Inclusive Bates Experience

Bates is committed to fostering a living and learning environment in which all students, staff, and faculty can thrive. Where we understand there to be barriers to full participation in academic or campus life, we work creatively to overcome them.

Where we understand there to be opportunities to build on our historic commitment to inclusion and “the transformative power of our differences,” we work to create programs and structures that inspire dialogue and community-building among students, staff, and faculty.

We have developed a series of programs that take into account the ways in which a person’s economic, social, or cultural background may influence their experience at Bates. Over the past few years, we have made significant progress in designing and implementing programs that support the differentiated needs of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds, students who are first in their families to attend college, and students who are LGBTQA+ identified. We have also developed a broad range of programs for the entire community that seek to foster deeper understanding and alliances across differences of thought and/or experience.

Our goal is to foster a culture at Bates of productive and respectful interaction, and an ethos in which differences of thought and experience are understood to be sources of personal and communal strength and effectiveness, fulfilling Bates’ distinctive history and promise.