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On April 4, 2023, the Bates faculty passed legislation to enact a new requirement on race, power, privilege, and colonialism for students at Bates College beginning with the incoming first year students in Fall 2026. This is an exciting and important step for the college as it continues to evolve its curriculum to meet the needs of our students as we prepare them for work in a changing world. 

The legislation requires that a student take two courses or course equivalent experiences that address race, power, privilege, and colonialism. One of these courses or course equivalent experiences must be taught in the US context (RPPC-US) and the other in an international context (RPPC-I). The student must take one of these courses or course equivalent experiences as part of their major.

While some faculty may already teach courses that they feel will satisfy the requirement with small modifications, other departments and programs will want to develop new courses and some academic units may want to alter the structure of their majors. Regardless of the approach taken, the Dean of the Faculty (DOF) and the Academic Affairs Council (AAC) understand that faculty and academic units need support to bring these courses and / or course equivalent experiences into being. Material support is one aspect of how they will provide resources to departments and programs. The DOF coordinates existing support programs such as the Short Term Redesign and Learning Associates programs that could help departments and programs with their work. In addition to these and other existing programs, the DOF and the AAC will provide support in several ways as described below.

Option Descriptions

Option 1: RPPC Department and Program Support to Develop the Requirement: Many departments and programs will need to develop courses or course equivalent experiences that properly address race, power, privilege, and colonialism within the majors that they offer. Bates is offering material support to departments and programs doing this work. Support can be a course release for a faculty member doing the work, or it could take a variety of forms including stipends. For non-course release requests, the budget maximum is $10,000. Departments and programs can apply once to option 1.  For course replacement requests, academic units can apply in the fall of 2024. For non-course release requests, academic units can apply in the fall of 2024 and 2025 as well as the spring of 2025 and 2026.

Option 2: External Consultancy Program: Following from the successes and structure of the Foundational Dialogue program, we will accept proposals from academic units to engage with disciplinary experts with demonstrated experience in developing curricula related to race, power, privilege, and colonialism. If an academic unit has previously engaged an expert with demonstrated excellence in this area, it is acceptable for the unit to continue working with that person. The budget maximum for hiring external consultants is $5,000. Departments and programs can apply for Program 2 funding once in either the fall of 2023 or 2024 as well as the spring of 2025 and 2026.

Option 3: Colleague Consultancy: There may be occasions when a faculty member at Bates has disciplinary expertise as well as demonstrated excellence in developing and teaching courses that address issues of race, power, privilege, and colonialism. In those cases, and when a collaboration is agreed upon between a faculty member and an academic unit, we will provide support up to 2 Bates faculty members serving as consultants per year for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. Consultants must have developed a concrete plan with academic units interested in collaboration. The support for the consultants will be either a course release or a $10,000 stipend. These consultants will work with no more than 3 academic units and their services will come at no cost to the academic unit receiving the support.

The DOF encourages faculty considering serving as a consultant to reach out to the Dean of Faculty to discuss the work before making agreements with academic units.

Application Process

Option 1: A) Departments and programs seeking course releases should indicate this intention in their 3YP and submit a 1 page proposal detailing the rationale for the course release. The AAC will review these course release requests. B) Departments and programs seeking non-course release support for the development of course or course equivalent experiences must submit a plan of no more than 2 pages for their work. This plan must include: a description of the academic unit’s approach to providing courses to their majors, a timeline for the work, specific details about who will develop and teach the course(s) or experience(s), and a detailed budget. Additionally, the academic unit should provide a list of possible resources it will use in developing the course(s) or course experience(s) such as Bates CITL, National Organizations, and/or internet resources. Review of non course-release support requests will be done by the DOF in consultation with the AAC. Note that the CITL has programming that is geared toward RPPC courses.

Option 2: Departments and programs seeking support for an external expert must submit a plan of no more than 2 pages describing their goals for engaging the consultant. This plan must include a description of the qualifications of their proposed experts as well as a brief description of the academic unit’s approach to providing courses to their majors, specific details about who will develop and teach the course(s) or experience(s), and a detailed budget. 

Option 3: Bates faculty members interested in serving as consultants for other academic units developing and teaching courses or course equivalent experiences for the RPPC requirement must submit a work plan specific to the collaborating departments or programs. If the consultant compensation involves a course release this must be indicated on the consultant’s home department’s 3YP. This plan should include: evidence of expertise developing courses appropriate for the RPPC requirement, a description of the engagement with each academic unit in question including the consultants deliverables, and a written agreement with each academic unit in question. We recognize that this could be a complex space for prospective consultants. For this reason and upon plan submission, the Dean of the Faculty will schedule a meeting with the consultant to discuss their work and identify any support they may need as they engage with their colleagues.

Plan Submission and Review: Departments and programs should submit their work plans including the slate of faculty who will be teaching qualified courses to the Office of the DOF using this form or by sending it via email to Matt Duvall. Upon receipt of the work plans, the AAC and the DOF will review them internally while also sending them to the Mellon and HHMI leadership teams for consultation as appropriate. If the requested resources include a course release, the DOF will discuss the possibility of the release with the AAC.

Deadlines: Plans will be funded for work in the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 academic years based on the following deadlines for application submission: 

• The first deadline, November 1, 2024 will apply to those academic units wishing to do non-course release supported work in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years as well as those academic units seeking course release support for the 2025-26 academic year. Work must be completed by August 1, 2026.
• The second deadline, April 1, 2025 will apply to those academic units wishing to do non-course release supported work in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. Work must be completed by August 1, 2026.
• The third deadline, November 1, 2025 will apply to those academic units wishing to do non-course release supported work in 2025-26 academic year. Work must be completed by August 1, 2026.
• The fourth and final deadline, April 1, 2026 will apply to those academic units wishing to do non-course release supported work in the spring and summer of 2026. Work must be completed by August 1, 2026.

Community, Communication and Reporting

It is important for the DOF to understand the progress each academic unit participating in this program is making in developing their courses or course equivalent experiences to ensure that is provides the best support possible. It is also very beneficial for the members of the faculty to share their approaches, challenges, and successes as they do this work. During the time period when each academic unit is developing their course or course equivalent experiences, the faculty engaged in course or course equivalent materials development will gather each semester to discuss their progress and identify synergies. At the end of the academic year during which the work occurs, the academic unit will submit a short report to the DOF describing their major requirement, a rough schedule for course offerings, who will be teaching those courses, and the number of seats made available.