Standard XI		Ethical Practices
Linda Brothers		lbrothers@wellesley.edu

Although there is no single dictum for determining the ethics of this or any other institution, Wellesley adheres to concrete standards of ethical conduct for our students, faculty and staff. In addition, we recognize the inter-relationship between our expectations of fair treatment and the sense of inclusion that we want every member of our community to feel. Toward this end, Wellesley long ago instituted an honor code which provides an institutional standard of conduct for our students.

Beyond the honor code, however, we recognize our commitment to helping create an environment that values all its members. Wellesley's increasing diversity enriches our campus, but also makes us more aware of our absolute obligation to provide our students, faculty and staff with the educational and procedural tools they will need to live in a multicultural world. We are aware also of the need within Wellesley for structures that will serve to protect members of our community from discriminatory conduct.

Developments 1989-1997

Since the last reaccreditation, a number of strategic initiatives and structural reorganizations have been implemented.

• The College has steadily refined its existing structures to better meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student body. As part of this evolutionary process the College recently restructured to form the Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy. This office has primary responsibility for the planning, implementation and oversight of initiatives to enhance diversity and multicultural community at Wellesley College.
• The office is headed by the director of equal opportunity & ombudsperson, who is the chief compliance officer for the College. The director of equal opportunity serves as a member of the president's senior staff, advising and offering counsel on institution policies related to diversity, multiculturalism and dispute resolution. She works with the director of multicultural policy and planning, a tenured faculty member with directives to analyze and create our multicultural and community-building policies, to consult across constituencies and disciplines, build consensus, and facilitate coordination of the College's diversity efforts. In addition to the office's role in multicultural affairs, the office is the locus for the College's ombudsperson, a confidential and informal conduit for the identification and resolution of a variety of problems. The ombudsperson is utilized by faculty, staff, union and students.
• The College has created a variety of student, staff and multi-constituency committees to aid in the identification of complex issues of discrimination. The Committee against Racism and Discrimination (CARD) is a multiconstituency committee of Academic Council with broad oversight authority in the area of multicultural discrimination. The Administrative Council Committee for Diversity is a staff group examining issues of multicultural awareness and programmatic initiatives. The Minority Recruitment, Hiring and Retention Committee (MRHR) is a committee of Academic Council that analyzes issues of minority faculty hiring and retention and suggests institutional strategies for improving our results in both areas.

Policies

Wellesley is guided by several policies that speak directly to our expectation of ethical behavior:

The Wellesley College Honor Code

Throughout its history the College has based its policies regarding student life upon the concepts of personal integrity, respect for individual rights, and student self-government. The honor code is inherent in Wellesley's system of democratic government, and its accompanying law. As the vital foundation of our government, the honor code rests on the assumption that individual integrity is fundamental to each member of the community. Within our philosophy of self-government, the personal honor and responsibility of the individual, as she/he participates in both the regulated and non-regulated areas of academic and social life, including that of the residence halls, are of central importance for the Wellesley community.

The honor code requires that every student uphold and obey all duly adopted rules of the College governing academic work, the use of College resources, and the conduct of its members. Each student -- degree candidate, exchange student, and special student-- is bound by all the rules.

Every guest on campus is expected to comply with the honor code. A student is responsible for seeing that her/his guests are acquainted with the applicable resolutions of the code; the student, however, will not be penalized for a guest's failure to comply with the resolutions if she/he has informed the guest of them. Members of the faculty, administration, and staff are reminded of their responsibility for the success of the honor system.

The honor system can work only with full support among all member of the College community. In addition to upholding the regulations and the spirit of the honor system personally, each member is responsible for the survival and success of the system as a whole. This includes guarding against, and if necessary, reporting any inadvertent or intentional abuses of the honor system by any member of the community.

A 1995 survey on academic integrity conducted by Professor Donald McCabe of the Department of Organization Management at Rutgers University indicates that the honor code does appear to work well at Wellesley. A report of our students' responses compared with composite data for 17 other participating schools revealed far less observation of cheating and plagiarism than in the comparison group. In addition, there were numerous open-ended comments from our students endorsing the honor system.

Affirmative Action Policy and Affirmative Action Plan

Affirmative action has been under attack in many institutions. However at Wellesley affirmative action is a tool that can be used to provide access to groups and individuals who have been denied such access in the past. 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.

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.

The Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy, working with Human Resources and other divisions of the College has recently produced an affirmative action plan that identifies long range goals for the hiring of faculty and staff (copy in reading room).

Wellesley College Grievance Procedures

The Wellesley College grievance procedures are designed to be responsive to complaints of discrimination and harassment and violations of policy that might arise within the College community. The procedures provide that a complainant may wish to proceed through either a less formal process of negotiation or a more formal process utilizing the appropriate grievance committee. The expectation is that issues will be addressed and responded to sensitively for all parties involved. A copy of Wellesley College's grievance procedures is available in the reading room.

AIDS Policy

Wellesley College will not tolerate discrimination against any student, faculty member, or employee infected with HIV who is performing his/her usual student or job-related activities. HIV-infected persons have rights as members of the Wellesley College community. Such persons, however, also have a responsibility to the community and are expected to act in accordance with known medical advice to prevent the spread of infection to others.

Alcohol Policy

Wellesley's alcohol policy is designed to (1) observe the laws of the state; (2) stress moderation, safety, and individual accountability for those who choose to drink; (3) provide a college atmosphere free of coercion for those who choose not to drink; (4) maintain a community where the effects of alcohol are minimal and where problem behavior is reduced; (5) provide information and education for all students; and (6) provide confidential and effective guidance and counseling for those with special needs related to alcohol use and alcoholism. The misuse of abuse of alcohol is detrimental to academic and personal goals.

