Developing Diversity 2022

Culture Open Humility Traditions Environment Tolerance

Multiculturalism

Compassion Traditions Culture Open Humility Traditions

FAMILIAR FACES TO LEAD EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AT UWEC

FACULTY FILL INTERIM ROLES, OFFER STABILITY, EXPERTISE

UW-EAU CLAIRE HAS ENDURED A NOTABLE AMOUNT OF TURNOVER IN ITS EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION (EDI) DIVISION IN THE PAST YEAR, culminating in the departure of Olga Diaz, the division’s former vice chancellor, in September. In mid-November, the school announced it has filled two interim EDI leadership positions.

Teresa O’Halloran, previously director of affirmative action and Title IX coordinator, was appointed interim assistant chancellor for EDI, while Dr. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton is set to begin a new role as interim executive director for EDI engagement following the conclusion of her fall semester teaching duties.

The appointments were made by Chancellor James Schmidt with support from an advisory review team made up of faculty, staff, and students, including members of the EDISA (EDI + Student Affairs) division. O’Halloran and Ducksworth-Lawton collectively hold decades’ worth of experience at UWEC: O’Halloran first joined the university in 2006, and Ducksworth-Lawton has nearly 30 years of experience as a campus and community leader in both academic and EDI-related efforts.

“Our priority for this interim period of 18 months is to reaffirm our commitment to eliminating the opportunity gap for our students of color and other underrepresented groups,” Schmidt said. “Secondly, it

is essential that all of us are working to provide our students with the level of cultural competence that they must have to be successful in their future communities and careers.”

O’Halloran will fill the assistant chancellor role through summer 2024 and will form a new EDI Advisory Council, lead EDI conversations and foster working partnerships, and will serve on the chancellor’s executive team while also reporting to Schmidt, among other duties.

Her main focus right now is establishing a cross-divisional EDI Advisory Council that will offer counsel and support for EDI initiatives across campus, made up of faculty, staff, and students. This advisory team is something Schmidt was aware current faculty and staff request the EDI division implement, and O’Halloran is set to chair it.

“The chancellor has said to me over and over again, ‘You understand faculty, you respect faculty, (and) faculty respect you,’” O’Halloran said. “I don’t want to be a blank slate. I feel like there’s been a lot of work and thinking done already about what our initiatives are going to be, so I really want to support what we’re doing already. I will definitely be trying to bring everybody together and service our students, but also faculty and staff

success, and retention of our faculty and staff.”

O’Halloran will retain oversight of and continue the more diversity-focused duties in the affirmative action area as well as her Title IX Coordinator position, with the human resources department transitioning in to further support those areas while she moves into the interim role, she said.

Similarly, Ducksworth-Lawton, also a history professor, will join the chancellor’s executive team and will support faculty engagement in meeting campus EDI goals, supervise the Center for EDI Training, Development and Education, and the Center for Racial and Restorative Justice. She will also be liaison to Academic Affairs for those units and will report to O’Halloran.

Both O’Halloran and Ducksworth-Lawton were approached by peers to fill the EDI roles. O’Halloran previously served in the interim vice chancellor position in EDI during spring 2021, and Ducksworth-Lawton being a well-respected force among faculty and staff, and the community.

The duo have collaborated numerous times during their years at UWEC, and in their new roles, are hoping to offer stability and synergetic leadership.

“(Peers) really wanted to make sure there was a faculty voice in the room. I feel like I owe it to them, for their faith in me, to do this,” Ducksworth-Lawton said. She will continue teaching one upper-division class per semester to keep serving the history department while filling the interim role.

“I’d like to focus on disability rights, for us to do de-escalation training – especially in the classroom – critical intervention, (and) threat assessment, but I also want to work with the university centers and groups on this idea of what civility looks like; what a critique looks like. I want to stress that it does not matter who you are, you will not be allowed to bully other people,” she said. “What we ask for, we must be able to give to others.”

By filling the interim EDI leadership roles with O’Halloran and Ducksworth-Lawton, the university will continue to work towards its various EDI goals.

“What we ask for, we must be able to give to others.”

–Dr. Selika DucksworthLawton

LONGTIME UWEC

words by mckenna scherer

TERESA O’HALLORAN

dr. SELIKA DUCKSWORTH-LAWTON

“Our priority for this interim period of 18 months is to reaffirm our commitment to eliminating the opportunity gap for our students of color and other underrepresented groups.”

