known as the College Policy Committee, currently chaired by Rozanne Giunta, and formerly chaired by your current DEI Committee co-chair, Joan Feeney.
Importantly, and from the outset, the DEI Committee steadfastly opposed any alteration of the high standards for admission to the College. It also quickly concluded, however, that the College could and should make a number of improvements to its existing processes for the selection of new Fellows to ensure that candidates from historically underrepresented constituencies received fair and careful consideration for election to the College.
The DEI Committee reached that conclusion based on an exhaustive review of the nominations and election process that included analyses of historical demographic data; consideration of the existing formal( e. g., by-law-mandated) and informal protocols for the selection of new Fellows; and innumerable interviews with current and past Chairs and members of the Board of Regents and the various CACs. On the basis of that work – conducted over the course of well over a year – the DEI Committee ultimately developed, and the Board of Directors unanimously approved, a set of DEI-related“ Working Principles” for the nomination and election of new Fellows, together with a timeline for the CACs and the Board of Regents to complete their work( many of the milestones of which set temporal parameters on the implementation of the procedural and reporting requirements of the Working Principles themselves). 1
The DEI Committee and College Policy Committee thereafter undertook a similar review of the College’ s processes for nominating and selecting judicial Fellows, making a number of recommendations, all
1
The Working Principles are available for review by Fellows logged on to the College ' s website. ultimately implemented, for appropriate by-law and other changes to promote the inclusive consideration of judicial candidates. And per the Board’ s direction, the DEI Committee likewise is in the midst of a related analysis of our processes for nominating and selecting international Fellows, as well as the Nominating Committee’ s annual selection of Fellows for open leadership positions in the College.
Perhaps most important, the DEI Committee has made a concerted effort to instill mindful inclusiveness in all of the College’ s multi-faceted work. It need hardly have prodded, since, in innumerable respects, the College internally has undertaken new initiatives and redirected existing efforts to include an emphasis on its DEI mission. The Foundation, for example, now works to ensure that at least 25 % of its annual grants support programs serving socially and economically diverse communities; and it now separately awards“ professional pipeline” grants to organizations supporting the interests of those from economically or socially challenged communities in becoming bankruptcy or insolvency professionals.
Likewise, the College’ s still-new Freshman Fellows program was a direct product
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