Jazmin Acuna Diaz ’26
COMMUNITY FOR ALL
The missions of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University call us to the self-reflective, honest, unrelenting and bold journey of becoming a beloved community for all. It’s part of who we are.
Brian J.
Bruess,
Ph.D. President, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
Our Benedictine values inspire us to respect all persons and to work for justice and stability. The Catholic intellectual and social traditions call us to understand the intersection of faith and reason, to respect the dignity of each person, and to dismantle systems of oppression. And our liberal arts heritage, as expressed in our institutional learning goals, challenges all members of our community to think critically and seek wisdom and truth through the integration of knowledge and information.
Given this background, we are fully committed to teaching and learning about the full range of human differences, to advancing just practices that ensure
access and success for all, to welcoming all as members of our community so each feels a deep sense of belonging, and to relentlessly working for justice. We do all this because it is good and right. We do this because our mission calls us. We do this for individual and collective human flourishing.
This summer I had an amazing opportunity to explore these themes when I was accepted to take part in the 2023 Presidents Institute: Moral Leadership for a Diverse Campus, an event put on collaboratively by Interfaith America and the Association of Catholic Colleges & Universities.
How do we create institutions that can be trusted as places of inquiry to explore and to listen, to show empathy and humility, and to know the other’s point of view?
The institute was a chance to collectively consider what insights and strategies Catholic college presidents need to be moral leaders in a time of great disruption and change in a fractured society. How do we create institutions that can be trusted as places of inquiry to explore and to listen, to show empathy and humility, and to know the other’s point of view?
For me, it was uplifting, it was inspiring and it was intellectually rigorous. And I welcomed the chance to look at the intersections of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice constructs as they’re described today in secular ways – and look at our Catholic and Benedictine traditions – and consider how we create the architecture to talk and lead about this work. What is our moral responsibility to create spaces for student conversations as they come to understand their place in the world and the
challenges that face society? And how do we lead that toward understanding – whether that involves student learning regarding the dignity of all people, or learning to understand the intersection of faith, reason and the common good?
It is important and ongoing work. And in these next few pages we’ll introduce you to some of the initiatives currently underway on campus. We’ll showcase some ambitious student efforts. And we’ll meet a Bennie who’s bringing her own life experiences to the effort.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
EVERYONE’S WORK
In January, Sandra Mitchell joined Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s as the institutions’ first senior diversity officer. It’s a big job and there is much to be done. But when you talk with Sandra, she doesn’t seem the least overwhelmed. She’s counting on help:
“This is everyone’s work,” she says with confidence.
Sandra Mitchell Senior Diversity Officer, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
“DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion and justice) is everyone’s everyday business,” she continues. “It stands out for me because I think so many people feel that they’re not part of this work. ‘This doesn’t involve me because I’m not a person of color.’ Or ‘I grew up in a small town with no diversity, I’m going to return to my small town. This does not affect me at all.’
“And I think it’s important for folks to know that it’s not just having differentlooking people around. It’s about the relationships that we have with all kinds of people. It’s great to be able to see diversity
– that’s fantastic. But if those folks are not feeling welcome; if people are feeling isolated; we’re not doing our job. And if any of our students can graduate from here and say ‘I’ve never had any experience with diversity, or anyone who’s different from myself,’ we failed that student. Because we exist in a world that is very diverse and our students should leave us prepared to be successful in it.”
In her role at CSB and SJU, Sandra is a proactive voice for unifying stakeholders across the two campuses (and beyond) toward a foundational vision for DEIJ
initiatives. As President Bruess explains it, “The position of senior diversity officer will help us put in place the structures and systems that will allow this community to live up to our Benedictine ideals: that of creating communities in which all know they belong, and in which each member expands toward becoming a more empathic member of a just and beloved world.”
