MOCAN – Missouri College & Career Attainment Network

Increasing equity in college and career for Missouri students

TRHT

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.  

Advancing Racial Healing Through MOCAN’s TRHT Campus Center

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This summer, a second MOCAN Team will participate in the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center Institute. The Institute convenes equity-minded colleges and universities. It is held each summer by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.

The Institute is designed to help Center teams identify evidence-based strategies that support their vision of what their communities will look, feel, and be like when the false belief in a hierarchy of human value no longer exists. 

In fall 2022, MOCAN became the first statewide organization to be designated a TRHT Campus Center. A team of colleagues from MOCAN’s Postsecondary Equity Network attended the 2022 Institute and submitted an action plan to develop a center with our partner institutions in Missouri. 

This year MOCAN is represented by PEN Co-Chairs, Dr. D’Andre Braddix, Executive Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at St. Louis Community College, and Dr. Lover Chancler, Director of the Center of Multiculturalism and Inclusivity and Associate Professor at the University of Central Missouri; Cherelle Washington, MOCAN’s Director of College Access and Career Readiness; Wendell Stapleton, Student Success Coach at Maryville University; and Trent Ball, MOCAN’s Senior Director for Postsecondary Equity and Attainment.

At this year’s Institute, the MOCAN team will be refining and expanding the plan developed last year to address the challenges and changes occurring in higher education and our educational communities.

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.

Supporting Racial Healing & Institutional Transformation

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Missouri College and Career Attainment Network (MOCAN) recently participated in the American Association of College and Universities (AAC&U)’s 2022 Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT). The Institute focused on creating campus centers to dismantle racial hierarchies and build equitable communities. A team from MOCAN’s Postsecondary Equity Network (PEN) represented the organization and joined the work.

About TRHT Campus Centers

Among the most urgent challenges facing America today is the growing division across racial and ethnic identities. Increasing aversion to difference and rising distrust among communities nationally have left colleges and universities with the challenge of how to heal from the legacies and harm of racism and bias. AAC&U is partnering with higher education institutions to develop TRHT Campus Centers. The Centers are designed to 1) prepare the next generation of strategic leaders and critical thinkers to promote racial healing and, 2) to catalyze efforts to address current inequities grounded in notions of a racial hierarchy. As a national, community-based initiative, the TRHT effort launched by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation seeks to address the historical and contemporary impacts of race and racism within our communities.

The Institute on TRHT Campus Centers is designed to help campus teams identify evidence-based strategies that support their vision of what their communities will look, feel, and be like when the belief in a hierarchy of human value no longer exists. Teams established strategic goals that align with both their vision and the TRHT Framework. During the Institute, the MOCAN team identified steps for achieving those goals, and developed plans for evaluation, communications, engagement, and sustainability.

Campus teams engaged in PEN will participate in and design Rx Racial Healing® Circles, participate in workshops, and collaborate with experienced TRHT Campus Center mentors, workshop facilitators, and evaluation consultants to develop and/or refine their transformative campus action plans.

This year’s Institute included over 600 participants from 75 colleges, universities, and organizations. MOCAN is honored to be the first statewide organization accepted into the Institute.

MOCAN’s TRHT Action Plan

The MOCAN action plan includes three goals:

Promote racial healing activities on campus and in the community:

Address the systemic actions and false beliefs in racial hierarchies that exist in postsecondary education systems. MOCAN will develop a cross institutional team that will utilize Rx Racial Healing® Circles and conduct the “difficult dialogue” sessions to address the systems and inequitable practices.

Erase institutional barriers to equal treatment:

Each PEN institution will create (or update) their diversity statements and equity plans to include actionable, resourced steps. When implemented, the plans will address inequities in student success, completion, and representation. MOCAN will engage national leaders to work with each campus to develop or strengthen their diversity statements and equity plans.

Prepare the next generation of leaders to build just and equitable communities:

MOCAN will partner with the PEN institutions and other statewide and regional organizations to develop trainings for diverse professionals to prepare them for leadership opportunities in the field. MOCAN, collaborating closely with partner organizations, will provide workshops, seminars and training opportunities at the annual conferences of key professional associations focused on developing and acquiring leadership and administrative skills. MOCAN will also provide targeted professional development opportunities for diverse professionals in the field related to trends and topics in higher education.

MOCAN’s TRHT Team

Trent Ball, Senior Director Postsecondary Equity & Attainment, MOCAN

Dr. Feleccia Moore-Davis, Campus President, and Chief Academic Officer, St. Louis Community College Meramec Campus

Dr. Richard Stephenson, Academic Success Centers Coordinator and Diversity Committee Co-Chair, Jefferson College

Dr. Rabekah Stewart, Assistant Vice President Multicultural Services, Missouri State University

Dr. E. Andre Thorn, Director Center of Academic Success, and Excellence, University of Missouri Columbia

Deanna Williams, Special Advisor to the President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Fontbonne University