Delta will be creating a new faculty task force to reduce the equity gap seen in vulnerable communities. The Equity Action Task Force is being spearheaded by President Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson to work with equity leaders on campus to better help students of minority communities.
The three main objectives of this task force, as laid out in the draft, are to significantly reduce equity gaps, meet student basic needs, and promote student health, wellness and safety.
“We will be working with our Black, Latine, and Asian task forces, our Pride coalition, as well as our academic senate, our classified senate and the ASDC,” said Lawrenson.
Using data collected throughout the years, Delta has created four strategic metrics to determine the academic success of students; returning from one term to the subsequent term, completing transfer-level English and Math in one year, earning an award within four years, and transferring to a four-year institution within four years.
“We have data from 2018 that shows that 108 African American students did not successfully make it from the first semester to the second semester,” said Lawrenson. “This is something that we need to address.”
Delta will also be using data from the 2022-2023 Campus Climate Survey to strategize their plans.
There have been concerns about this task force not addressing other marginalized communities. Disabled and Native American/Pacific Islanders students, for example, do not have a task force or coalition to represent them. Lawrenson stated that there will be consideration to include them soon.
“The interventions that we will be creating should have a positive effect on all students,” said Lawrenson. “Including those not yet represented in the task force.”
Though this taskforce encompasses a large variety of plans and goals, it can only make recommendations to the administration.
This is not the first time Delta has had task forces to address equity issues. The first faculty task forces were created in 2020, after Black faculty members addressed the administration with a series of recommendations to better help Delta’s Black students. Asian and Latine task forces were founded shortly thereafter.
“We’ve had faculty task forces, but when the Memorandum of Understanding ended this July, we decided to form the task forces into one singular task force,” said Lawrenson. “That way, we can more effectively synergize and strategize better.”
Delta has also had previous equity plans, though on a smaller scale.
“Previous equity plans have focused on smaller groups of students,” said Dean on special assignment Tina Akers, “However, the data has remained pretty much the same.”
