Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy, & Diversity

Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy, & Diversity (LEAD)

The LEAD area provides diverse programming and leadership op-

portunities for graduate and undergraduate students, both across the general student body and focused on specific populations. These units worked towards developing a shared purpose, creatively marketed their programs to reach students virtually, and used data to inform their practice. As an area, they committed to deepening their own personal learning as well as shared collective responsibility to address systemic oppression and its impact on students’ sense of community and belonging through policy and program review, program and curriculum design, and centering marginalized voices in their work.

MULTICULTURAL INVOLVEMENT & COMMUNITY ADVOCACY (MICA)

With the multitude of traumatic and racially charged events this year, the Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) unit in STAMP was busy working to expand their reach, provide much needed support to students, continue cultural heritage celebrations, and raise awareness about critical, timely issues, such as the rise of anti-Asian violence over the past year. To accomplish all of these things, MICA leveraged the power of collaboration and partnerships: one Big 10 collaboration led to a shared evening event with Cornel West and community activists and another partnership led to the forming of the Big 10 Native Alliance. Many other collaborations were deepened this year providing students with creative outlets for wellbeing such as art therapy, opportunities to advocate for change on campus, and developing a better understanding of their peers’ experiences.

MICA worked with the Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Patty Perillo, to reinstate the Land Acknowledgment Committee for UMD, with stakeholders, including staff, faculty, students, local Native American tribe elders, recent Native/Indigenous UMD Alum, and members from Governor Hogan’s Initiative for Indian Affairs. The Land Acknowledgment is now being developed in consultation with local tribe elders to show respect, raise awareness, and serve as a first step towards more fully realizing and honoring Indigenous histories on this land.

ACTIVITIES

STAMP Activities initiated many efforts this past year to focus and improve in areas around inclusion, equity, and representation. For example, through an ongoing collaboration, the Undergraduate and Graduate Legal Aid Offices support students who may need assistance with immigration law. A partnership between the Carey Law School and the University of Maryland offering services to students and families of students was established this spring. A program focusing on the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals and a general immigration law workshop was offered through a partnership with the legal aid offices, the law school, and STAMP’s Immigrant and Undocumented Student Life Program.

In collaboration with the Counseling Center, MICA offered a community processing space and provided support for student organizers of the Anti-Asian Hate Crime Vigil in response to the killing of six Asian American women in Atlanta.

Other initiatives, such as those provided through Student Entertainment Events (SEE), focus on issues of representation. SEE released a Black Lives Matter support statement, including resources, that is now included in all newsletters. SEE has also worked to diversify their leadership and talent, conducting targeted outreach to campus groups to recruit a more diverse executive board. When brainstorming talent, SEE is focusing on the inclusion of talent from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in their proposals.

Similarly, the Student Organization Resource Center (SORC) piloted a program for student employees to participate in dialogue around privilege, anti-racism, advocacy, and allyship. The financial services staff of SORC are col-

laborating with the Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy unit to investigate and ensure a more inclusive funding process for student organizations.

LEADERSHIP & COMMUNITY SERVICE-LEARNING (LCSL)

The transition to a hybrid environment prompted LCSL to rethink many of their programs, as the ability to travel nationally and internationally as well as provide tutoring support in elementary schools were no longer available. Stemming from this need to think creatively about ways of being that still achieved their mission and supported the learning outcomes they have developed, LCSL launched new, creative programs to continue to provide students with rich learning experiences around a variety of social issues, such as the new Pop-Up Dialogue Series, which has now become a regular Terps for Change program offering which will engage student organizations in one-time facilitated experiences. Additionally, Leadership Studies developed and taught two new courses focused on facilitating leadership learning and strengths and values for effective leadership. Leadership Studies also expanded their Global Classrooms course partnership with the Office of International Affairs and established a new course partnership with the Terp Young Scholars program, both of which increase access to global leadership education.

ENGAGEMENT

STAMP Engagement spent the year working on initiatives that would ensure students had opportunities to continue to remain connected to each other despite the hybrid environment. For example, Graduate Student Life piloted the Grad Buddy Program and paired 50 students from different schools and programs. Its goal was to help students get more connected, feel supported through community and relationship building, and support the mental health needs of this student population. Veteran Student Life (VSL) established their office as an approved Veterans Affairs (VA) work-study worksite and hired five VA work-study student veterans who served as peer support for other student veterans navigating the many struggles of the year. Additionally, Immigrant and Undocumented Student Life supported the creation of Migrating Shells, the first student organization focused on immigration advocacy and centered on the undocumented student experience. Those working with transfer students worked with the Office of Orientation to redesign the transfer student experience, allowing for more time for incoming students to learn from current transfer students. The staff also designed community-building and transition support initiatives for students who identify as first-generation. •

LCSL successfully re-imagined existing programs for a more virtual environment and created some unique offerings, like the Terps for Change Pop-Ups and Alternative Breaks Dialogue Program.