Coe's Commitment to DEI

1851 Coe is founded and was established as a coeducational institution of higher learning in it’s early years.

1902 The first African American student graduates from Coe.

1903 The first international student, William Bruce Lowery, of Ireland, graduates from Coe.

1904 The first African American student plays on Coe’s football team.

1910 Mabel Lee, Class of 1908, is the first woman to become physical director of the college.

1940 The first iteration of Coe’s International Club is established.

1949 The Coe College Board of Trustees informs fraternities and sororities they are not allowed to discriminate based on race, religion or nationality.

1962 Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at Coe’s Convocation.

1966 The first African American professor, Henry Blue, is hired at Coe.

1969 Professor James Randall begins his career and becomes the first tenured African American professor at Coe while also launching the African American Studies program.

1974 The first International Club Culture Show takes the stage on campus.

1986 A foreign culture requirement is added to the curriculum.

1991 The Board of Trustees pass a resolution making campus diversity an institutional goal.

1992 The Committee on Diversity forms and includes students, faculty and staff.

2008 Full tuition Williston Jones Diversity Leadership scholarships are established.

2015 The Office of Diversity and Inclusion forms.

2015 Coe’s first chief diversity officer, Erik Albinson, was named.

2016 The James H. Randall Intercultural Center, Reflection Room and LGBTQIA+ Resource Center opened in Gage Memorial Union.

2020 The Board of Trustees unanimously passes a Resolution on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and amends the college’s Bylaws to form a new committee of the board devoted to DEI.

2020 A campus resolution is developed, confirming the college’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and committing to required training for community members; implementing inclusive hiring and retention practices; increased scholarship access for underrepresented populations; updated bias incident policy; justice, inclusion, diversity and equity incorporation into First-Year Seminar and Juneteenth as an official college holiday

2021 The Office of Student Success and Persistence forms, offering individual success coaching to every student as a resource to navigate the college transition.