Advancing Community Together (ACT)

It is incumbent upon all educational institutions to provide support for its community to be educated on the history and context of complex issues, and especially so for Teachers College. To that end, we will offer training sessions on antisemitism and Islamophobia, and background resources on antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Asian and other forms of discrimination and how they play out contemporaneously and historically.

Following the education offerings, TC will host a dialogue session for students, faculty and staff to engage in a conversation about the Israel-Palestine conflict. We seek to engage expert facilitators to lead the dialogue through a nonprofit organization that specializes in creating social change through dual narrative education.

We recognize the need for individuals across campus to be able to facilitate smaller sessions around difficult topics, for example, within academic departments or individual classrooms, or among faculty or staff group meetings. We will enlist a small group of trained, experienced facilitators to lead training sessions and to help build these skills among TC community leaders.

In August, the Office of Institutional Research launched a survey of returning TC students to better assess and understand the campus climate and student experience over the last year. Those surveyed are students who were on the TC campus in 2023-24, returning in 2024-25. Survey results will be analyzed and interpreted to inform our listening sessions and further actions this year.

TC will host several listening sessions in the 2024-2025 academic year for groups of students, staff, and faculty, led by faculty and administrators with extensive experience in such efforts. The listening series will add to our understanding of how individuals experience our community.

In fall 2024, ACT is hosting listening sessions for members of the TC community, facilitated by Peter Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education and Director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR). These include:

• ACT Listening Session for Faculty: October 15, 2024 - 4:00 - 5:30 p.m., HM 234
• ACT Listening Session for Students: October 22, 2024 - 4:00 - 5:30 p.m., GDH 539
• ACT Listening Session for Staff: November 12, 2024 - 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., Everett Lounge

Over Summer 2024, we formed three College-wide working groups to review, update, and create a range of College policies. Each working group includes student, faculty, and administrative representatives. 

• An Infrastructure and Facilities group focused on revising policies around campus postings and flyers, along with guidelines for tabling activities. 
• A Community Standards group reviewed the TC’s student conduct policy and the guidelines for guest speakers, and also created policies for protests and public demonstrations. 
• A Communications group reviewed policies concerning the official use of several TC communications channels, and public communications by faculty, staff and students. 

As a matter of course, all policy recommendations are reviewed and approved by TC’s Policy Review Committee, which was established to ensure consistency and compliance.

As of September 6, 2024, the following eleven (11) policies are now completed and posted in TC’s Policy Library. Please take time to read through and familiarize yourself with the policies.

• College-Wide Campus Access Policy
• College-Wide Tabling Policy
• Postings & Flyers Policy: Bulletin Boards/White Boards & E-Boards
• Student Conduct Code: Academic Integrity & General Misconduct
• Event Guest Speaker Policy
• Protest & Public Demonstration Policy
• Name Use and Brand Policy
• Social Media Policy
• Email Governance Policy
• Statement of Ethical Conduct
• Special Event Approval Policy

Visit the Policy Library

We are training a volunteer cohort of staff and faculty to liaise with student organizers around demonstrations and protests. The TC Community Representatives will serve as a bridge between students and administrators, acting as a first point of contact in preparation for events, as well as through on site presence, to advise on community guidelines and facilitate communication.

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An important component of addressing discrimination is ensuring that community members are aware of how to report such incidents as well as our process of investigation and response. Through our Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs (ODCA), TC has a clear process for reporting, investigating and addressing acts of bias and hate. We will redouble our efforts to communicate these systems as we also promote our common values of inclusion and mutual respect. We will ensure that information is shared widely and frequently regarding how students, faculty or staff experiencing discrimination can report incidents to ODCA. This will include the process we follow to investigate and hold individuals accountable for misconduct.

Training sessions addressing discrimination and reporting have been scheduled for students, faculty and staff during the fall semester.

Participants will learn:

• What is a Bias Related Incident?
• Ways to Report Bias Related Incidents
• How to Receive Support
• How to Support TC Community Members

Student Training Session Registration: November 19 
Faculty and Staff Training Session Registration: November 20

Please see Get Involved below for more training dates and registration information.

Recognizing that members of the TC community would like to be informed about events occurring at CU or TC that could influence their access to or experience on our campus, we have put in place a system for updating the operating status on the TC Safe App, and providing updates as needed by email.