Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

We have embraced a strategic vision that states our commitment to create “a diverse, multicultural, and inclusive community of highly talented students, faculty, and staff characterized by respect, understanding, and appreciation of the uniqueness and value of all people.”

Mission

Babson College is committed to providing an exceptional educational experience for leadership and participation in a diverse society to a student population that reflects the full diversity of this country and the world. This commitment is achieved through creating a climate that supports and celebrates diversity, social justice, and an appreciation of our global interdependence. Babson will engage our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader external community to achieve this climate.

Vision

In executing its mission, Babson will be recognized as an inclusive, global community, focused on attracting, developing, celebrating, and embracing exceptional talent representing diversity of all kinds. Babson’s intentionally diverse students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners will be uniquely prepared to respectfully engage, collaborate, and lead across differences in business and in life. We will create great social and economic value everywhere.

Babson College is committed to establishing and maintaining an environment free of all forms of harassment and discrimination for all College community members.

Babson College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, religious creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, genetics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, military obligations, participation in discrimination complaint-related activities, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws in its practices, programs, or activities.

The College’s Title IX Coordinator, Betsy Rauch, is responsible for the oversight of Babson’s Gender-Based Misconduct Policies. She can be reached at brauch1@babson.edu or 781-239-5501.

The College’s Vice President for Human Resources, Donna Bonaparte, has been designated by the College to respond to inquiries or concerns regarding other College nondiscrimination policies. She can be reached at dbonaparte@babson.edu or 781-239-6434.

Three pillars—culture, curriculum, and community—guide Babson’s diversity and inclusion strategy and represent the three major areas of focus for our efforts.

Culture: the attitudes and intellectual manifestations of our students, staff, faculty, and alumni

Goal 1. Create, foster, and preserve an inclusive and welcoming cultural climate for all

Goal 2. Create an organizational structure to support our diversity and inclusion goals

Curriculum: the subject matter we are teaching in the classroom

Goal 3. Ensure that faculty development, classroom experience curriculum, and co-curriculum support our mission and strategic diversity and inclusion goals

Goal 4. Foster, promote, and support diversity and inclusion related resources and research advancing our mission

Community: the Babson fellowship of people from students to members of partner organizations

Goal 5. Attract, recruit, develop, and retain a diverse student body

Goal 6. Attract, recruit, develop, and retain diverse faculty, staff, and administrators

Goal 7. Engage and support external partners in diversity-related initiatives advancing our mission

Goal 8. Communicate, promote, and celebrate efforts, events, initiatives, and individuals advancing diversity and inclusion of all kinds for Babson College and the Babson community worldwide.

In 2009, the Diversity and Inclusion Council was formed by former Chief Diversity Officer Elizabeth Thornton and President Emeritus Leonard Schlesinger with the notion that instead of having one small task force, or one person or department tasked with the job of diversity, we should engage the entire community in the mission of diversity and inclusion. The strategy is to have the mission permeate the entire Babson community and embed principles of inclusiveness into internal operating processes such as faculty and staff recruiting, student affairs, the curriculum, and the classroom.

Council Structure

The Diversity and Inclusion Council is organized into four committees to focus on the following objectives:

1. The Recruitment and Retention Committee: To brainstorm new ways of attracting and retaining students, faculty, and staff of diverse identities including racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, religious, and sexual orientation.
2. The Building an Inclusive Community Committee: To create and sustain an inclusive community characterized by respect and understanding of the value of all people through cocurricular activities. This committee has challenged the Babson community to “Get in the Game,” which means participating in thought-provoking experiences with faculty, students, and staff to develop the awareness, skills, and competencies necessary to think critically about ourselves and how we interact with the world around us.
3. The Inclusive Curriculum Committee: To participate in discussion and support the Undergraduate Academic Policy Committee in incorporating inclusiveness into the curriculum.
4. The Inclusive Classroom Experience Committee: To create and provide resources and opportunities for faculty to create and maintain an inclusive classroom experience where students feel comfortable engaging in deep, thought-provoking conversations while being respectful of each other and engaging in discussions that are inclusive of all of our identities.