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Diversity
DIVERSITY AT CMU DIVERSITY AT CMU
Diversity resources promote cultural awareness, support student identities
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When Central Michigan University alumnus Mimi Gonzales-Barillas reflects on her college experience, she remembers beginning to understand herself by learning about the identities of the people around her.
For the first-generation college student, the university was a “small cosmopolitan setting” that allowed her to interact with people from a variety of different backgrounds.
“(A university) might not be as worldly as a metropolis,” Gonzales-Barillas said. “However, (students are) still thrown together. In that churn, they’re exposed to so much difference, and part of their identity forms in response to those differences. Hopefully, it’s an embrace because that’s what makes you a more expansive, open and whole human being.”
Gonzales-Barillas serves as the communications specialist for the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which implements university policy and initiatives to make campus safer and more inclusive.
The OIDEI, along with offices like the Office for Diversity Education, exists to improve the university through events and educational opportunities that promote intercultural awareness.
“I wish all students knew that whatever their human difference, there is support for their exploration of (their identities),” Gonzales-Barillas said. “Whatever their difference is, it will be supported here. Not only can it be explored, but it will also be celebrated.”
In addition to registered student organizations that focus on specific causes or issues, the university offers a number of institutional resources that support student identities.
The Center for Inclusion and Diversity houses several offices and programs, including Multicultural Academic Student Services, Native American Program, LGBTQ Services, Veterans’ Resource Center, the Institute for Transformative Dialogue and the Student Transition Enrichment Program (STEP). The CID also provides a space for tutoring/mentoring and leadership opportunities.
In light of the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, CMU has updated its diversity
President Robert Davies speaks with a student during the MLK Week Unity March.
“Whatever their difference is, it will be supported here. Not only can it be “ explored, but it will also be celebrated. - Mimi Gonzales-Barillas CMU Alumnus
statement to support the Black community and offer more racial literacy resources.
All incoming students are required to complete the Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Awareness Program. As part of the university academic requirements, students must complete two diversity courses. Faculty and staff must also abide by CMU policy standards and their department’s updated diversity, equity and inclusion bylaws.
In the event of discrimination or misconduct, students can file a report to the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity or meet with an ombudsperson from the Student Ombuds Office to understand their rights and options.
“(Accountability within diversity, equity and inclusion) is a real source of dynamic learning,” Vice President and
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Chief Diversity Officer A.T. Miller said. “If you have real open relationships with people of many different backgrounds, that is very stimulating and gives you new ideas ... Every CMU student will have better education as a result; every professor will have better research; every administrator will have a broader idea of how things work and how to consider every angle.”
Over the 2019-20 academic year, CMU introduced 73 diversity initiatives across campus offices and organizations. In an annual diversity symposium, community members can learn more about specific initiatives and offer suggestions for how to improve the university.
“When we think of diversity, we think of difference in a negative or strictly racial way,” Diversity Education Director Nikita Murry said. “(We don’t think of) all the great ways in which we’re different and we can learn from one another or appreciate the needs of someone else. The initiatives encompass many of the potential ways in which we are different, but can still be supportive of one another.”
Diversity and inclusion resources and programs are made for the benefit of the entire CMU community regardless of personal identities. The diversity office staff urges students to attend events and seek out different perspectives.
“(The university is) a chance to experience such a wide variety of diversity in people unfiltered by parents or guardians,” Gonzales-Barillas said. “The lens by which you view these new experiences (forms) the lens of your own thinking. How you reflect on these experiences help you define yourself.”
Students smile as the walk during the MLK Week Unity March.
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