$10,000 funding announced for Diversity Council programs
A $10,000 fund, provided by the President’s office for the Diversity Council, is to match funds for up to one-half of the cost of diversity-related programs during the year.
The programs include a number of steps dealing with different aspects of diversity.
The Council has adopted guidelines for the use of this money and indicates how the money will be awarded.
The key to the awards will be the connection between the proposed activities or event and specific actions steps in the strategic plan, Sandy Holbrook, co-chair of the Council, said.
Ann Burnett, a professor and member of the Council said, “We are hoping that the monies can be used in broad-based efforts to effect programs and people across campus.”
Requests for funding will be reviewed using the guidelines the Council adopted.
The intention is that this money will lead to new and innovative programs related to diversity.
Proposals will be based on ideas generated from students, faculty and staff at NDSU, keeping in mind that events with multiple organizations or groups are a priority.
Holbrook thinks it’s important to have faculty, staff and students on the Council to hear different perspectives and gather a variety of ideas for their work.
Members are appointed with that objective in mind.
“ On a campus that is not terribly diverse, it’s important that we engage in multi-layered efforts to make the campus climate a comfortable one for all,” Burnett said.
The Council provides leadership for the university’s efforts to become a campus community that welcomes and respects all kinds of people.
“ Our students deserve an opportunity to learn how to work effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people; people from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures, people of different gender, sexual orientation, spiritual traditions and beliefs and people with disabilities, as part of their college education,” Holbrook said. “Working effectively with a variety of people is an increasingly important skill for us all to develop.”
Holbrook encourages students and others on campus to actively take part in the variety of programming, events and trainings on our campus that are related to diversity and the issues that arise when people form judgments about others based on differences.
She especially encourages students and others to participate in anti-racism training and related programs that explore the dynamics of power and privilege and their impact on our relationships.
Holbrook also encourages everyone to look at the strategic plan at http://www.ndsu.edu/diversity/.