–Chancellor James Schmidt

DRESSED IN THEIR BEST

CELEBRATING THE EAU CLAIRE HMONG NEW YEAR, 2022 STYLE words + photos

by ma vue

THE EXCITEMENT OF RUNNING TO THE STAGE AFTER HEARING THE CELEBRATORY BEAT DROP AND THE RUSH OF ANTICIPATION , in hopes of seeing the year’s best dance routine are familiar feelings for many who have attended previous Eau Claire

HMong New Year celebrations. Unfortunately, that stage has been silent for the past three years, with this year’s celebration again absent.

The Hmong New Year celebration usually happens in early November for the Eau Claire community. Until recently, it was held at the Eau Claire Indoor Sports Center, bringing in thousands of people from around the Chippewa Valley and neighboring communities for a weekend of music, eating, dancing, competitions, and shopping.

There was a lot of anticipation for this year’s event after its hiatus in 2020 and 2021. However, between the pandemic and the restructuring of the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association over the past year, efforts to find a venue and resources to host such an elaborate event proved unsuccessful.

The news of this year’s celebration being axed took many by surprise this September, but it didn’t stop the community from trying

to celebrate. Different organizations from the area hosted their own celebrations in hopes of keeping the tradition alive.

The UWEC Hmong Student Association and the Hmong Stout Student Organization (HSSO) both successfully hosted beautiful gatherings on Nov. 19 and Dec. 3, respectively. The students of Eau Claire North High School’s Hmong American Peem Tsheej Club also got in on the fun with an impressive celebration that rivaled some of the area’s best in past years.

A strong sense of pride was evoked in seeing the efforts from all the Valley’s young folks throwing themselves into efforts to preserve their culture and traditions – and rightfully so. There is so much more to the HMong New Year celebration than meets the eye.

Preparing for the celebration alone is enough

“The Hmong New Year is really time for our families. I go with my family and you go with yours. We meet our friends there and everybody just hung out. I miss that opportunity for our community to come together to celebrate a tradition.”

to warrant such passion. From shopping for new HMong outfits to rehearsing a dance routine for hours on end with respective crews, an empowering sense of cultural identity

“I miss how all the elders would come out because we don’t really see the elders come out. … It was one of the only times when babies, the youth, and elders were all in one place together.”

TOU GER “BILLY” LOR Prominent Wisconsinbased Shaman

BLIA SCHWAHN School and Community Liaison for the Eau Claire Area School District

is reinvigorated, and for some, newly formed – something that would have dissipated over time without events like the HMong New Year celebration to keep traditions alive and well.

The community’s yearning for a celebration this year was further amplified by witnessing our neighbors in La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, and St. Paul hosting record-breaking celebrations this year. Some of those events had people waiting in lines for

more than an hour just to get in.

There are, of course, a variety of factors that play into whether or not the Eau Claire HMong New Year celebration will take place in 2023, but in an effort to acknowledge and appreciate the community celebration this year, some community members got together for a photo shoot to reminisce about the Eau Claire Hmong New Year, dressed in their best!

“We did some breakdancing way back then— getting together and practicing over and over again to get the routine down, just for the heck of it. That was fun!”

TOM XIONG Detective for the Eau Claire Police Departmen t

KA

VUE Sexual Assault Program Director, Black and Brown Womyn Power Coalition, Inc.

“I miss the food. Trying to pick out which place had the best meat or papaya salad … and just sitting down with all of my family in one place to eat.”

TRUE LOR VUE Executive Director for Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association

“My favorite memory was when my mom gifted me a pink and gold Hmong dress for the New Year. … I believe I was in eighth grade. … That was the first time I felt beautiful, like I’ve grown into a woman.”

HOW DIVERSE ARE WE?

an updated look at the Chippewa Valley’s racial and ethnic makeup

words by tom giffey

SO HOW DIVERSE IS THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY, ANYWAY?  As we wrote when we first asked that question in these pages four years ago, the answer depends on your perspective – and your definition of diversity.

Figures for the racial and ethnic background of Chippewa Valley residents are relatively easy to track down, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau. They show a region that is gradually growing more diverse, but that (unsurprisingly) remains largely white.

Walk down the street in the City of Eau Claire and about 85% percent of the people you’ll see will be white, according to the 2020 census. Nonetheless, the figure has changed over the years: In the 2000 census, for instance, the city was more than 93% white.

In the 2020 headcount, roughly 15% of the city’s population of 69,421 were considered people of color – whether that’s Black, Asian-American, Native American, some other race, or a mixture of two or more races. This share also includes people who describe themselves on the census form as Hispanic. (The Census Bureau treats Hispanic origin as a heritage, nationality, or lineage, not a race, so Hispanic people may describe themselves as of any race.)

