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Syracuse University employees shared their experience in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility training along with how their own identity impacts their experience at SU at a forum Tuesday morning.

Those attending the forum focused on three pillars — educational excellence and student success, research and creative excellence and public impact — as part of the academic strategic planning process. The meeting, held on Zoom, concluded the 14 total forums that were held throughout the semester for the plan.

“I can give all sorts of diversity training in my colleges and all the people that should be coming are not coming and then the people who want to continue to educate themselves are the only ones over there,” said Diane Lyden Murphy, dean of David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. “Then it becomes the endless chasing after the people who never participate.”

The forum was led by co-chairs of the DEIA working group Mary Grace A. Almandrez, SU’s vice president for diversity and inclusion, and Marcelle Haddix, associate provost for strategic initiatives and professor in the School of Education.

Suzette Meléndez, associate dean of equity and inclusion in SU’s College of Law, said faculty often put a “burden” on marginalized students to speak up on matters of diversity.

“We want them to collaborate with us and hear their voices, but we also have to realize that they are here to get a degree and it’s not fair for us to put this burden on top of their shoulders,” Meléndez said.

Meléndez was speaking specifically to the pillar of research and creative excellence, which centers on collaboration and how faculty can work across boundaries to increase a diverse student population and encourage more diverse perspectives in education.

Collaboration starts with creating a diverse faculty to take part of the burden off marginalized students, Meléndez said. Haddix took note of the faculty members currently in specific positions and of the need to create balance between diversity coordinators.

Most of SU’s diversity “leads,” or coordinators, are women of color, Haddix said.

“When we think of certain kinds of leadership and/or service roles, that can have an impact on a person’s productivity, having been very explicit around that, taking an inventory of that, and seeing what systems or processes we can put in place to create more balance across that, I think is really key,” she said.

Moderators of the forum also reviewed common themes identified within the campus climate survey, which gathered feedback about campus support systems from students, faculty and administrators.

Alamndrez said a common point of feedback from the survey was a need for more transparent communication and accountability between the DEIA working group and SU students. At Tuesday’s meeting, no current students spoke.

Almandrez said the DEIA working group could better show its work through online tools such as dashboards.

Some of the feedback also focused on faculty and professional development at SU.

“(SU community members) want to see changes that have been made in the curriculum, changes that have been made particularly around professional development,” Alamandrez said. “That continues to be a theme, particularly for our faculty, as we invite and challenge them to think about how to expand their curricula and pedagogical methods.”

Christina Papaleo, SU’s access coordinator, said she thinks some faculty participate in professional development training out of “compliance.”

“I think that people hear the word ‘professional development’ or ‘training’ or ‘workshop,’ and they either cringe or they’re very excited … What could we do to try to not force faculty and staff to participate in professional development, and in helping them, take a sense of ownership to it?” she asked the participants.

Toward the end of the forum, Haddix addressed the pillar of public impact, which emphasizes a commitment to matters of DEIA beyond the classroom.

Jimmy Luckman, associate director of SU’s first year seminar, said community engagement should have quality over quantity.

“I don’t want us to rest upon just quantitative — what are we doing in terms of a number of impacts — but more or less, how we’re getting involved within the community,” he said.

Murphy said some students feel above the surrounding Syracuse community, adding that students should better engage with the city and its history.

“(The students) don’t even understand the richness, the color, the texture or the history of where they study. So that seems to be a ridiculous loss,” Murphy said.

Although this was the last forum, Haddix said the development of diversity and inclusion is an ongoing process the university community will continue to discuss.

The working group will be holding a Student Engagement Session in the Schine Student Center on Monday Nov. 7 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“I hope we can continue to just gather important information and help us strengthen the feedback that we’re able to give to the pillar groups,” Haddix said

Published on November 1, 2022 at 10:21 pm