Council on Innovation, Belonging and Equity

The Council on Innovation, Belonging and Equity (CIBE) is a shared governance body. The purpose is to permeate completion, equity, inclusion and belonging throughout Delta College's activities and culture and to assist in the assurance that the Diversity, Equity, Belonging and Inclusion framework is being fully implemented.

This body does not replace existing College committees but instead provides an equity lens for the work these groups accomplish.

Bylaws of the Council on Innovation, Belonging and Equity (CIBE)

1. 1. The CIBE fosters collaboration and creativity to reduce opportunity gaps across the College body.
      1. This body will meet monthly during the Academic year to provide updates to the College body.
      2. The CIBE consists of subcommittee members, the Advisory Board (AB), and the Equity Review Committee (ERC).
      3. The monthly meeting will be led by the chair co-chairs of the AB.
      4. All members of the College community may attend monthly CIBE meetings.
      5. Each focus area is represented by a subcommittee. Focus areas will be added or deleted based on the needs of the CIBE. Each subcommittee’s members will collaborate and think creatively to meet the College’s long-term Equity, Completion, and Belonging (ECB) goals.
      6. Innovative ideas will be shared with the chair/co-chair of the appropriate subcommittee.
         1. Ideas selected for operationalization by the College President, the AB, and ERC, must give the person or people responsible for the idea the opportunity to be involved in any meetings about that idea. 
         2. The subcommittee will create a plan to be vetted by CIBE, and approved by the College President, and, where relevant, the Board of Trustees.
      7. The work of this body will honor existing contracts and will not impact work rules for any employee group.
      8. All members of the CIBE should complete equity training as soon as possible – ideally before their membership begins.
         
         
   2. Subcommittees:
      1. The CIBE will have an Inside Delta page that will list each subcommittee charge and chair(s). This page will be maintained by the Advisory Board’s office professional.
      2. Each subcommittee will consist of at least six (6) members.
         1. Members will be elected (or appointed if there are no volunteers).
         2. Each subcommittee will determine if they require more than six (6) members and add members as appropriate.
         3. The majority of the subcommittee members should come from the area in which experience resides as appropriate.
         4. Faculty-centric subcommittees will contain three (3) elected faculty members from each division.
      3. The subcommittee will include at least one (1) member from each workgroup – workgroups are Administrative Professional (AP), Support Staff (SS), Part time Staff, Full-time Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
         1. 1. One (1) student will be allowed to join as an additional member of each subcommittee. The student member will be elected by students (or appointed if there are no volunteers) by the subcommittee with the help of the Campus Life and Student Engagement Coordinator (if necessary).
      4. Each subcommittee will appoint or elect a chair or co-chairs.
         1. 1. The chair(s) should be subject matter experts of the subcommittee’s focus area.
            2. The chair(s) of each subcommittee must complete equity training before becoming a subcommittee chair/co-chair.
      5. Each subcommittee will determine their own meeting schedule.
         1. 1. Meetings may be held on Zoom or in-person, as decided by each subcommittee.
      6. For 2022, subcommittee members will volunteer. Beginning in June of 2023, subcommittee members will volunteer or be elected/selected by members of their workgroup.
      7. The subcommittees will have liaison(s) with expertise in a specific area (e.g., for employee questions, the liaison would be the Director of Human Resources).
         1. The CIBE will create a list of suggested liaisons for the 2022/2023 academic year.
         2. The CIBE will review and revise (when appropriate) the list of liaisons for the 2023/2024 academic year and each year thereafter.
         3. The liaison does not have to be a member on a subcommittee. 
      8. Direct supervisors of subcommittee members will excuse subcommittee members so they may conduct CIBE business.
      9. Direct supervisors of subcommittee members will acknowledge subcommittee members' contributions to the CIBE on their annual evaluations.
      10. The chair(s) will be the subcommittee's point of contact.
          1. The chair(s) will receive ideas or questions from members of the College community.
             1. The Inside Delta page will contain a link to a form for ideas/questions to be submitted.
             2. The office professional for the Advisory Board will collect the ideas or questions from the form link found on the Inside Delta page, and send to the subcommittee chair(s) for whom it is intended.
          2. Members of the College community may request anonymity when they submit ideas or questions.
          3. Each subcommittees' chair(s) will inform the CIBE of new ideas or questions they received at College-wide monthly meetings.
             1. The originator has the right to appeal to the AB (Advisory Board) or ERC (Equity Review Committee) if an idea/question is not brought forth at the College-wide monthly meeting.
          4. The subcommittees' chair(s) will respond to all ideas/questions within thirty (30) days from when the subcommittee's contact person receives the ideas or questions.  NOTE: Days will be considered business days even if the college is closed.
          5. If a decision or determination cannot be made about the idea/question within sixty (60) days, the subcommittee may request a fifteen (15) day extension from the Advisory Board's chair.
          6. The subcommittee's chair(s) will inform the CIBE about the decision or answer the ideas or questions.
             1. If a fifteen (15) day extension is needed, the chair(s) will inform the CIBE. The subcommittee’s chair(s) is/are responsible for communicating with the person/people who submitted the ideas or questions, unless anonymity was requested.
      11. Data informs all subcommittees' activities.
          1. The inaugural subcommittee meeting will determine what data or information is required to move forward with CIBE business (e.g., reflection about how the area is meeting the goals of CIBE and how the subcommittee can equitably increase opportunities for members of the College community).
          2. The meeting following the inaugural subcommittee meeting will focus on creating data requests for the Director of Institutional Research. Subcommittees may determine that data requests aren't appropriate for meeting the CIBE's goals.
          3. Data requests should include the following data points unless the data points aren't available or relevant to the subcommittee's work: college aggregate, racial demographics, gender demographics, county demographics (Bay, Midland, Saginaw), age demographics, physical abilities, Pell status, and veteran status.
          4. If data indicates that opportunity gaps exist for any of the demographic categories identified in 2.K.c., the subcommittee must focus on eliminating the opportunity gap before moving on to new business.
      12. Each subcommittee will create an action plan, communicate with people in the specific workgroup(s) responsible for operationalizing the plan, and present the action plan, including any budget needs, at the monthly College-wide meeting following the meeting with the President (4.q.1.).
          1. Action plans must include specific details about individuals or sub-groups who are accountable for operationalizing components of the action plan.
          2. Action plans should be reviewed three (3) times per year to determine their efficacy.
          3. Each subcommittee will complete an annual report (for the previous academic year) and disseminate the information to the College community at the September CIBE meeting.
             1. The annual report will discuss data-driven action plans, how the plans were operationalized, whether the opportunity gap still exists after the action plans were operationalized, next steps for revising unsuccessful action plans, and/or data to support the action plan's success.
                
