The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, created to provide resources and support students from underrepresented groups and diverse backgrounds, has recently been renamed the Office of Student Culture and Belonging. According to a LinkedIn post by the office’s director, Lilliana Delman, this change was done in order to better represent and showcase the office’s commitment to creating an inclusive community and to strengthen a student’s sense of belonging on our campus regardless of their culture or upbringing. The renaming is also intended to showcase how specific they are in the complex and intersectional work being done to ensure a more inclusive and welcoming campus.
Ms. Delman quotes Dr. Terell Strayhorn, a prominent diversity academic, who defines student belonging as “students’ perceived social support on campus, feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus (e.g., faculty, peers).” The office believes that cultivating a sense of “belonging” is critical to each student living on campus to make it a safe environment to learn, play, discover, and enjoy. Delman said that striving to make a more inclusive campus is important because it affects how students perceive themselves and others and opens doors to learning about different perspectives that could be helpful.
The office intends to continue its mission in aiding all students from under-resourced and underrepresented backgrounds and provide ongoing training and consultation for the Stevens community. It intends to focus on five key objectives to create an inclusive campus: identity development (creating opportunities to help students learn about social identities, socio-historical context, intersections with others, and personal meaning), social justice education (fostering cultural consciousness through ongoing learning about systems of power, identities, and innovative practices for inclusion and equity), community-building (connecting intracultural and intercultural communities through dialogues, multicultural celebrations, networking, and civic engagement), empowerment (Support underrepresented students in developing the cultural capital (awareness of resources, access to knowledge, mentoring opportunities), sense of belonging, and validation needed to thrive at Stevens and beyond) and allyship (cultivating a community of allies through expanding awareness of inequities, developing empathy and engaging in collaborative action). The office also oversees the Intercultural Space, the Lore-El Center for Women’s Leadership, and Veterans Affairs. It also provides resources for LGBTQ+ students on campus.
The renaming to the current Office of Student Culture and Belonging is very important as it showcases the changes that Stevens is making to create a diverse, inclusive, open-minded campus that will allow students to celebrate their belonging and learn about different points of view. Though various prejudices still exist on Stevens campus, being open to learning is a good way to decrease those prejudices and reduce their effects on the people around us. It is important that we all make the effort to learn about and celebrate different cultures and backgrounds and make efforts to decrease preexisting notions and biases. From there, we can ensure that Stevens can be a friendly and inclusive community for everyone.