Considering the decades-long influx of Hmong refugees to the Chippewa Valley, the relatively large number of Asian-Americans in Eau Claire and the surrounding area isn’t a surprise. At nearly 6% of the

city’s population – or nearly 4,000 people – Asian-Americans are the second-largest group in town. While it’s a fair guess that most of these people are Hmong, the 2020 census doesn’t actually ask about the specifics of national origin (and the surveys that do date back to 2015).

For the sake of comparison, Wisconsin as a whole is just 3% Asian, according to the 2020 census.

On the whole, however, Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley are more white than the entire state and nation: Wisconsin is 78.6% non-Hispanic white, while the United States is about 57.8% non-Hispanic white –down from 63.7% in 2010.

Looking at the Chippewa Valley as a whole, the total number of people of color grows, but the percentages of individual groups decline.

To put it more bluntly, the rest of the Chippewa Valley outside Eau Claire is whiter than Eau Claire itself. According to the 2020 census, the population of Chippewa, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties together 89% white. This shouldn’t be a surprise: Nationwide, urban centers tend to be more diverse than rural areas. And yet that 11% share equals nearly 24,000 individuals – a number larger than the total population of either Menomonie or Chippewa Falls.

Across western Wisconsin, demographic shifts have created pockets of diversity in communities that were once homogeneous. Consider Arcadia: More than 2,300 of this city’s 3,700 inhabitants are Hispanic, according to the latest census. In fact, there are more Hispanic

residents in Arcadia than there are in Eau Claire, which is nearly 20 times larger! Meanwhile, because of an influx of Somali immigrants, more than 17% of Barron residents have African ancestry. While these communities remain the exception rather than the rule in western Wisconsin, they are representative of nationwide shifts.

The changing racial and ethnic makeup of the Chippewa Valley is most clearly visible in public

schools. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, more than one-quarter of Eau Claire Area School District students were people of color in the 2021-22 school year. (The figure was 25.1%, to be exact.) Nearly 10% of the district’s students were Asian-American, while more than 6% were Hispanic. Dialing back a decade to the 2011-12 school year finds that less than 20% of students were people of color.

Again, such trends are reflected – and even amplified – nationwide: According to the 2020 census, no racial or ethnic group holds a majority among the U.S. population under 18. Among that group, 47.3% were non-Hispanic white, compared with 53.5% a decade earlier.

The future, it seems, will be more diverse than ever.

The changing racial and ethnic makeup of the Chippewa Valley is most clearly visible in public schools. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, more than one-quarter of Eau Claire Area School District students are people of color.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

future teacher hopes to make a difference in nearby classrooms, around the world

words by judy berthiaume / uwec

WHEN MAISEE YANG GRADUATES FROM UW-EAU CLAIRE THIS MONTH, she will take with her a long list of goals that she hopes to accomplish during her future teaching career.

An elementary education major with a teaching English as a second language (TESOL) minor, Yang wants to find a job teaching fifth to eighth graders, but she also wants to someday teach abroad in Europe or Asia, something she says is “on my bucket list.”

While she already knows the Hmong and English languages, she would “love to learn a new language to teach overseas.”

Wherever her teaching career takes her, she wants to incorporate multiple cultures into school curriculums, says Yang, of Cottage Grove, Minnesota.

“Bringing awareness and acknowledging students’ cultural backgrounds can raise awareness not only in the classroom or schools but in their communities as well,” Yang says. “I also want to lead an extracurricular activity that I’m passionate about, whether it is a multicultural or math club, student council or yearbook.”

Looking ahead, Yang says she is eager to eventually have student teachers in her classroom to “provide the same opportunities for them as I have now; I want to pay it forward.”

Through her classes and many outside-the-classroom opportunities, UW-Eau Claire has prepared her well to achieve those goals and more, Yang says.

Being part of UW-Eau Claire’s Hmong Living and Learning Community and Blugold Beginnings program were especially meaningful, Yang says. Both programs taught her about honoring one’s identity and networking with other professionals, she says.

The Hmong Living and Learning

Community “allowed me to embrace my identity along with individuals who shared the same ethnic identity,” Yang says. It also helped her “connect and empathize with my Hmong people and to build a community and a sense of belonging” in an unfamiliar place, Yang says.

“The best part of the Hmong Living Learning Community was unapologetically embracing my Hmong culture and language in a space that lacks the awareness of Hmong people,” Yang says. “We were able to make a stand for ourselves on a predominately white campus and let others know that we exist.”

Blugold Beginnings also was valuable, helping her meet other students of color who share similar views on education, Yang says. A highlight of being active in the organization was learning to “empathize with people of color and critically understand their stories,” she says.