Step one for Sandra has, of course, been getting to know the community: Working with human resources, working with the Multicultural Center, working with general counsel, meeting with students. … At the same time though, she has been a passionate driving force in developing a joint institutional DEIJ strategic plan. That plan is scheduled for release this fall. “We want this to be a companion piece to the institutions’ overall strategic plan (also set to release this fall),” says Sandra, explaining her timing concerns. “I look at our plan
as a companion piece where you can dive in and explain the consistent thread of inclusion. It should be a reference that folks can utilize to learn from.”
A major reason that document has taken shape so quickly is the work of the DEIJ Coordinating Council. Formed in 2021, and building on the momentum of the
recently concluded Becoming Community grant from the Mellon Foundation, the council is an institution-wide committee charged with promoting the Benedictine, Catholic and liberal arts ideas of learning, justice and community. The work of the Becoming Community grant gives a blueprint for this group as it serves as advisors to both Sandra and President
Emma Zobitz ’23 and Zoe Dalziel ’23
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
EVERYONE’S WORK
Bruess on DEIJ matters, advancing priorities and advocating for change that strengthens the community, its learning goals and its mission.
“They’ve been a tremendous resource for me,” confirms Sandra. “And it’s exciting to have that group already in place. That’s
usually one of the first things I would do – identify those champions, bring them together and entrust them with this type of work. In this case, they’ve made it possible for us to get a strategic plan in place in seven months.”
That’s remarkable speed. But fundamentally, that focus and effort reflects the underlying significance and importance of this work at these institutions.
“I think it’s more important here than in many other organizations, because we are learning institutions. And it’s not just our students who learn, it’s all of us as a community, learning together. This work allows people to be fully present when they are here – so that this is a place where you could explore your identities, but also a place where people’s identities are respected. We’re all always learning how to do that.”
Intercultural LEAD Cohort 2021
Objectives of the Inaugural College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University DEIJ Strategic Plan
• Building and maintaining a campus climate where all experience belonging and well-being through academic success, respectful engagement, authentic relationships, growth and flourishing.
• Developing an infrastructure that is not on the margins but is an integral part of the college and university.
• Recruiting, retaining and supporting a diverse community of students and
employees who enrich the entire CSB and SJU community.
• Maintaining focus on our Institutional Learning Goals – specifically, “Embrace Difference.” We will build in our community the ability to learn from, respect and work with people whose identity and perspective are different from our own.
• Building new and supporting existing partnerships to create stronger connections with diverse local communities.
The DEIJ Strategic Plan will be released early this fall.
Use this QR code to visit our website and learn more.
Back Row, L-R: Jules Miyazaki ’25, Christian Rodriguez ’25, Megan Greshowak ’27 and Kelly Kieser ’24
Front Row, L-R: Miel Aronson ’25, Tamia Watts ’24 and Gaby Perez Sanchez ’25
UNCOVERING HISTORY
Sometimes taking a chance leads to even more than you originally expected.
This spring, senior Olivia Schleper ’23 joined juniors Connor Veldman ’24, Robbie Smith ’24 and Eileen Otto ’24, to apply undergraduate research to the study of Central Minnesota history in ways that could prove transformational.
As part of an Honors 360 course (Community, Research and Social Change) taught by Brittany Merritt Nash, an assistant visiting professor of history, they posited that recent revelations of restrictive covenants in property deeds in the Twin Cities also could be found in Greater Minnesota – and likely in many places elsewhere across the country. Working with the Stearns County Recorder’s Office and the Stearns History Museum, they uncovered nearly 100 deeds that still include
clauses intended to restrict the sale to and occupancy of properties from some ethnic groups. Most were in St. Cloud, but others were found in outlying areas – including the Islewood Beach section of Collegeville – just south of the Saint John’s campus.
With the help of a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholars that paid for access to a digital database, and many hours poring over old records, the students discerned that the oldest known racial covenant in Stearns County is from 1919. Many were created in the 1920s and ’30s and, while they became unenforceable in 1953, the language remains embedded in the deeds, and some were in sales documents signed as recent as 1981. That revelation
stunned a crowd of several dozen people who packed a community room at the museum to hear about it this spring. Their work also made headlines in the media, including a story by Minnesota Public Radio (use the QR code on the next page to read more and listen).
