A Conversation With ... William "Coffee" Washington

Original: AConversation With ... William "Coffee" Washington

William"Coffee" Washington is senior vice president forstudent affairs at Trinity International University (IL) and is dean of studentsat Trinity College. Trinity InternationalUniversity is a 2006 recipient of the CCCU Racial Harmony Award, tobe presented at the International Forum on Christian HigherEducation.

How significant is it for Trinity to be the recipient of the Racial Harmony Award in 2006?

WASHINGTON: It means a number of things. First, it means we havemade some significant progress even though we all acknowledge thatwe still have a long way to go. This award points to one of ourdeepest longings, that is to have Trinity be a visible reflectionof the unity of the body of Christ.  To have our colleaguesand partners in Christian higher education recognize thatwe've made progress toward one of our strategicgoals-to have a diverse Christian community thatrepresents kingdom diversity-that excites us. Thatis what we pray will continue to develop on our campus.  This award is one significant way to help measure whatwe've have achieved; or, maybe more accurately,what the Lord is achieving among us. 

I understand that Trinity conducts training workshops on cross-cultural communication for all new and existing faculties. What are a couple of the most important principles conveyed during these workshops?

WASHINGTON: A couple of key components are showing value andrespect to people of diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic classes,and to introduce them to our community, which we want to be awelcoming community that seeks to honor the Lord. We want to talkabout learning to see one another as God sees us.  We need neweyes - redeemed, renewed eyes --- for this. We also share with them our five core values: Christ-centeredness,comprehensive education, cultural engagement, community, and churchconnectedness. 

Which student-led campus group do you think has had the most impact on the student body, and how?

WASHINGTON: That's a very difficult question toanswer - especially when you'rethe Dean of Students.  This matter of racial harmony has to bethoroughgoing and systemic.  So, each group has to play arole.  I've been impressed with each andevery group. The thrust of what they're trying toachieve is unity, within their own organization and outside ofit.  I'm so proud of the leadership that ourstudents bring to the table, their commitment to excellence, andtheir desire to enhance their own groups and, thereby, theuniversity as a whole.  

I should probably speak more specifically.  One particularcampus group, the Ethnic Diversity Office, does an outstanding jobin ministering to the entire community, internal and external. Overthe last year and a half, an outreach to Chicago neighborhoods hasencouraged students to get out of their comfort zones and visitunique and unfamiliar settings. That has been well received. I alsohad the opportunity to visit some of those locations, and to seehow our students have approached and been involved in them. Thestories are thrilling. 

Let me tell you about one of them.  A recent excitingdevelopment was that we had 80 students and 20 staff and faculty godown to New Orleans over fall break to work with Castle RockCommunity Church (Evangelical Free Church of America) with aministry called Urban Impact.  We were a mile and the halffrom the Superdome in downtown New Orleans. We had three busloadsof students, the majority of which were Caucasian, but also with agood contingent of students of color. It was an awesome opportunityto have students serve and give of themselves in a diversecommunity. Two Caucasian students said it was on their hearts tocome back and work in a community like this (predominantly AfricanAmerican) long-term. Several students said they want to come backand serve over Christmas. It was very, very humbling. One of thestaff thinks it was the best thing TIU has done to showreconciliation and harmony in action. This was the largestofficially organized ministry trip ever taken by Trinity. 

What hard lessons did Trinity have to learn before you could make the progress that you have made in the area of diversity?

WASHINGTON: One of our core goals is communicating to peoplethat you can have a diverse campus that reflects academicexcellence at the same time. Certain people in society and in theworld think you can't achieve both. In ouruniversity, we have exceptional students from all over the world- more than 40 countries.  By no means havewe arrived, but we see this as an important component to continueto uphold to ourselves, our students, and our constituents, toreflect the breadth of diversity and the unity ofGod's kingdom. This is something wewon't surrender. It's not asprint, it's a marathon. 

