A Flourishing Community: Spring 2021

POINT’S NEW CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER ON WHERE WE’RE GOING

BY ELIZABETH MONCRIEF SMITH ’20

Seven percent.

In a world so large and flourishing with people of different races and ethnicities, universities are celebrating when they reach a surprisingly low margin of diversity on their campuses.

“When I talk to other colleges or I go to conferences, talk to my peers, or associations we’re a part of, Christian colleges that are about our size – honestly, if they reach seven percent diversity, they are celebrating. They think that is a lot of diversity,” says Laura Schaaf, dean of students at Point.

After the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of the police this past May, a new conversation started across our nation about racial justice, equality and diversity. Even though many universities have now started taking initiative to make sure they are bringing diversity on their campuses, Point started back in 2006 – and the evidence is on display today.

Newly hired at Point at the time, President Dean Collins ’79 met with the board of trustees and posed the question, how well are we serving all God’s people? At that time, Point’s diversity was 15 percent. “We stepped back and said, we need to do better,” Collins says. “We need to provide a Christ-centered education to all people.”

From that moment, Point started a journey to diversity that is still being built upon today. In fall 2020, our student body was made up of 47 percent minorities, compared to 2006’s 15 percent. Statistics from College Factual tell us that Point is already ranked 518 out of 2,475 universities across the nation, the top 20 percent, when it comes to diversity. Our staff’s goal to make our campus reflect God’s kingdom and to be sure that it has a rich blend of God’s people has come a long way and will continue to grow in the future.

Collins says, “Our intention was simply to be the people God called us to be and serve the people that God loves.” The work to get to the place we are now has included marketing intentionally for all students; appointing diverse trustees, professors, staff, and coaches; forming a diversity task force; and appointing a chief diversity officer.

March marks the three-year anniversary of Leonard Phillips joining the Point staff. Phillips was previously working in corporate America, but he felt a pull to do something more. He left his job and enrolled in seminary. Not long after, Phillips received an email from a friend about a position that was opening at a Christian university, and he jumped at the opportunity. He spent time working to create church partnerships and other connections for Point.

Last June, the University announced that Phillips was being appointed as Point’s first chief diversity officer. Phillips is responsible for leading Point’s diversity initiatives, as well as working with churches to bring about racial unity in the communities that Point serves. Collins wanted someone in the role who represents Christ well and meets the criteria that God laid out in Scripture of what a leader should look and act like. Phillips, he says, fit those requirements and more. Everyone involved in choosing whom to hire for this position agreed that Phillips’s name came to everyone’s minds first.

Phillips’s life experiences have led him to and prepared him for the position he has now. As a child growing up on the south side of Chicago, he attended a majority Black, Catholic elementary school called Holy Angels. This school poured into him the pride and appreciation that he needed. In high school, he moved into an all-boys school that exposed him to diversity. Phillips says, “I learned quickly that I wasn’t better than anyone, but I also learned that there was no one better than me.” His experience at this high school not only exposed him to people of different races and ethnicities, but also a different aspect of religion. It taught him how to respect people, even if they believed differently or looked differently. Phillips adds that the mentor that he had through Link Unlimited, a wealthy white man, showed him so much love that would later influence his ability to do well in this position.

Even though his early years gave him the qualities he needed to be Point’s chief diversity officer, later life experiences played an important role, as well. Phillips’s leadership positions in corporate America helped him to better understand how to work with all different kinds of people. President Collins believes that his background in business, combined with his theological perspective, will be of great benefit for him to be able to help churches be more intentional about diversity, too.

As the first chief diversity officer at Point, Phillips is taking on what he says is a big title. His idea of a diversity officer is someone who is a spokesperson for all people. This person should be someone who can promote and create awareness for issues that may be happening with our University, community or world. Phillips feels as though he is just continuing the goals of Point laid out by its mission statement. He says, “Our mission, equipping students for Christ-centered service and leadership throughout the world: that is what excites me. So, I hope to promote an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion.”

Phillips already has the wheels rolling on what he would like to do on our campus. With the help of Dr. Bernard Hill, chief student development and retention officer, and Alan Wilson, athletic director, the hard conversations surrounding race and diversity have started with Point’s sports teams.

Phillips says, “We are having conversations with them about diversity, about difference and about decisions. We started that the first week I was in the role.”

Phillips’s next step is implementing workshops and training for professors and staff, so that a diverse atmosphere is celebrated and Point’s curriculum meets the needs of every student. These workshops are being planned and worked on now with various faculty and staff members. Phillips says that promoting an atmosphere that celebrates diversity will naturally happen through equal respect coming from everyone at Point and by putting Jesus at the center of everything we are doing. So far, the work that has been done has met little resistance and has been a great opportunity for the University to allow people to know we are Christians by our love.

Hill, who has been working alongside Phillips, says, “He has done something that I think we all endeavor to do, and that is to create open lines of communication about the needs of students and how each person at our institution is important.” Hill believes that diversity should be about respecting and embracing differences. One thing he says he enjoys most about Phillips is that he is a Christian first, and then everything else. He says that the tie that binds us is Christ, and that is what Phillips builds his work upon. “The students’ experience matters to him,” Hill says. “The importance of the mission matters to him.”

Phillips’s goals for initiative and change will not be met overnight; they will take time. The drive for diversity will not stop with where we are now; it will continue. It is much bigger than just Leonard Phillips; it includes all of Point University. “We have to be ready to listen,” Phillips says. “We have to be eager to learn, and as Christians, we have to always be loving.” This is his call to action for Point University.