- Mailing Address
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800 W Main St
Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190 - Phone
- (262) 472-1234
- Email address
- uwwadmit@uww.edu
- Website
- https://www.uww.edu/
- School Information
- Welcome to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Since 1868, UW-Whitewater has provided an exceptional learning experience for its students. We're proud of our history and excited about our future. There is much to celebrate on this campus. We are proud of our faculty and staff who helped name UW-Whitewater one of the Top 100 Workplaces in southeastern Wisconsin. Our students continue to contribute to area communities by providing thousands of hours of volunteer time to help improve the lives of others. We are proud of our award-winning programs, student organizations and our national championship football, men's wheelchair basketball and rugby teams. No matter what we do, we strive to be the best that we can be. Our faculty and staff and students continue to excel in research and engagement with our region. Our faculty and staff from all our colleges - Arts and Communication, Letters and Sciences, Education and Professional Studies, and Business and Economics - continue to blend research and teaching. The joint project with the city of Whitewater known as Whitewater University Technology Park is just one of many examples of how we use our expertise on campus to help the region.
- General Information
- The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has embraced the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The University created a “Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” and appointed a Chief Diversity Officer and diversity coordinators for each college to oversee the Division’s initiatives. This Division operates town halls, provides resources, and crafts recommendations to update the University’s curriculum and training programs. UWW posts several “Racial and Social Justice Initiatives” which recommend “mandatory training” on diversity and inclusion and “intercultural competency.” UWW’s online resources including in its library link to books on critical race theory and anti-racist teaching. Notably, the Student Government, Faculty Senate, and Administration endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement through various resolutions. While there is no evidence UWW mandates CRT training, it has established ambitious goals to incorporate DEI training for its entire community.
Actions Taken
- Admissions Policies
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"Each of the 5 academic colleges shall conduct a meaningful analysis and discussion of equity gaps in DFWI rates in courses, and develop concrete action steps to reduce or eliminate the gaps."
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As part of its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement, the College of Education and Professional Studies states that it has an "ongoing commitment to recruit, retain, support, and educate a diverse body of students, staff, and faculty."
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- Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
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UWW created the goal to Institutionalize mandatory training covering diversity and inclusion topics. Create anti-racist reading groups for each of the 5 colleges concentrating on [Ibram X.] Kendi's work." An "anti-racist book group" was created in April 2021 and "on-ongoing plans" exist to foster an "anti-racist learning environment."
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In 2018, the Chancellor created an "Inclusive Excellence Committee" to "aid the campus in better understanding UWW student, faculty, staff, and community member's perceptions of campus climate and cultural awareness. This data will be used to inform future programming related to diversity training and intercultural competency skill-building across our campus."
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In April 2021, UWW "provided a townhall on microaggression..."
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- Curriculum Changes and Requirements
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"Re-evaluate our curriculum surrounding diversity courses. Also review when these courses are taught – should they be incorporated throughout a student’s academic experience or is there a diversity component in a wide-array of courses in a student’s degree?"
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One of the functions of the Diversity Curriculum Committee at UWW is to "recommend diversity-related change proposals to the committees involved in curricular approval process, including General Education Review Committee, University Curriculum Committee, Graduate Council, and Race and Ethnic Studies program."
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UWW's Academic Advising & Exploration Center states that students are "required to complete the General Education and U.S. Racial/Ethnic Diversity Requirements as part of the requirements for graduation."
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- Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
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In August 2020, the Whitewater Student Government (WSG) unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the Black Lives Matter movement
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In August 2020, UWW's Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the Black Lives Matter movement. This resolution was "approved by university administration."
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- Program and Research Funding
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"In 2018, UW-Whitewater hired Kenny E. Yarbrough as UW-Whitewater's Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer." Then, "In Fall 2018, UW-Whitewater established College Diversity Coordinators." These faculty "receive reassigned time to work on equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives within the colleges."
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UWW offers a Race and Ethnic Studies minor which will help students to "interact with people from diverse backgrounds at work and in your community."
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As part of its "Incorporating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Academic Affairs" document, the Office of the Provost states that the "LEARN Center sponsored UW-Whitewater instructors to focus on small course redesigns for the 2022-23 academic year." Funding for the project was provided by the Provost's Office.
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- Re-Imagining Policing
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In a January 20, 2023 UW Whitewater Police document titled "Biased Policing," the department states, "Affected agency personnel shall receive initial training upon hire and annually thereafter in bias based policing issues, including legal aspects." The document also states, "Training should be used to address the following: cultural diversity; constitutional requirements; department directives; and other agency practices."
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- Resources
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UWW's library provides literature on "Race, Racism and Social Justice. One of the sections includes books for young children, including "Woke Baby," and "A is for Activist." Another section offers book such as "How to Be an Antiracist," "The End of Policing," "White Range," and "White Fragility."
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UWW provides links to various "anti-racist" organizations. Some of these organizations offer guidance on how to become an anti-racist teacher. The "Abolitionist Teaching Network's Guide for Racial Justice and Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning" advocates to "Remove any and all police and policing from schools." It pushes for "Reparations for Children of Color stolen by the school-to-prison pipeline." It also seeks to "End high-stakes standardized testing."
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On December 8, 2023, Inside Higher Ed reported that after six months of funding negotiations, UW system leaders and the Republican-lead legislature had finally reached a deal which was eventually voted down by the UW Board of Regents. The board had "agreed to vote on a deal between system leaders and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos that would freeze and cap DEI hiring in exchange for funding held up by the Legislature." However, "the board rejected the proposal 9 to 8 leaving over $800 million on the table and the future of the system’s DEI offices in limbo." In response to the boards vote, Speaker Vos and Assembly republicans issued the following statement: "'It’s a shame they’ve denied employees their raises and the almost $1 billion investment that would have been made across the UW system, all so they could continue their ideological campaign to force students to believe only one viewpoint is acceptable on campus'."
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UWW held an event titled "Does UW-Whitewater Teach Critical Race Theory?" in which a panel "explain[ed] what it [CRT] actually is and how we discuss race in UW-Whitewater classrooms."
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One of the LEARN Center's suggestions for teaching diversity in the classroom states the following: "In a class with both majority and minority students, it is not the job of minority students to help other students understand issues such as prejudice, exclusion, and discrimination. The instructor can focus student attention on Information on demographic realities, selected reading, or a video segment can be the starting point...."
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The school offers professional development programs and training for inclusivity.
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- Symbolic Actions
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UWW's College of Education and Professional Studies issued an equity, diversity, and inclusion statement which reads in part as follows: "We also acknowledge the historic and current systems of oppression Socially formulated or constructed arrangements, plans, and/or methods of procedure either intentionally or unintentionally designed to benefit dominant groups, and maintained through the unfair and unjust treatment of non-dominant marginalized groups., discrimination, power, privilege, and marginalization that pervade society, including institutions of higher education, and subtly undermine the practice of equity, diversity, and inclusion. We believe that these systems should be understood by all students, staff, and faculty."
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UWW offers several awards to faculty and staff for their accomplishments related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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A news agency reported that the school has changed the names of its DEI programs in order to remove such terminology and replace it with “inclusive” and “belonging” for the purpose of being more vague.
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