Wellesley College emphasizes the responsibility of each community member to be law-abiding, knowledgeable, and thoughtful about any decisions regarding alcohol consumption. The College provides information about alcohol use and abuse and urges all community members to take advantage of this opportunity to become informed consumers or non-consumers. Wellesley College also encourages those with concerns about their own or others' possible difficulties with alcohol and/or drugs to seek confidential and private assistance on or off campus. Such assistance is available through the Stone Center, Health Services, the Multi-faith Chaplaincy, and Office of Residence.

Drug Policy

Wellesley College does not condone the improper or illegal use of drugs. The unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, or use of illegal drugs by any person is prohibited on the property of Wellesley College. Wellesley students, faculty, staff, and their guests are subject to all state and federal drug laws. Neither the College or individual members of the administration -- including the counseling or health services staff -- will intercede if a student or employee is arrested and charged with an offense on or off campus. The College, however, helps to provide drug and alcohol counseling for those who need and desire help.

Policy Concerning Employment Practices

Wellesley College is an equal opportunity employer; it does not discriminate in hiring and promotion policies and practices or in compensation and other benefits. The College is also an affirmative action employer, with a vigorous outreach program to continue to recruit and retain minority and female faculty and staff.

All administrative staff positions are posted internally and advertised as appropriate; Human Resources and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy keep detailed records of the recruitment process for each position. In addition, a formal search plan must be approved by the director of EO before recruitment may begin for professional and managerial positions. A less formal search plan for the recruitment of secretPalatino and non-exempt staff must be submitted and reviewed. The dean of the College, the director of Human Resources, and the director of EO work closely with faculty and staff to ensure fair and open employment opportunities.

Confidential employee files are maintained in the Human Resources office. Employees have access to their own files at any time; material from these files is released only with the written consent of the employee. Supervisors are required to conduct an annual performance review for each employee. A copy of the review is in the employee's confidential file.

Appraisal and Projections

Assessment of Wellesley's ethical practices and policies exists on a number of levels. A two-year study by the ad hoc Working Group on Race and Diversity (1997-1998) examined issues of campus climate as well as the administrative structures and training needed to support the vision of an inclusive multicultural community at Wellesley. Researchers from the Wellesley Centers for Women conducted focus groups with Class of 1998 graduating seniors from ethnic minorities to discern some of the opportunities and barriers these students experienced while at Wellesley. Student speak-outs and cross-constituency forums provide additional feedback. For instance, a student speak-out last spring provided the impetus for the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination (CARD) to sponsor a faculty workshop on teaching in a multicultural classroom. In a similar vein, an examination of recent grievance complaints revealed the need for more extensive training on sexual harassment, which has now been implemented for faculty, staff, students and union employees.

At the same time, the College monitors hiring and retention statistics for any evidence of inequity. While individual information and contact with the ombudsperson is privileged, aggregate data can be used for policy adjustments. An annual Administrative Council survey, along with several staff focus groups, highlighted issues of concern to administrative staff. Likewise, for the first time in recent years faculty are participating in the national HERI/ UCLA survey, which contains questions about employment satisfaction, equity issues, and diversity.

Wellesley exists as part of a wider community, and many of the equity and multiculturalism issues that appear outside are magnified here in a smaller, but more ethnically and socio-economically diverse environment. Rather than retreat from the many and varied challenges this diversity may place upon our resources, it is imperative that we see challenges as opportunities to identify areas where we can grow and strengthen our commitment to both our student body and a goal of educational excellence.

In recent years we have been able to identify particular areas of concern, where we will need to focus our attention:

Diversity and Multiculturalism: Wellesley's institutional challenge is to develop policy and leadership to address the predictable issues that arise in a multicultural academic environment. For example, how do we deal with competition between groups and constituencies for finite college resources? How do we deal with perceived needs for separate versus pooled multicultural student space? In what ways do we communicate and model conflict resolution skills which specifically address diversity issues?

1. Wellesley is creating a variety of mechanisms to encourage cross-constituency communication. These include a multicultural forum series as well as more intimate discussions held in dorms and safe places around campus. A campus-wide forum on class issues is scheduled for January 1999. In a special issue of the Illuminator, the College's cross-constituency newsletter, the president wrote and disseminated widely a statement of institutional aspirations entitled "Multiculturalism and Educational Excellence" (copy in reading room). The Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy reports regularly to the community on the status of our diversity initiatives and invites feedback and conversation from the community.
2. As an interim solution to the allocation of cultural space, the College has renovated the fourth floor of Schneider Student Center to provide more meeting and office space for cultural groups. During the coming year, we will be refining the concept of a new campus center through an open process. The question of cultural space will be given serious consideration in the context of discussions about the kind of community Wellesley is and aspires to be.
3. An effort is underway to examine and rectify administrative policies and procedures, such as financial aid packaging, that may unduly burden students of color and/or students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
4. The Office of the Dean of Students continues to train community leaders (including members of residence, student organization officers, etc.) to be facilitators in multicultural bridge building and conflict resolution.
5. To better coordinate efforts and communication, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy now works with an informal advisory board that includes members of many existing multicultural organizations from across the College.

Employment and Hiring: Although the numbers suggest that Wellesley has had some success in the hiring of tenure-track faculty of color, it is necessary that we also determine whether or not there exist retention issues for tenure-track and/or non tenure-track faculty. In addition, we must renew our commitment to diversify our staff, especially those in non-exempt positions.

1. A pilot program on diversity training was conducted for administrative staff last spring. The Offices of Equal Opportunity and Human Resources will be working with consultants to develop further training workshops and administer them on a widespread basis to staff and faculty.
2. The Human Resources Office and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Policy are collaborating more closely and strategically to expand Wellesley's recruitment approach in ways that will diversify our workforce and create a community that welcomes, supports and celebrates diversity.

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