“We all share similar lived experiences; however, some parts are uniquely different,” Yang says. “Honestly, it taught me that we, the first generation, are a blueprint and must uplift each other.”

Another highlight of her college career was participating in the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, an intercultural immersion experience that takes Blugolds and others to the historical sites of the civil rights movement.

Yang encourages current and future Blugolds to embrace the many opportunities UW-Eau Claire offers and to understand that their time in college is not always going to be a “smooth ride.”

“Explore new places, connect with people of diverse backgrounds, continue to grow and get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Yang says. “Do not limit yourself to anything, whether that is your own beliefs, a course you plan to take, a club on campus or simply conversing with a stranger.”

UWEC PHOTO

+

HOW TO DEVELOP DIVERSITY AT HOME

resources for you & your family to expand your world views

COMMUNITY RESOURCES CAMPUS RESOURCES

WOMEN + FAMILY

BOLTON REFUGE HOUSE

Domestic abuse treatment center in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

>> boltonrefuge.org

FAMILY SUPPORT CENTER

Provides support and advocacy to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse

>> familysupportcentercf.com

LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

LGBTQ COMMUNITY CENTER OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY

Provides services to promote unity within the LGBTQ community.

>> facebook.com/lgbtcommunitycenter

HMONG COMMUNITY

EAU CLAIRE AREA HMONG MUTUAL ASSISTANCE ASSOC.

ECAHMAA provides services for Southeast Asian refugees in the Valley.

>> facebook.com/eauclairehmaa

WESTERN WISCONSIN

HMONG AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS

A group for leaders and emerging professionals of the Western Wisconsin Hmong Community. >> facebook. com/groups/209919433095017

LATINX COMMUNITY

EL CENTRO DE CONEXIÓN DE

CHIPPEWA VALLEY

A nonprofit that aims to bring cultural awareness to the area by establishing connections with as many local Latin American cultures as possible. >> facebook.com/elcentrocv

SOCIAL JUSTICE

BLACK & BROWN WOMYN

POWER COALITION, INC.

BBWP Coalition advocates to end violence against women, queer and trans folks, and youth. >> facebook.com/ blackandbrownwomynpowercoalition

CHIPPEWA VALLEY ACLU

Organization dedicated to protection of civil liberties in the Chippewa Valley.

>> aclu-wi.org

CHIPPEWA VALLEY EQUALITY INITIATIVE

Connects resources and organizations in the Chippewa Valley that support the cause of equality for all.

>> facebook.com/CVEIWI

JONAH JUSTICE

Grassroots organization, composed of diverse faith communities that focus on issues such as affordable housing, immigration, and child poverty.

>> facebook.com/JONAHCV

LEADERS IGNITING

TRANSFORMATION

Youth organization dedicated to creating lasting change and equality.

>> facebook.com/LITFORMKE

POWER OF PERCEPTION

Mentoring program focused on creating opportunities for minority youth.

>> facebook.com/powerofperceptionllc

UNITING BRIDGES

Uniting Bridges combines the forces of many local organizations advocating on behalf of under-represented groups.

>> facebook.com/UnitingBridges

WE ADAPT, LLC.

Provides peer support and mentorship to individuals that helps them find the intervention suitable for their lives. >> ccweadapt.com

UW-EAU CLAIRE

AFRICAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION

Organization that represents African student population on campus

BLACK STUDENT ALLIANCE

Organization that aims to improve campus environment.

CENTER FOR AWARENESS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

Sexual assault support service

CENTER FOR RACIAL AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

A place to educate community about social justice.

CRITICAL HMONG STUDIES RESOURCE CENTER

Supports Hmong-related initiatives at UWEC.

GENDER & SEXUALITY RESOURCE CENTER

Provides space for LGBTQ+ students.

HMONG STUDENT ASSOCIATION

Multicultural organization that provides social, cultural, and academic enrichment to encourage growth of diversity.

INTER-TRIBAL STUDENT COUNCIL

A group of Native American students and allies that educate and host events on Native cultures.

LATINX CULTURAL CENTER

Support center for Latinx students

OFFICE OF MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Works to create an inclusive campus

WOMEN UNITING AND FIGHTING CLUB

Coalition of students and staff that combat sexism and misogyny

UW-STOUT

BLACK STUDENT UNION Supports Black students on campus.

HMONG STOUT STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Offers academic enrichment to encourage growth of diversity on campus.

LATINOS UNIDOS

Organization with the goal of promoting Latino/Hispanic culture

MULTICULTURAL STUDENT SERVICES

Organization that supports Asian, Black, Latinx, and Native American students.

NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous students.

THE QUBE

The center provides services and programs to promote unity within and among the LGBTQ community.