We also are continuing to learn that if we will make progress inthis area, we must learn to listen to one another.  This takestime.  This, sometimes, is very confusing and even painful-when we begin to hear how another person feels orsenses that he/she is perceived simply because of ethnicity orsocio-economics.  I like what our divinity school AcademicDean Dr. Tite Tiénou (himself a man of more vibrant huefrom Burkina Faso) has said,"We're just beginning to learn tolisten to one another on our campus."  I knowthat this sounds like a very small step of progress.  But,it's huge.  If it's truethat we are beginning to do this, it will be very promising for thefuture.

Let's talk a little about outcome of the eventsof late April 2005. What affect did it have in terms of bringing the dialogue toa different level? Are you stronger because of the crisis?

WASHINGTON: One of the reasons we were recognized this year wasthat we expected God to do a great thing in the midst of thattrial. The devil meant this for evil but God used it for good. Iwould say this situation clearly helped shape the direction, thetone, and the future of racial reconciliation, harmony, anddiversity on our campus. As you can imagine, emotions were high- sometimes even raw. Students and staffexperienced fear, anger, disappointment, rejection, anddiscouragement.  We tried very hard to keep our focus on theLord and how He would want us to respond. I'm soproud of our student leaders, faculty, and administrators-faculty opened their homes to students theydidn't know, and students reached out to oneanother. The response demonstrated that we have something special,something unique, something worth fighting for.It's been a process, and we'restill healing. There is much to be said. John Perkins came oncampus in October to continue to challenge us. He said it will onlymake us stronger. 

The situation could have turned out very differently. What pitfalls did you avoid as the team at Trinity handled the crisis?

WASHINGTON: Prior to this event, we had been working over thelast few years to develop a crisis management response team. Thisdisseminated out of September 11, 2001.  We were encouraged byour president and board members to develop a plan in the event of acatastrophic incident that would invoke some significant action byuniversity. For years, we had round table discussions with variouscivil authorities: police, fire, an FBI expert at one pointconsulted with us on crisis management. We were building to a pointwhere we were going to have a mock emergency response on campus. Wewere not told when it would transpire, we all just prepared for it.We were all in a mode of response. It was part of our ethos for 18months.

There are many other things I would want to say about thisquestion - but I will say only one, so that itsimportance will not be missed.  The main decision-making teamat Trinity is more ethnically diverse than many.  We have anoffice of ethnic diversity - and that isimportant.  However, we all know that such offices are notalways at the center of the university decision-making anddecision-communicating.   Books on racial diversity oftenspeak about addressing the places of"power" in an organization. This, of course, is not easy.  However, I think that a key toavoiding pitfalls when decisions, especially crisis decisions, arebeing made is to have a decision-making leadership team that itselfis more diverse and not so homogeneous.  Idon't think I have to say anything more aboutthat.  The implications are clear, aren'tthey?

This event happened on a Thursday. It turns out that the mockemergency was scheduled to happen the next day.  I see thehand of God even in this. Did everything go as anticipated? Ofcourse it didn't. But our people had enoughtraining, enough preparation, to respond under fire. There was aplethora of people who stepped forward and shined during thiscrisis. 

What advice would you offer other CCCU campuses trying to increase their diversity?

WASHINGTON: As I alluded to before, one thing we were citedfavorably for is our commitment to diversity at the administrativelevel. I'm in the finishing stages of mydissertation at Loyola on the recruitment and retention of AfricanAmerican administrators at Christian colleges and universities. Ifyou want to have a diverse campus reflecting the diversity of theKingdom of God, that must be reflected in your senior leadership,for they are your decision makers. It's criticalin the faculty and student body as well. Within that construct, youdevelop a plan (or plans) to ensure that diversity is in the fabricof community, not an outside piece. It should be clearly woven intothe ethos. We are fortunate, we are diverse on the ExecutiveCouncil and the Board, and we're making greatstrides within faculty. Our student body is more diverse than mostChristian colleges. There needs to be that commitment to diversity.It won't be easy. You're going tohave to explain yourself; people will wonder whatyou're trying to achieve. Intentionality is veryimportant.