{"id":421,"date":"2018-09-19T22:06:54","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T22:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/09\/19\/2018919the-problem-of-inclusion-and-diversity-at-quinnipiac-and-the-ways-to-fix-it\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:42:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:42:57","slug":"2018919the-problem-of-inclusion-and-diversity-at-quinnipiac-and-the-ways-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/09\/19\/2018919the-problem-of-inclusion-and-diversity-at-quinnipiac-and-the-ways-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Two years later: Quinnipiac’s struggle with inclusion and diversity on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Sarah Russell and Randy Del Valle<\/p>\n

Two years ago on Sept. 19, Quinnipiac University exploded with controversy as a Snapchat circulated the campus. The snap included an image of a caucasian female student with a black-colored face mask on. The caption read, \u201cblack lives matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The university faced major backlash as the image hit mainstream news media<\/span><\/a> and officials tried to keep the image from being a representation of the school. The student who took the picture and wrote the caption left the school, and the student in the photo was left trying to rebuild her reputation. <\/p>\n

And faculty, staff, and students had to determine how to promote a more diverse culture where this would never be an issue again.<\/p>\n

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Fast forward to today, university administrators say they have spent the last two years working on different ways to bring a more diverse mix of people to campus and to build an environment where students and staff feel they belong and are respected.<\/p>\n

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Yet even with the university trying to promote diversity and inclusion, many students and staff still say there\u2019s more work to be done.<\/p>\n

Chief Diversity Officer Don Sawyer said whenever people talk about an inclusive campus, people tend to only focus on students of color and that\u2019s not what inclusive excellence is about.<\/p>\n

\u201cInclusive excellence is about making sure that your campus is welcoming to all people,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cWe want to build a campus where everyone feels that they are a part of this Bobcat nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we make the campus a welcoming space, it\u2019s not just for those who are underrepresented or those who are marginalized, it creates a campus environment where everyone feels welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawyer says inclusion and diversity are considered a \u201chot button topic,\u201d and that people often don\u2019t want to talk about things of that nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are afraid to talk about the topic, because some people think \u2018ok if I talk about race people are going to think I\u2019m a racist, you know I don\u2019t want to say the wrong thing if I say the wrong thing people are going to smear my name.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about inclusion people say we want to increase the number of underrepresented people on campus, but we have to talk about what does it mean once they get here,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cSo if the campus is not prepared for the increase, then I think the increase doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we have to work with one another to create a campus that\u2019s welcoming to everyone and then we can actually start talking about inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawyer also explained that inclusion works when people have dialogue, interaction and perspective taking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have dialogue and then we have intentional forums, intentional programs, intentional opportunities with people to interact during that dialogue interaction. We are able to understand the perspective of others,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cUnderstanding the perspective of others, understanding the reality of others, it broadens our mindset, it broadens our scope. Just because something is not our reality doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quinnipiac Bias Incident Response Team (QBIRT) reviews reports submitted by students online. The team looks at the reports to see if there\u2019s a need for an investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re going to be doing is to have an online submission portal where you can submit things whether it\u2019s for Title IX, sexual harassment or bias incident or things of that nature where it will be a one stop shop for you to get educated,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cIt will also be a space where you can report anonymously.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Edgar Rodriguez, chief of public safety, also admits that diversity and inclusion problems on campus still exist, but that the entire university continues to work on these issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to have those discussions and collaborate with different organizations and different students and get to the bottom of it,\u201d Rodriguez said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to get people involved. You can\u2019t do it on your own. This is not a public safety issue. This is not a Res Life issue. This is a community issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez says he plans to create a Community Partnership Advisory Board, a diverse group that will come together to discuss public safety issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on out there, and what would you like to see, and are some people being stopped at gates, some are not?\u201d said Rodriguez. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A quote from Chief of Public Safety Edgar Rodriguez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

He wants to include faculty, a student, a member of the Student Government Association and a professor from the Criminal Justice program among others to bring a cohesive group together and have all students feeling safe and protected on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we handle that, how do we treat everybody the same, how does everybody be treated equally. It\u2019s not about a color, it\u2019s about being a human being. It\u2019s about treating everybody with respect.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rodriguez wants his staff to reflect the school community and has increased the diversity ratio in his department from 4 percent to 25 percent.<\/p>\n

Abbie O\u2019Neill in the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement said progress is being made on making Quinnipiac more inclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a large population of students who do not feel [Quinnipiac is] inclusive. I think it\u2019s making strides to become more inclusive, but it\u2019s not there yet,\u201d said O\u2019Neill, a specialist for student engagement.<\/p>\n

She says the school has been starting to support different multicultural groups and events, which could help students feel included on campus. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think highlighting the multicultural student organizations as places that students can go and either learn or become a part of something is a step in the right direction,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n

Recent changes the school has made include opening the multicultural suite for the multicultural organizations, creating the multicultural student leadership council and, for the first time, running a multicultural welcome week. Different events were put on by multicultural organizations each day during the week, ending with the culture fair. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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