admissions "also provides an annual diversity resource guide for prospective students."

The school will "track required cultural competency education and training for all Samford students, employees, and leadership.”

Throughout the year a faculty reading group, which consisted of "fifteen faculty members across seven departments," convened to read and discuss "How to be an Antiracist, Teaching to Transgress and selected chapters from Performing Antiracist Pedagogy." The goal of the group "included learning from...scholars of historically oppressed or disadvantaged groups, and identifying conceptual resources and concrete practices that could be integrated into [the] classrooms."

The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives offers training on topics such as "Implicit Bias, Equity and Resources, Steps to Multiculturalism, and Face to Face with Race" and has "led diversity/inclusion and sensitivity trainings for Athletics, Greek Life, Connections, Residence Life, Foundations classes... and other groups throughout campus"

In the 2022 Diversity Action Plan, Samford states the intent to craft “a framework for learning and practice that intentionally infuses aspects of racial justice and promotes harmony for all of God’s diverse creations" within their curriculum. Along this line, the plan incorporates a goal to “incorporate elements of racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion content into the core curriculum at Samford.”

The University presented a seminar to highlight the ways that the core curriculum engages with topics of race and diversity. Samford provost Michael Hardin stated "The courses of the curriculum present important works and ideas to help students address the enduring questions of justice, equity, law, freedom and their duties as citizens that bear centrally on the current demand for racial justice and equality.”

The Director of the Cultural Perspectives (CP) program, Jason Wallace, stated that "issues of racial justice are a strong thread in CP text selections, which include 23 authors representing minority or non-Western voices." Wallace also said he "expects that intentional effort to increase in coming years." 

The Howard College of Arts and Sciences' Dean Tim Hall said "Approximately 40 courses in the college address issues of racial justice." He added, “I think we can do better.” 

The Athletics Council for Equality states that "Samford University has a bias incident report" but is "very vague." The Council aims to "develop a report that is more informative of what can be considered bias, that gives the person who files a report a time of when their complaint will be looked and followed up on, and... to keep a record of the complaints and to be used during teacher/coach evaluations."

DEI training will now be a hiring requirement, since the school will “update the training of all new and internal hires to include diversity/inclusion training.”

The school offers additional incentives for faculty to work in diversity and inclusion. For example, the school will “Incorporate recognition for faculty’s work in diversity and inclusion as a part of promotion and tenure evaluation.”

Diversity training is provided at the beginning of each semester "for all employees."

In 2023, the University released updates on its Diversity Action Plan. Regarding implicit bias training, Samford states "HR is developing a training program for implementation utilizing 'The Leader's Guide to Unconscious Bias', Pamela Fuller, with Franklin Covey" and that "Academic Affairs hosted discussions with HR to discuss training processes."

The Howard College of Arts and Sciences released "A Pledge of Action and Support" standing against the "inequality and prejudice that frame so much of the daily experience of our African American brothers and sisters." Dean Tim Hall stated the leaders of the Howard College of Arts and Sciences "pledge to act and speak against the sinful curse of systemic racism."

The school plans to “determine and increase scholarship funds for students of color.”

The Office of Student Success and Diversity annually allocates funds to "Diversity Development Grants" to fund projects that "enhance the retention of under-represented faculty and staff, foster diversity and inclusion across the curriculum, and/or focus on scholarship related to diversity on Samford’s campus." Recipients receive up to $1,000.

The Ragland Scholars Program is available annually to "ten historically underrepresented student leaders." The program provides a "competitive scholarship award" "mentoring," and "multicultural experiential learning opportunities."

The University provides a "Comprehensive Scholarship List for Underrepresented Students." Most of the listed scholarships prioritize female and minority students.

"The Minority Bridge Fund provides emergency financial support for students of color."

On November 2, 2022, Samford announced, “The Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice minor was approved by Samford in the spring and went live in fall 2022.”

Events related to DEI will be offered on a regular basis. This includes the school’s goal to “provide campuswide activities including guest speakers that are relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion work/goals that are aligned with the Racial Justice Task Force and the Diversity Action Plan recommendations.”

The University has student "Diversity Ambassadors" who "serve as a key resource to underrepresented prospective students who desire to learn more about Samford before, during, and after the admission process." 

The Athletic Council for Equality's goal "is to provide a platform for student-athletes to address racial and social issues."

The Inspiring Minorities to Pursue Academics and Community Together (IMPACT) "promotes a successful social and academic experience to underrepresented groups at Samford."

The Orlean Beeson School of Education, in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives, "hosted its second Diversity Forum" from June 6-7, 2023.  The conference focused on equipping "P-12 and higher education professionals, community leaders, and others with the skills they need to build diverse learning communities." Through a number of speakers and sessions, it highlighted "growth and learning opportunities surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion."

On February 15, 2022, Samford announced that the school “officially dedicated its Racial Reconciliation Memorial during a public worship service on campus.”

In 2020, “the university embarked on a racial reconciliation initiative–forming a Task Force on Racial Justice, endorsed by then-President Andrew Westmoreland and led by the provost and the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives.”

The Beeson Divinity School hosted a Conference on Racial Reconciliation.