MOCAN – Missouri College & Career Attainment Network

Increasing equity in college and career for Missouri students

inclusion

MOCAN’s Response: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education

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Today’s Supreme Court decision eliminating race as a factor in college admissions does not end diversity on our college campuses. Thousands of Black and brown students are already enrolled in Missouri colleges and universities. In fact, the work of Postsecondary Equity Network institutions to become inclusive campuses where BILPOC students are welcomed, celebrated, and supported to graduation remains as critical as ever.  

What cannot happen as a result of this decision, is the abandonment of efforts to connect Black and brown young adults to postsecondary education and the economic stability and social mobility that comes with a college degree. Colleges, universities, and community-based organizations must work together to ensure BILPOC students are nurtured as scholars, and have opportunities to enroll in and complete a college program that meets their career aspirations.  

Our commitment to equity is not derailed. It is reaffirmed.  

AAC&U Announces 16 Institutions Hosting New Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers

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MOCAN was announced as one of 16 partners accepted as part of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Centers through the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC & U). We are the only non-institutional partner in this diverse and dynamic network of institutions working to address the historical and contemporary effects of racism in higher education by dismantling the false belief in a hierarchy of human values!

The institutions that were invited to join the TRHT Campus Centers network for Spring 2022 are:

  • Baldwin Wallace University (OH)
  • Benedictine University (IL)
  • Franklin & Marshall College (PA)
  • Hollins University (VA)
  • Kansas State University (KS)
  • Missouri College & Career Attainment Network (MO)
  • Mount Holyoke College (MA)
  • North Hennepin Community College (MN)
  • Northeastern Illinois University (IL)
  • Sewanee: The University of the South (TN)
  • State University of New York Oswego (NY)
  • Trinity University (TX)
  • University of Connecticut (CT)
  • University of Mount Union (OH)
  • University of St. Thomas (MN)
  • Georgia Highlands College (GA)

“We’re thrilled to partner with this new cohort of host institutions,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella, “and we look forward to supporting their vital efforts to promote racial equity and healing on their campuses, in their communities, and through the fast-growing network of TRHT Campus Centers around the country.”

Beginning with the inaugural cohort of TRHT Campus Centers at 10 AAC&U member institutions in 2017, the TRHT Campus Centers effort has grown into a dynamic and diverse network of host institutions, including community colleges, liberal arts colleges, HBCUs, minority-serving institutions, faith-based institutions, and large research universities. The new centers announced today bring the total number of TRHT Campus Centers to 71, continuing momentum toward AAC&U’s goal of establishing at least 150 self-sustaining, community-integrated TRHT Campus Centers at higher education institutions nationwide.

“As the network of TRHT Campus Centers expands, we remain humbled and dedicated to achieving our shared goals with our institutional partners. Doing the work of truth, racial healing, and transformation has been and continues to be, a great challenge and a privilege,” said Tia McNair, AAC&U Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the TRHT Campus Centers.

TRHT Campus Centers play a vital role in the national TRHT effort to address historical and contemporary effects of racism by building sustainable capacity to promote deep, transformational change. With the shared goal of preparing the next generation of leaders and thinkers to build equitable and just communities by dismantling the false belief in a hierarchy of human value, each campus center uses the TRHT framework to implement its own visionary action plan for creating new narratives about race in their communities and promoting racial healing and relationship building through campus-community engagement.

At the annual AAC&U Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Centers, teams from institutions interested in hosting a TRHT Campus Center and teams from existing host institutions work with the guidance of mentors to develop action plans that support their visions of what their campuses and communities will look, feel, and be like when there is no longer a false belief in a hierarchy of human value. Held each June, the TRHT Institute is central to building the capacity of new and existing centers to further the vision of the national TRHT movement. Applications for the next TRHT Institute will open in winter 2023.

To learn more, visit www.aacu.org.