The Diversity Council’s mission is to lead and support initiatives that promote and
sustain inclusive excellence across our campus community in support of DCC’s mission
and core value to “Embrace Diversity as an Integral Part of our Institutional Identity.”
The Council seeks to bring about transformative change that results in a representative,
inclusive and equitable college community.
Goals
1. Create access to meaningful information/ideas which will demand/hold our community
accountable for inclusion and diversity in all the sectors of the community of DCC.
2. Facilitate the institutionalization of diversity by incorporating diverse voices
in all departments and governing bodies of the college.
3. Demand engagement in the conversation and hold everyone accountable.
Objectives
1. In addition to creating access to meaningful information/ideas, the Diversity Council
seeks to create an institutional process that will demand progress at DCC towards
inclusion, equity, and access, and hold our community accountable for actions and
achievement of stated goals.
2. Facilitate the institutionalization of diversity, equity and inclusion: The mission
of equity for an institution is to help remove the structural barriers to resources
for historically marginalized groups and thus provide access, but also to direct resources
in such a way as to maximize the opportunities for these groups, and, when possible,
to serve as an instrument of advocacy or as a means of empowering these voices at
all levels of the institution and beyond in the larger community.
3. increasing diversity in our campus. In particular, aim to have a diverse faculty,
staff and leadership that resembles the diversity of our student body and Infuse in
all goals the core requirement that student diversity requires faculty staff and leadership
diversity. Emphasize, in all related goals, the imperative that we must increase diversity
among faculty and staff and leadership.
Diversity Council Members’ Roles and Responsibilities
1. Give representation to the voices of historically marginalized groups on campus
among faculty staff and students.
2. Participate in the creation of guidelines for implementing campus functions around
diversity, including guest speakers for students and staff.
3. Formulate and execute plans for a Diversity center and meet with campus administrative
leadership to confirm resource/space allocation(s) needed to support an action based
stance toward shaping this space on campus.
4. Participate in the creation of guidelines for search committees highlighting issue
of diversity.
5. Serve on search committees as DC representatives.
6. Create professional development activities for educating the campus on Diversity.
7. Represent the DC on governance bodies on the campus.
8. Present or suggest workshops at the SUNY Diversity Conference highlighting departmental
work at DCC that supports diversity and access/disability efforts, teaching, campus
innovation or direct plans of action implemented to support the mission of diversity
(as defined by the DC).
9. Collaborate openly and systematically with department chairs & faculty to create
courses that center gender, racial, sexual, immigrant and ability/disability diversity
in order to shape more inclusive learning/scholarship/programming in our community.
10. Participate in the creation of a Diversity Manual for administration, faculty
and staff populations and suggest training/professional development opportunities
in SUNY, locally in Dutchess county or nationally that center diversity, equity, and
inclusion (DEI) concerns.
12. Collaborate on a biannual basis with DCC Grants writing officer to disseminate
information on grant opportunities at the county, state and federal level which can
be applied to support diversity related initiatives and the success & enrichment of
students from historically underrepresented populations.
13. While Diversity is wide ranging, at this time in DCC’s history, students that
identify as Black and/or of the African Diaspora experience continuous challenges
to their success that are both structural and social in nature. Therefore, the council
will work with this community in order to build stronger social and institutional
structural supports that promote belonging and opportunity.
14. Advocate for programming, models of institutional student/faculty support, events
and excursions that support URM student populations and bring attention to the intersectionality
of socially oppressed populations.
15. Suggest to administration and Institutional research deep campus studies of specific
diversity populations to inform resource allocations to remove barriers to success
and foster a culture of belonging for students, staff and faculty.
16. Actively research, identify and develop solutions to address structural equity
gaps that don’t serve the needs of racial/ethnic minoritized communities in collaboration
with departments & administrative leadership.
17. Promote a culture of belonging by holding a yearly, open to the campus community,
joint meeting of the Diversity Council, Student Governance and Student Activities
designed to center diversity related student experiences, identify concerns and dialogue
toward actionable solutions.
18. Generate and maintain regional SUNY 2 year to SUNY 4 year dialogue and collaborative
efforts for DEI concerns with sister SUNY campuses around D.E.I concerns and programming.
19. Foster broader community engagement that promotes the causes of diversity.