Eastern Connecticut
State University
Memo
To:
Sudha Swaminathan, Ph.D. , Professor
From:
Eunice Matthews, Ph.D., LCSW
CC:
Katherine Escobar
Date:
2/12/2016
Re:
Diversity and Social Justice Council Assessment update
As mentioned in the end of the semester assessment report, the Chair has taken a more active role in
getting the word out regarding the mission and purpose of the Diversity and Social Justice Council
among members of the Eastern Community and in terms of providing more support to the subcommittee chairs. There were three objectives identified for the 2011-2012 academic year. The
following is an update on those objectives:
Increase communication among council members and the university community.
 Develop a webpage that is easily accessible that will keep the university
community informed about council activities. [The webpage was developed. It is
listed under the Diversity and Equity Webpage. It includes the council members,
current activities of the council, as well as the council minutes and video
presentations. However, more work needs to be done.]
 Create an electronic drop box so as to provide an accessible method of
communication between the Council and University community.
[The electronic drop box has not been implemented. We would like for the drop
box to be an accessible method of communication whereby members of the Eastern
community can post their concerns, share information, and receive feedback. This
has not been done because we are waiting for the closed internet system to be
online. We have expressed the desire to be part of the polite once the program is
implemented. We are awaiting this addition because we feel that privacy is
important and want to exclude access to people who are not part of the Eastern
Community]
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 Schedule regular meetings with subcommittee chairs. [The sub-committee met
three times this semester. The meetings appeared to be helpful and allowed chairs
to get feedback and support when needed. It also improved communication
between sub-committee chairs, and the chair.
Educate the University community about what inclusive excellence means for the
University.
 Conduct presentations/public meetings similar to what was done at the lunch and
learn this spring, which was well received, to various departments and
organizations that are a part of the university community. Send out offers to
department chairs, department heads, and student organizations to address their
staff/members. To that ends, I have a verbal confirmation from the New University
Senate president to present at the first Senate meeting in September. I also have a
request to address the housing staff. It is my hope that this is only the beginning.
Meeting with the Department Chairs [The DSJ Council chair, presented at the Ist
Senate meeting of the semester. The presentation was on the mission and purpose
of the council as well as the meaning of inclusive excellence and the implications
for the university community. The DSJ council chair was able to meet with the
department chairs of the School of Arts and Sciences this semester. The purpose of
the meeting was to share the mission and purpose of the council and to encourage
the various departments to work towards the University’s goal of inclusive
excellence, which would mean addressing the achievement gap among students of
color at Eastern. The chair shared some statistics with the department chairs and
encouraged the chairs to begin a conversation in their perspective departments on
what their status is in regards to the achievement gap and how might they address
it. The meeting appeared to be a success; the DSJ chair was asked to speak at some
of the department meetings in the spring and has opened the door for continued
discussion in relation to this issue. A meeting with the School of Education and
Professional Studies and housing staff is planned for the Spring2012 semester. Not
much was done in regards to reaching the student of Eastern, that will be a focus of
the spring semester]
 Work with the academic sub-committee chair on piloting a faculty development
project on the issues of diversity which involves reading a book and organizing a
discussion. Their will to two books used in the pilot , titles “Other People's Children”
by Lisa Delpit &” Degrees of Inequality” by Ann L. Mullen. [The faculty
development book project was conducted this semester, there were 21 participants
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in the project and the feedback was positive. The project will be re-introduced in
the Spring to make it accessible to more faculty]
 Support campus climate sub-committee chair on the development and distribution
of the campus climate survey in the fall. [The campus climate survey was
completed and distributed this fall’, we will make a decision in the spring if we
will run the survey again so as to increase the sample n, the data analysis will also
take place this spring. It is our hope that a report will be ready for the fall 2012
semester.
Increase collaboration with local colleges and universities to explore and identify best
practices.
 I will reach out to the Diversity Officers and Council Chairs at local colleges and
university that are also engaged in moving their institutions towards inclusive
excellence, i.e. UCONN and CSU’s to start. [The Chair will be attending the
National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education 2012 Conference.
It is the hope of the Chair that she will be able to network and obtain some insight
and information about what is being implemented at other colleges and
universities. She has not been able to schedule meetings with the local colleges and
university but will attempt to do that in the spring.
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