Institutional Equity & Belonging

Sense of Place

Sense of Place: the experiential and expressive ways places are known, imagined, yearned for, held, remembered, voiced, lived, contested and struggled over (Feld & Basso).

As Colorado College commemorates its sesquicentennial, so too do we take this opportunity to reflect on our past, its implications for our present and our responsibilities to our collective future. For us to authentically commit to the practice of antiracism, we must confront our past and tell a more complete story of our origins. We also must ensure that this story is a part of a collective understanding of our place in the region and that each new member of our community is empowered with knowledge, tools and resources to reconcile it.

Colorado College developed an antiracism commitment in 2019. This commitment mandates that we interrogate all the ways that racism has “been present at CC since it’s formation and continues today…”[1]. We cannot live up to this commitment without thoroughly interrogating what it means for Colorado College to be located in southern Colorado – a location whose complicated history includes forced removal of the indigenous people of the region by Buffalo Soldiers many of whom were formerly enslaved, an abolitionist founder, and territory belonging to Spain and then Mexico prior to 1848[2].

For this reason, sense of place has become a key metric by how we will measure our ADEI initiatives moving forward. You can read more about the full list of metrics and key performance indicators in the Strategy for a More Just CC.

As we contend with 150 years of history and a founding that predates the state of Colorado by two years, Institutional Equity and Belonging will center reconciliation of our complicated past which must become a part of the ethos of the institution and which will anchor the orientation of every new member of our community.

In collaboration with the Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies and Race Ethnicity and Migration Studies departments, the office of institutional equity and belonging will create a number of initiatives to span the 2024-2025 to culminate in a recurring set of orienting practices that should be part of every new student and employee experience as well as major community events.

Current activities already planned or in planning include:

Micro-block at Homecoming
A faculty, staff and student field experience blending past and present in the San Luis Valley – Block 2 Break.
Antiracist Book Club reading schedule aligned with the Common Read
Special research funding
NSO, NFO and CC Connect modules on CC History
A lecture series
A commitment to bridging communities around these histories and allowing CC to become a gathering place by providing access to events, lectures, library, museum, etc.
Exhibitions and Performances in the Fine Arts Center