Williams College Employee Handbook

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Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action

Equal Opportunity Policy

Williams College provides equality of employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment. Decisions regarding appointments, promotions, and conditions of employment comply with applicable federal or state laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national or ethnic origin, race, color, religion or creed, age, or disability. A member of the faculty or staff who believes he or she has been treated in a fashion that violates the College’s non discrimination policies should discuss the matter with the Dean of the Faculty, Dean of the College, Vice President for Operations, Director of Human Resources, or Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, or other discrimination grievance advisers listed in the Student Handbook, the Williams Directory, and the Williams College Bulletin, as appropriate. Those officers and advisers stand ready to explain the formal grievance procedures available for such cases. (See Sexual Harassment Policy; Non-Discrimination Policy; and Grievance Procedures).

The equal opportunity policy applies throughout the College, and all departments and personnel are responsible for its implementation.

Affirmative Action Program

Since adopting an affirmative action program in 1972, Williams has made a concerted effort to increase the representation of women and minorities among its faculty and professional staff. This program reflects the belief that a diverse faculty and staff are essential to our educational goals and is not intended merely to comply with government regulations. Designed to increase the proportion of women and members of minority groups within the various categories of employment at the College, the Williams affirmative action program specifies procedures and objectives for the appointment of new personnel. The program is reviewed on a periodic basis and revised as necessary.

Affirmative Action Objectives and Goals for Faculty

The basic objective of the affirmative action program for the faculty is to increase the proportion of women and members of minority groups in the faculty to a level more consistent with the pool of qualified women and minorities in the fields taught at Williams. In order to fulfill that objective, it strives, however, to attract and appoint promising women, who have recently completed the Ph.D., in proportions that exceed their availability in the general pool of new Ph.D's. The College has a long-standing practice of making most of its appointments at the assistant professor level and promoting to the tenure ranks from within the faculty. At the same time, the College only began hiring women in significant numbers after the implementation of coeducation in 1970. The policy of appointing new women Ph.D's in proportions above the national averages is designed, given this history, to increase more rapidly than would otherwise be possible the number of women faculty tenured through its normal process of evaluation and reappointment and promotion.

On those rare occasions when departments are authorized to fill senior positions from outside, the College and departments must make special efforts to seek qualified women and minority candidates.

In order to extend the range of disciplinary and scholarly perspectives available to its students and to teach a student body that has become increasingly diverse, the College is firmly committed to achieving a substantial representation of minority faculty. The importance of these goals, combined with the difficulties in recruiting minority faculty, make it necessary to continue to attempt to attract and appoint minority faculty in proportions above those which would be expected from the data on the national averages for minority Ph.D's. Since many of the academic departments at Williams are small, the College has established a College wide goal of three or four tenure-eligible minority appointments among the regular appointments made each year in academic departments and two or three visiting appointments annually.

While it is the College’s intent to recruit vigorously among women and minority individuals, it is the policy of the College to use the same standards and criteria for everyone in making reappointments and promotions. Because each individual reappointment or promotion is considered on its merits, it is inappropriate to set tenure goals or targets for any short period of time in the achievement of the affirmative action program. As the number of appointments held by women and minorities increases, however, it is reasonable to expect that the share of women and of minority groups in the tenured ranks of the faculty will rise from their current levels to proportions more nearly consonant with their representation in the non tenured ranks.

Consistent with the Equal Opportunity Policy, individuals will be evaluated without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national or ethnic origin, race, color religion, creed, age, or disability. Any faculty member who has cause to believe that improper considerations have played a part in a negative decision on his or her reappointment or promotion has access to the appeals procedure outlined in Appointment Appeals.

Appointment Procedures
For faculty appointments, the availability of positions at Williams will be advertised widely in relevant places: the professional journal or employment service directly related to the field of specialization of the department or office making the appointment; at least one nationally circulated periodical outside the professional field (e.g., The Chronicle of Higher Education); periodicals with a special readership among minority and/or women’s groups (e.g., Diverse, , Hispanic Outlook, the Affirmative Action Register), and any appropriate newsletters. In such advertisements the statement that Williams College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer will be displayed.

Department chairs and heads of administrative offices are encouraged to pursue contacts in major graduate centers or other professional associations and, particularly, to seek contacts through minority associations, women’s groups, and individuals on the Williams faculty and staff who have such contacts.

Heads of administrative offices and department chairs will give individual and fair consideration to all applications that come in response to advertisements and will make an effort to seek applicants from all possible sources.

The Dean of the Faculty, the Provost, the Vice President for Operations, the Director of Human Resources, and the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity must ensure that full and fair consideration is given to women and to minority group candidates for faculty appointments to the College.

Appointments to the associate professor and professor level (other than visiting appointments) are made rarely and only in unusual circumstances. From time to time, however, a distinguished person from another institution may be identified as unusually well suited to fill a pressing departmental or College wide need. After consultation with the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, the President may give approval for a somewhat foreshortened search and appointment procedure, which nevertheless tests the proposed appointment for its consistency with the normal appointment standards and with the College’s equal opportunity and affirmative action policies.

Search procedures may similarly be modified when the CAP, after consultation with the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, authorizes a new position specifically to allow the consideration of an outstanding woman or minority appointment.

Responsibility for Affirmative Action Policies and Programs

The President
The President has overall responsibility for the successful implementation of the affirmative action policies and programs.

Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity
The Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity (Affirmative Action Officer) is appointed by and reports to the President. The Officer is responsible for evaluating and articulating the College’s affirmative action policies and for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the College’s affirmative action program. The specific duties of the Officer include the following:

Being conversant with governmental laws and regulations pertaining to equal opportunity, non-discrimination, and affirmative action.
Informing the members of the College community of their rights and responsibilities under such laws and regulations.
Consulting with the Dean of the Faculty and the Committee on Appointments and Promotions, the Provost, the Vice President for Operations, the Director of Human Resources, and the President on matters pertaining to staffing needs and appointments as they relate to the attainment of affirmative action goals.
Assisting department chairs at all stages of the appointment process: helping develop sources of information concerning qualified women and minority candidates; identifying area of potential discrimination (inadequate advertising of job descriptions, prejudicial references, etc.); ensuring that all appropriate measures are being taken to comply with the College's affirmative action program.
Preparing, with the advice of the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, and subject to approval by the President, reports required by governmental agencies.
Preparing for the faculty and staff at the end of each year a report on affirmative action results.
Being available to all faculty and staff members as adviser in cases of grievance pertaining to equal opportunity or affirmative action matters.
Serving as liaison officer for the College on affirmative action matters.
Carrying out other activities related to affirmative action as directed by the President.

The Affirmative Action Advisory Committee
The Affirmative Action Advisory Committee consists of eight members. Four of them are appointed by the President for overlapping two-year terms and include representatives from the following employment groups: members of the faculty, and the administrative staff and hourly employees. The Committee membership shall reflect the sex, race, and ethnic diversity of the College work force. The Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, Provost, Dean of the Faculty, Vice President for Operations, and Director of Human Resources are ex-officio voting members of the Committee.

The Committee selects its own chair from among its membership, subject to the provision that the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity is not eligible to serve in that capacity. The duties of the Committee include the following:

Assisting and advising the President and Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity in the implementation of the College's affirmative action policies and program.
Serving in other capacities related to affirmative action as requested by the President.
Reviewing periodically the provisions and impact of the College's affirmative action program including employment goals and timetables, procedures followed and results achieved.
Proposing to the President whatever changes seem appropriate.

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