Trustees Meet, Talk Diversity and Inclusion

The trustees who serve on the College Board of Overseers discussed diversity and inclusivity last week during one of three of the Board of Trustees’ annual conferences. The Board’s governance system is divided into three Boards of Overseers: one for the College, one for the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and one for the Schools, including the School of the Environment, Bread Loaf School of English and the Language Schools.

“This issue is absolutely a priority for the Trustees, and they are very supportive of the work that has been happening on campus, while also understanding that there is much work yet to be done,” said Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Andi Lloyd.

She continued, “Diversity and inclusion has been a focus for the College Board of Overseers since last year. It emerged as a priority during conversations last year about innovation and change in higher education — diversity and inclusion emerged, in those discussions, as a priority that was seen as central to the College’s mission.  This has, therefore, been an ongoing conversation for the Trustees.  They were, however, eager to hear about what has been happening at Middlebury during the fall, so we did provide them with an update on what has happened here, and we talked about events at Middlebury in the context of the broader higher education landscape.”

The Board met over the course of the weekend, inviting Leslie Harris, a professor at Emory University who has done research into campus climate, to speak to the trustees. Lloyd, along with Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernandez and Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Affairs Katy Smith Abbott, also briefed the trustees on campus events.

“Diversity and inclusion was the primary agenda topic,” Lloyd said. “We covered other pieces of business during our three-hour meeting on Friday afternoon, but this was the focal point for discussions.”

Multiple committees met and discussed new programs, strategic plans, master planning and international programs related to the matter. The standing committees and overseers reported the progress that had been made in their sectors to the other members of the board.

President of the Student Government Association (SGA) Ilana Gratch who serves as the Constituent Overseer to the College Board of Overseers, was also present.

“[The trustees] are 100 percent interested in student opinion and seem to genuinely care about the student experience at the College,” she said.

“We are very lucky at Middlebury,” Chair of the Board Marna Whittington said. “We have a very committed, very engaged Board that is really there wanting the best for Middlebury and they come to work. They work hard.”