Over the summer, Hamilton College filled two significant administrative roles, the first of which has been part of the College’s attempt at a wider and more public effort to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on campus.
On Friday, July 15, President David Wippman announced that Sean Bennett would take on a new cabinet-level position titled Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. According to the announcement that was made in July 2022, Bennett will report directly to the College’s President and senior staff, provide leadership for “constructive and collaborative change” and “facilitate the revision and implementation of a comprehensive strategic vision for DEI campus wide.”
The DEI page on the updated Hamilton College website highlights their value statement: “at Hamilton, we embrace diversity, commit to work against systemic racism and bigotry, and support a community where all individuals, without exception, feel valued, empowered, and treated fairly.”
A page on the website, titled “We’re Not There Yet” admits that “inequity exists on our campus, and we are steadfastly committed to disrupting all its forms” and lists the active steps that leadership is taking to “disrupt” inequity at Hamilton.
Included in these steps was a national search for a chief diversity officer, which took place in June of last year.
According to an email sent from President Wippman on Monday, Aug. 15, another upcoming search to fill two new staff positions to support DEI will begin after Dean Bennett gets settled in his new position.
Omobonike Bamidele Odegbami also joined the Hamilton administration this year as the new Director of International Student Services, replacing Dean Allen Harrison who will now focus his efforts as Dean of the Accessibility Resources department. In this role, Odegbami will help the international student community on campus make the most of their Hamilton experience.
In addition to new positions to support DEI for students, some efforts have been made to promote diversity among faculty — an issue that has been especially pertinent since Dr. Miriam Durrani resigned last spring, sparking a campus-wide teach-in discussing the experiences of people of color on Hamilton’s campus.
President Wippman wrote in an email from Monday, Aug. 15, “the Committee on Academic Policy has revised the allocation process for faculty positions so that departments must engage more thoroughly with questions pertaining to DEI when making their requests.”
Furthermore, Hamilton has received a grant from the Mellon Foundation to support faculty work on DEI issues. The College will also continue to sustain its relationship with the Consortium for Faculty Diversity
in order to hire more faculty-of-color postdocs as the administration looks to expand the number of postdocs hired by Hamilton College.
The Spectator
has reached out to Dean Bennett and Director Odegbami for interviews.
