Data and Readings
To learn more about our college’s and nation’s history, the experience of students and alumni, and the current national movement for racial justice, members of the JEDI steering committee have been reading and considering a variety of sources.
- Black at Wofford Instagram page – a collection of stories from Black (and ally and several Latinx) students and alumni. Through Black at Wofford, individuals who care deeply about Wofford share painful experiences so the college can work toward greater equity.
- Wofford Anti-Racism Coalition – a group of students and recent alumni have posted a list of changes they want to see Wofford make to become a more just, diverse, equitable and inclusive college. View their petition to change the names on three residence halls.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion information and resources on the Wofford website, including progress made and commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion from the president of the college and the Board of Trustees.
- The college’s sesquicentennial history and the 50-year D.D. Wallace history as well as a variety of documents from the college’s archives.
- “Acknowledging Our Past: Race, Landscape and History” – faculty/student collaborative research into Wofford’s and Spartanburg’s past conducted and presented by Wofford students Alea Harris, Kaycia Best, Dieran McGowan, Destiny Shippy, Vera Oberg and Bryson Coleman, and Dr. Rhiannon Leebrick, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Wofford.
- An article from Harvard Business Review on moving past diversity to equity.
- Working groups are studying institutional data as well as data and policies from comparative institutions.
- “Seeking Abraham: A Report of Furman University’s Task Force on Slavery and Justice.”
Other resources:
- Implicit bias test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html - an interactive test geared toward promoting self-awareness. This test checks implicit, automatic bias, not behaviors or beliefs, so it may make someone aware of tendencies they don’t know they have. See “Making sense of your IAT results” and “Identifying and Mitigating Implicit Bias” to give more context for the test and interpreting the results. We are grateful to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for these resources.
- Richard Gergel “Unexampled Courage.”
- Rhondda Robinson Thomas (a Spartanburg native and Clemson University professor), “Call My Name, Clemson.”
- Damon Williams and Katrina Wade-Golden “The Chief Diversity Officer”
For those who want to learn more about anti-racism:
- Ibram Kendi, “How to Be an Anti-Racist.”
- Anneliese A. Singh, “The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing.”