The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office and the Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion extended the deadline for proposal submissions for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium: Recognizing Excellence, Challenges, and the Work Ahead to Feb. 25 in what is to be the Symposium’s inaugural year.
Students, faculty, staff, and alumni were invited to submit proposals that address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work being done by the St. Olaf community on the hill and beyond. On May 7, the Symposium will be held both in person and virtually through presentations, posters, and roundtable discussions.
The Symposium serves as an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and alumni to propose ideas that “address ongoing and emerging areas of social justice, representation, equity, access, inclusion, and psychological safety pertaining to communities in higher education and society at large,” said Vice President for Equity and Inclusion María Pabón Gautier in an email to the St. Olaf community.
“One thing that kept coming up and even before the co-creating session that I kept hearing was the need for staff, students, and faculty to find a space where we could share the work that we’re doing around DEI because this work has happened for many at the college even before the murder of George Floyd. This has been ongoing work,” Pabón said.
The goals of the Symposium are to have the community come together to present DEI work being done in a variety of ways, as well as recognizing and celebrating the work that is already happening and its impact. The work being presented at the Symposium seeks to acknowledge the current challenges and gaps regarding DEI work that have not yet been addressed.
The proposals demonstrate the DEI work already being accomplished by the St. Olaf community. One alumnus made a proposal to use puppet shows in a way that raises awareness about DEI topics in the Twin Cities, while another group of students chose to use music and instruments with cultural covers to engage others in DEI conversations.
Over 40 applications were received after the deadline had been extended from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25. Students, faculty, and staff made the majority of the submissions, but alumni are still eligible to submit until March 25. Students, staff, and faculty will be informed of the status of their proposal by March 15, and alumni will be notified by April 4.
Proposals covered a variety of suggested areas of emphasis, such as environmental justice, ability/disability, and identity development. Many proposals sought to approach diversity, equity, and inclusion from a more systemic perspective.
“The rubric that we’re going to be using to review the proposals uses a holistic approach. To make sure that we’re not focusing all of our acceptance in one area, we’re looking at the big realm of identities and areas of DEI,” Pabón said. “We want to make sure that they support our mission and our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Diversity can be defined in so many ways as differences and opinions or thoughts, but we’re defining diversity with a DEI critical race lens as it relates to communities who are underserved and who have been historically marginalized.”
Staff, students, faculty, and alumni are invited to attend the symposium on May 7. In the first week of April, invitations will be sent out to the college community to choose whether they would like to participate virtually or in person at the college. The virtual track will use a platform that is intended to model a conference setting and will allow participants to network and engage with each other. Another way to be involved with the Symposium is through artistic submissions for tech stickers, which go on keyboards and laptops, that represent the diversity of culture, ethnicity, and experiences community members have.
