Belonging at Manhattan:
Diversity Council Champions DEI on All Fronts IN KEEPING WITH MANHATTAN’S COMMITMENT TO ITS LASALLIAN CORE PRINCIPLES, the College’s faculty, staff, administrators and students are joining in concerted efforts to amplify and support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on campus. A Diversity Council established in 2020 has taken significant steps to continue building a climate and culture in which all members of the Manhattan community feel a sense of belonging. N N N BUILDING
THE FOUNDATIONS
Recent initiatives are a continuation of work that has been ongoing for many years, says Emmanuel Ago, Ed.D., assistant vice president for student life, noting that a diversity committee devoted to creating opportunities for faculty and staff to explore different aspects of diversity and identity was launched two decades ago. The committee organized lectures, performances and guest speakers in honor of Black History, Hispanic Heritage, Women’s History and Irish Heritage Months “to provide a sense of representation on campus,” Ago notes. Another committee focused on student retention also had an impact, highlighting areas of student need and researching ways to address them. “One of the core pieces that we continually look at is our data from student success, whether it be retention, career outcomes, or graduation rate,” says Rani Roy, Ph.D., associate provost. “The retention committee, in looking at disaggregated data for retention, realized that there were ways to support our underserved, underrepresented minority students that maybe we weren’t doing.” “Serendipitously,” Ago adds, “we were starting to think about what the student commons would look like, and redefine what Student Life would look like in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion.” That train of thought eventually led to the development of the Multicultural Center in the Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Commons, which opened in 2014. Hayden Greene, who joined the College in 2016 as director of multicultural affairs, collaborates with student life directors to run emerging student leadership training and retreats, along with diversity and wellness events that complement the College’s clubs and programs. He also coordinates the center’s programming, which includes opportunities for students, faculty and staff to share their experiences, projects and stories through 15-minute Tiny Talks (modeled on TED Talks) and the annual Story to Tell! event. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, many offerings continued to be available virtually.)
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N N N DIVERSITY
By Cecilia Donohoe
COUNCIL
In September 2018, the office of Diversity and Equity was established with a mandate to combat discrimination and champion inclusion and belonging at the College. Sheetal Kale, J.D., who has a background in civil rights law, joined Manhattan as director of equity, diversity and chief Title IX coordinator. In addition to dealing with sexual misconduct complaints, Kale’s job was envisioned to handle complaints of discrimination and to foster diversity and equity throughout the College. “Justice and equity, along with other protected classes, specifically race, has always been a huge part of my career, if not a driving force behind it,” she says. When a pair of surveys conducted in spring 2019 highlighted areas of dissatisfaction on the part of students and faculty members of color, Kale and Roy helped organize a series of focus groups to learn more and discover how best to respond. The focus groups revealed more specific concerns. “What we ended up finding out was that there were many similar themes running through the communities of color on campus,” Roy says. “That was a feeling of a lack of a sense of belonging, feelings that there were not people of color at every level of the institution and in decision-making positions. And for students, really seeing role models in our faculty who are in those positions.” To address these issues, a Diversity Council — comprised of a steering committee and advisory committee with representation from students, faculty and administrators — was formed in the spring of 2020. Its mission took on new clarity and urgency in light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate effects on people of color, and the nationwide conversation around race that was sparked after the murder of George Floyd in May of that year. The Diversity Council was officially introduced to the College community in a June 2020 email to all students and employees by Diversity Council leaders and President Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D. “Black Lives Matter,” their announcement stated. “It is important to begin there.” Calling for “hard work, deep reflection, and involvement” from the College community, the message continued, “We must gain insight from people of color, particularly members of African American and Black communities, who are the most frequent targets of discrimination and racism in our society, but not expect them to shoulder this burden on their own.” The council’s goals centered on the recruitment and retention of students and employees of color; meaningful change to the campus climate; inclusion of race and ethnicity as a collegewide core competency; and fostering community engagement and partnerships. A series of concrete action steps provided a roadmap for implementing each goal.