                
   3. Advisory Board (AB):
      1. 1. Each subcommittee will appoint or elect a chair or co-chairs that will make up the AB for the CIBE.
         2. The AB will appoint or elect a chair /co-chairs.
         3. The chairs or co-chairs of each subcommittee must complete Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (BEDI) training before becoming a subcommittee chair/co-chair.
         4. The chair or co-chairs may appoint a designee to attend meetings if they cannot participate.
         5. Designees can vote if a vote occurs at a meeting.
            
            
   4. Equity Review Committee (ERC)
      1. 1. The ERC will consist of eighteen (18) members (three (3) from each workgroup defined in section 2.C).
            1. One (1) student will be allowed to join as an additional member of the ERC. The student ERC member will be elected by students (or appointed by the CIBE if there are no volunteers).
         2. The ERC will appoint or elect a chair or co-chairs.
         3. Members of the ERC may not be liaisons as mentioned in section 3G of the CIBE bylaws.
         4. The ERC members must complete the BEDI training before working on the ERC subcommittee.
         5. During the 2022/2023 academic year, ERC members will be volunteers (or appointed if there are no volunteers).
            1. Beginning in July of 2023, ERC members will be elected by members of their workgroup.
            2. Workgroups will nominate at least three (3) candidates for the ERC by March 10, 2023.
            3. Workgroups will vote electronically for ERC candidates during the first week of April, 2023.
         6. The primary function of the ERC is to review action plans and ideas/questions to determine if the decision or answer is equitable.
         7. The ERC will meet at least once a month unless there is a high volume of questions/ideas that need to be addressed.
            1. If there are numerous ideas or action plans that need review, the ERC will meet bi-monthly (that is, every 2 weeks).
         8. The goal of the ERC is to meet the thirty (30)-day turnaround for action plans, ideas, and questions.
         9. The ERC will work closely with the contact person from the subcommittee, submitting an action plan, idea, or question.
         10. ERC members' supervisors will excuse ERC members to work on CIBE business.
         11. ERC members' supervisors will acknowledge ERC members' contribution to the CIBE on their annual evaluations.
         12. Every month, the ERC and AB will meet with the President of the College to discuss all their activities.
             1. The ERC and AB will email an overview of their monthly activity to the President of the College at least four business days before each monthly meeting.
                
