The document discusses creating an inclusive campus climate through empowering minority students and transforming universities. It emphasizes the need for a safe, healthy, and inclusive campus where students feel a sense of belonging. Specific strategies proposed include feeding students messages that promote diversity, exercising diversity through trainings and dialogues, and enacting a vision for a safe campus climate through various efforts. Challenges addressed include the potential conflict between inclusion and excellence, as well as unchecked bias. The document advocates addressing these challenges through linking diversity to educational quality and empowering students as allies.

1. HUSKIES
The potential of creating an inclusive campus climate lies in
the total transformation and restructuring of universities and
the amount of empowerment they give to minority students to
mediate their own environments and subcultures.

2. My Persistence Story

3. What would a campus that is
inclusive of every student
look like?
Safe Healthy Inclusive
Constant
work
Not just
physical

4. Students Need A SAFE Campus In
Order to Feel A Sense of Belonging
The glue
that
engages
students =
persistence
What
does
safety
look like
for you?

5. Healthy Eating
• “Feeding” students the message
that we sincerely and constantly
care not only about diversity but
also how we embrace that
diversity.

6. Exercising
Diverse
programing
Regular &
purposeful
dialogues
Staff &
faculty
education
Not just “talking the
talk”…
But “walking the
walk”

7. Regular Checkups
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Percentage
Retained into Fall
2013
Three-Year Average
Percentage (2011-
13)
First-to-Second-Year Retention Rates by
Ethnicity*
http://www.mtu.edu/equity/diversity/facts/retention/

8. • As Assistant Director for CDI:
–Acknowledge my identities &
lenses
–Interrupt & problematize
discrimination & oppression
Making Diversity Our Strength

9. Specifically, I will:
• Advocate & Educate
– Sit on committees
– Be a neutral party for bias reporting
– Implement trainings/CDI social justice lecture
series
– Collaborate
– Recognize intersectionality
– Help students empower themselves
– Connect social justice education to leadership
development
– Form meaningful relationships with students
– Purposefully facilitate difficult discussions…and
then move from discussion to action

10. Enacting A Vision For A Safe
& Healthy Campus Climate
“Feeding”
students
messages
that promote
diversity
“Checkup” on
climate
studies/retention
data
“Exercising”
diversity
through
trainings &
dialogues
Encourage
majority
population to
participate in
diversity events
Enhance visibility of
diversity efforts
Campus-
wide
expectations

11. Challenges
• The Inherent Conflict Between
Inclusion and Excellence….
– “…the purpose of a university is
academic achievement. If you allow
academic performance as the main
goal of a school you might find less
social diversity but you will have a
strong university…awareness of
social diversity is good to have but
not all important” - 2010 Climate Survey student quote

12. We Are Limited By Our
Experiences
• Link diversity initiatives to the
quality of education.
– Diverse perspectives allow us to experience the
world more richly.
– Research shows that most students go virtually
untouched by the college experience, however, the
greatest impact of college on students, is
identity development.
• The answer to who I am is: Who are you and
who are we together?

13. But How Do We Do This in
the STEM Fields?
• Any science student or professor
can examine how scientific
knowledge is constructed by
considering how it is shaped by
positionality.
– Recognize how values shape
observation & which questions get
asked

14. The Challenge of
Unchecked/Unconscious Bias
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a
computer-based test that asks people to
group words into pair categories. Most
people perform the task more quickly and
more accurately if the combinations of
categories match their unconscious
associations.

15. In Addition to Utilizing the CDI
Cultural Competency Training
Model
• Bystander Intervention Campaign
• A truly inclusive campus is willing to
engage in the daily work of unlearning,
challenging, & dismantling oppressive
systems
• Empower students to cultivate their
identities as allies & advocates

16. Lack of Diversity Challenge
Female
25%
Male
75%
Bachelor's Degree
Enrollment by Gender
fall 2012 (Approx.)
Bachelor’s Degree
Enrollment by Ethnicity
fall 2012

17. Solution?: Mission
Statement
• “we prepare students to create the
future”…but diversity is not mentioned
until the strategic plan.
• Inclusive Excellence = link b/w equity,
diversity, and inclusion initiatives &
educational mission.
– Need the support of the campus
community!

18. Questions
&
Discussion