College Columns December 2022 | Page 10

The College and DEI : Whither from Here ?

Hon . Erithe Smith , C . D . California Paul E . Harner , Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP Co-Chairs , Diversity , Equity and Inclusion Committee
In May , our column highlighted “ The Hard Work to Be Done ” because there is , in fact , so much that can be accomplished both inside the College and ( building on that wonderful platform ) in the larger bankruptcy , restructuring and insolvency community . The tasks often seem daunting , and the race truly is a marathon , rather than a sprint . But we believe that the Diversity , Equity and Inclusion ( DEI ) Committee is off to a roaring start .
That most recent column outlined several specific resolutions , as adopted by the College ’ s Board of Directors , charging the DEI Committee with various near- and longer-term missions . In this issue of College Columns , we report on the Committee ’ s extensive activities to date to further the goals outlined by the Board . Of course , that builds upon the prior work , in 2021- 2022 , of the initial Select Commission on Diversity , Equity and Inclusion , co-chaired by Judge Jeffery Hopkins and Judge Laurel Isicoff ( More below on their incomparable leadership of the Select Commission .)
The work of the newly formed DEI Committee is vast in scope and is a yearround endeavor . The Committee ’ s members
are , to say the least , enthusiastic , dedicated and hardworking , but they also understand that “ Rome was not built in a day .” Building a thriving DEI culture within the College and in our larger community will take time – a lot of time . And along those lines , since March 2022 , members of the Committee collectively have participated in more than 50 meetings and have expended more than 500 hours of their time on Committeerelated matters .
Committee Structure
In order to efficiently meet its short- and long-term objectives , the Committee has organized itself into three Subcommittees : Internal , External , and Communications . Each Subcommittee is tasked with focusing on discrete aspects of the Committee ’ s charge and making recommendations to the full Committee regarding strategies designed to meet the directives of the DEIrelated resolutions promulgated by the DEI Commission and approved by the College Board at its March 2022 meeting .
The Hard Work of the Subcommittees Internal Subcommittee
Members : Hon . Joan Feeney ( Chair ), Agustin Berdeja-Prieto , Rozanne Giunta , Peggy Hunt , Catherine Steege , and Prof . Jack Williams
The Internal Subcommittee , which has been meeting twice each month , makes recommendations to the Committee regarding DEI objectives , issues and concerns that involve the College ’ s membership and leadership , including DEI training , development of DEI standards
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