                
   5. During the first week of the winter semester of 2023, the President of the College, the AB, and the ERC will review and revise CIBE's bylaws.
      1. The CIBE's annual bylaws will be available to the College community by January 31, 2023.
         
         
   6. Beginning academic year 2024/2025, these bylaws will be reviewed, and if necessary, revised on a yearly basis.

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Definitions

Shared Governance

Board Policy 2.001

Delta College has a system of shared governance that supports collaborative decision making with open communication and mutual respect among stakeholders. Delta College shared governance fosters the principal that, in many situations, drawing from the diverse background of expertise from our internal stakeholders will result in decisions which are most advantageous to Delta College, its students, and its employees. Shared governance is a deliberative process which allows the Delta College community a voice and the ability to actively and professionally provide input to reach decisions on many issues related to the College. Shared governance ensures accountability in the success of our institution.

Although shared governance is an important Delta College policy which is championed by the Board of Trustees, the concept is not without limitation. The Delta College Board of Trustees must retain final authority to make and/or approve many final decisions that will impact our institution. Similarly, the President of Delta College is charged with responsibility over certain subject areas which cannot responsibly be delegated to the shared governance decision-making process. While input and recommendation from other stakeholders will be sought in appropriate cases, these immutable responsibilities and rights are best characterized as vested within the Board of Trustees and, by direct delegation, the President.

Delta College Administration is responsible for drafting, updating, interpreting, and applying robust policy and procedure on shared governance that will be applied as to the day-to-day operations of Delta College.

Board Action 5378 – April 6, 2021

Delta College BEDI (Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) Definitions

Belonging

A sense of belonging is the result of continuously embodying socio-cultural support, integration, empathy, acceptance, and respect for all, thereby creating a safe space that invites individuals to experience an increasing awareness of and appreciation for their individuality and connectedness within the community.

Equity

Equity is the progressive practice of recognizing and eliminating barriers to opportunities for students, employees, and community members. Equity involves recognizing and eliminating both conscious and unconscious biases within institutional and organizational policies, procedures, and processes so all stakeholders may thrive.

Diversity

Diversity encompasses the full range of differences and uniqueness that embody the lived human experience including, but not limited to ability, age, education, ethnicity, experiences, family status, gender identity/expression, geographic location, heritage/history, immigration status, income, indigenous status, language, occupation, race, religion, sexual orientation and thoughts.

Inclusion

Inclusion welcomes the contributions, experiences, ideas, and perspectives of all people by proactively addressing obstacles that impede equitable access to opportunities, resources, and decision-making, thereby creating and sustaining a culture of belonging, compassion, respect, appreciation, and recognition.

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Meeting Structure

Will follow the former Senate meeting structure with meetings held on Wednesdays between 2-4pm.

Week 1: Will be held for Division/Disciplines Meetings.

Week 2: College-Wide meeting including subcommittees, Advisory Board and Equity Review Committee members.

Week 3: Subcommittee meetings.

Week4: Advisory Board, Equity Review committee and President Meeting.

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Committees and charges

Advisory Board (AB)

• • Co-Chairs will be appointed or elected by members of the AB
  • Membership: Chair (or Co-Chairs) of each Focus Group
    • Chairs/Co-Chairs of each Focus Group are appointed or elected by that Focus Group

Equity Review Committee (ERC)

• • Eighteen (18) total members (three (3) from each work group)
    • Administrative Professional (AP)
    • Support Staff (SS)
    • Full-time Faculty (One (1) must be a member of DCFA)
    • Part-time Staff
    • Adjunct Faculty
    • AFSCME (may include two (2) non-AFSCME members of Facilities)
  • Additional content area experts will be added as deemed necessary by the ERC
  • One (1) student will be allowed to join as an additional member with the help of the Campus Life and Student Engagement Coordinator.

Subcommittees

Each subcommittee created charges which were vetted and approved by the President of the College, the Advisory Board, and the Equity Review Committee on May 26, 2022. The subcommittee’s charges are listed below.