Olivia Schleper (left) and Eileen Otto speak about an example of a property deed from Stearns County that contains racial language.
As has been discovered in Minneapolis, racial covenants were used to segregate communities. The patterns they created continue to exist and keep some residents from living close to parks, schools and businesses. Indeed, where you live has been proven to be a social determinant of health and longevity – which persistently varies by race.
The students hope their efforts will spur a drive, at least symbolic in nature, for property owners to strike the racial covenant clauses from their deeds. Stearns County Recorder Rita Lodermeier, who attended the group’s presentation at the museum, said she has reached out to the Just Deeds coalition, which already has begun the process in nearly two dozen other Minnesota cities.
“The Honors experience was great,” says Olivia. “You’re in a group of motivated students who want to be there and are
vested in what we were doing. We spent a lot of time on this project – more than you could say was required for class – but it was fascinating. We learned things we never knew and brought attention to something many people didn’t know about. I think I’ll remember this experience the rest of my life.”
Olivia Schleper (left) and Eileen Otto begin their presentation before a crowd of interested citizens on May 17 at the Stearns History Museum. Robbie Smith and Connor Veldman are at right.
Brittany Merritt Nash, a visiting assistant professor of history at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, congratulates four of her Honors Scholars students following a presentation on their investigation of racial covenant data on May 17 at the Stearns History Museum. The students include (from left) Connor Veldman, Robbie Smith, Olivia Schleper and Eileen Otto. At right are Cortez Riley, equity and inclusion partner with Stearns County, and Rita Lodermeier, recorder for Stearns County. The group uncovered almost 100 deeds in the area that contain racial restrictions on their sale or use. Though the covenants have been unenforceable for more than 60 years, their impact continues to be evident in current society and CSB and SJU hope to continue the research in the years to come.
story.
Alumnae Spotlight
EXPANDING THE LENS
When Kia Lor ’13 arrived on campus at Saint Ben’s, she encountered a bit of culture shock.
“I remember having to give Hmong history lessons in my introductions, because many people had never heard of Hmong people.
‘H-M-O-N-G. The H is silent,’ I would tell my peers.”
Initially, she found the culture shock challenging and uncomfortable. Soon though, she began to embrace the opportunity to be curious. As an Intercultural LEAD fellow (learn more about the Intercultural LEAD program at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s, using the QR code on the next page), she listened to the other members of her cohort and began to incorporate their different perspectives.
Kia Lor ’13
“It was at CSB and SJU,” she says, “that I had the time and space to expand my ethnocentric lens to think more interculturally about my place in the world and to ask deeper questions about being in community with people who are different than me.”
It was at CSB and SJU that I had the time and space to expand my ethnocentric lens to think more interculturally about my place in the world and to ask deeper questions about being in community with people who are different than me.
She traveled and studied abroad twice – in Kolkata, India and Chongqing, China –experiencing culture shock over and over. She expanded her worldview, her language skills, her knowledge of history and her intercultural communication competency.
It was at Saint Ben’s where her professors (Jeanne Cook, professor of communication, and Jennifer Kramer, associate professor of communication) introduced her to the entire field of intercultural communication. They showed her the ways scholars study it, teach it, research it and build theories around it. That was when Kia began to dream of a career
where she could integrate her lived experiences as an immigrant Hmong, first-generation, low-income student with the theories of intercultural communication. It’s when she began to see a field where she could learn and grow and serve and succeed.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Saint Ben’s in communication. She continued on for a master’s degree in intercultural communication from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She took part in the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in Portland, Oregon.
Today she is the associate director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where she helps other young people discover and embrace their own opportunities to be curious. Her focus is on societal and institutional support for DEI work and intercultural inclusion. As she puts it, “We want to build political understanding and bring history along to appreciate that we’re standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Learn more about the Intercultural LEAD Program.
ANNUAL GIVING
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An Inside Look at How Philanthropy Shapes Saint Ben’s