The principle of affirmative action, as it is endorsed at Wellesley College, directs members of the College community – students, faculty, and staff – to make special efforts in all areas of life and work at the College. In each case, the principle requires that we eliminate patterns of discrimination and ignorance about one another that obscure our recognition of human dignity and individuality and work towards achieving a more open, just, and tolerant community. In addition, the principle requires that we make positive efforts to overcome the effects of earlier patterns of discrimination whether that discrimination occurred here or in the society at large.

Affirmative action at Wellesley encompasses three areas of responsibility. Under federal and state law, we are forbidden to discriminate against certain categories of persons in employment or admission. Beyond this, we have made a positive institutional commitment to recruit minority students and hire minority faculty and staff, in order to structure our community in accord with canons of equality and social justice. Finally, we want to ensure that this community respects diversity, learns from differences, and avoids intolerance. All these objectives mandate action. Neither the actors nor the audience is quite the same for each goal.

1. Wellesley College admits students without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the College. The College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, in administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other college administered programs, or in its employment policies.

2.Wellesley College, as an independent, undergraduate educational institution forwomen, does not discriminate on the basis of sex against its students in the educationalprograms or activities which it operates, and does not discriminate on the basisof sex in its employment policies, in compliance with Title IX of the EducationAmendments of 1972; nor does the College discriminate on the basis of handicapin violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or on the basisof disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, nor on the basis of disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran status.

3. The commitment to recruiting minority students, faculty, and staff must be community-wide. For all categories of employment, especially those where minority persons are underrepresented, we will make vigorous efforts to attract minority applicants and give their applications careful consideration. To ensure the success of these efforts in every department, we will monitor departmental search procedures closely. The implementation of this policy rests with the Office of Human Resources, the Board of Admission, the Dean of the College, and the academic departments.

4. The College's commitment to affirmative action transcends legal requirements. No member of our community shall experience acts of discrimination in regard to educational policy or employment practices because of any factor which is not relevant to the issue at hand, such as ethnic background, age or sexual preference. A good education should promote understanding of difference and remove barriers of ignorance which divide us. Responsibility for the quality of our community life resides with all of us.

The Director of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity stands available to hear and act on complaints in any of these categories.

Affirmative action as a principle yields clear directives: to take active steps to remedy damaging imbalances, and to avoid caricature, slurs against members of any group and the deadening effects of ignorance. It does not teach us how to reach our goals in every instance. Therefore, the same principle requires us to be tolerant of diversity of views about the best way to reach goals of justice and understanding and to work together affirmatively in order to achieve these goals.

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