In the past week, we have held multiple conference calls to debrief on our meeting on February 23 with the Collective, the Task Force, and President Anderson and prepare for Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington’s next visit on March 19-20. In addition to serving as the 2018 James Reeb Memorial Speaker, Dr. Washington will facilitate a second meeting between the Working Group, the Collective, the Task Force, and President Anderson.

One of our main objectives as a Working Group is to increase trust among people who together will lead the efforts to improve diversity and inclusion on campus. We hope that having authentic, open conversations, like the ones facilitated by Dr. Washington, will move us forward and continue the process of building a community and campus climate that is welcoming to all.

Additionally, we have begun the process of formulating our recommendations for improving diversity and inclusion at St. Olaf. When he is on campus later this month, Dr. Washington will also meet with the Working Group to discuss best practices that he has seen on other campuses across the country and engage specifically in the recommendations being considered by the Working Group.

We look forward to sharing these recommendations with you.

Respectfully submitted,

Glenn Taylor ’73 and Phil Milne ’81
Chairs, Working Group on Equity and Inclusion