Statement from the co-chairs of the Task Force on Building Names and Institutional History
December 14, 2018
As co-chairs of the President’s and Provost’s Task Force on Building Names and Institutional History, we write on behalf of its members with an update on our work.
Celebrating Holidays and Diversity at the University of Minnesota
by Julie Showers, associate vice president and chief of staff, Office for Equity and Diversity
A ‘Socially and Emotionally Responsive’ Approach to Intercultural Communications: a conversation with Amina Jaafar
by Amelie Hyams
Dr. Amina Jaafar has a lot to share with us about intercultural communications. It’s an essential part of her job as the Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Equity and Diversity, and an instructor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Jafaar‘s teaching, research, and administrative work bring together counseling psychology, education, and intercultural competence/communication to promote culturally and emotionally responsive practice.
Anti-Semitic vandalism reported in University residence hall
A University of Minnesota residence hall was vandalized with anti-Semitic messages last Wednesday.
On Nov. 28, members of a Living Learning Community in the University of Minnesota’s 17th Avenue Residence Hall notified staff to the presence of racially biased vandalism in the building that targeted a “community-created poster,” according to an email sent to hall residents.
Campus climate micro-grant project awards $25,002 in fourth year
On November 27, 2018 the Campus Climate Engagement Team (CCET) awarded $25,002 to 31 projects. These awards aim to improve the overall campus climate by supporting new and existing activities at a local or grassroots level. Now in its fourth year, the project received 53 applications.
Atosha Rypa, 2018 SEED Award, delivers powerful spoken word/remarks at OED Breakfast
2018 Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award recipients
The SEED Award program honors diverse undergraduate, graduate, and professional students for their outstanding work at the University of Minnesota -- both within and out of the classroom. The awards are presented at the Office for Equity and Diversity's annual Equity and Diversity Breakfast.
See the list and video below highlighting this year's award winners:
Striving for diversity in CFANS: students pushing to improve college's diversity
Alexis Murillo offered a unique perspective to CFANS — traveling from her city life in Chicago to the agriculture-focused college at the University of Minnesota.
When she began studying in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, she didn’t expect to channel her efforts to a whole new direction: improving diversity in the college, which is nearly 85 percent white, according to fall 2018 enrollment numbers.
University seeing uptick in reported on-campus bias incidents
There has been a consistent rise in reported incidents motivated by bias at the University of Minnesota.
The University of Minnesota's Bias Response and Referral Network, which has collected bias incident reports since 2016, recorded 107 individual reported bias incidents between March 2017 and April 2018 — an almost 40 percent increase from 2016-2017, according to BRRN reports.
Campus climate efforts grow in colleges and units
Many efforts to improve campus climate have been underway over the last several years at the campuswide level and within colleges and units. This fall, a concerted effort was made to gather more information about work happening at the local level across the Twin Cities campus. The results include:
