PVCC Culture Commitment

We know that one statement is not going to shift national issues, local concerns, and past cultural missteps; it is simply a start. In addition, societal events outside of PVCC provided an opportunity for us to examine our own internal actions. The PVCC Executive Team has spent the past few months strategizing our next steps to advocate for change on our campus. With that, we invite you to consider the below statement as we communicate our collective intent to change, and to do better and be better, and adhere to our core values.

We, the Executive Team, recognize...that the history of our college includes not adequately addressing issues of systemic racism and systemic sexism that led to feelings of marginalization, disengagement, and hurt. Many are still healing from our history of hurt and its impact on them every day, while others have never even been given the validation of their experience to begin this process. With this history in mind, we acknowledge our past culture, acknowledge we aren’t where we should be, and commit to change.

We know…that we don’t have the trust of some of you and part of our commitment is working to earn that trust; it will take time and action. We are committed to demonstrating our change and invite you all to change with us. Some of the change and action will be public, while others will be private, providing the time for reflection, understanding, accountability, and opportunities for growth.

We pledge…to do our part to build a culture that is diverse, safe, welcoming, and inclusive, and to take actions to ensure that unwelcomed, offensive, or discriminatory language, and/or behavior is not tolerated in our workplace.

We will…focus on leading and learning. We commit to the following: listening, reflection, community building, addressing unprofessional and counterproductive behavior, mentoring, normalizing “difficult” conversations, accountability, and caring for each other as we learn and grow.

We will…make mistakes along the way. We will not always get it right and we won’t always be able to share the progress and change publicly. Regardless, we are committed to this work. This work will be ongoing, so please give us the time to demonstrate this change.

We all…need a clean slate and a reset, a collective space/place to start from and a path to move forward, learning from the past, but no longer allowing the past to pull us backwards, rather to push us to do better and be better than the PVCC we were yesterday. We all deserve that and we, The Executive Team, commit to change.

We ask…that you will join us as we look ahead to the future of PVCC as we serve our students, community, and one another.