University of New Haven
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The University of New Haven has a diversity and equity committee, the IDEA Council (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Council). The council is made up of students, staff, and faculty. The IDEA council’s mission is to provide strategic advice and recommendations to the President and campus community based on observations, reports, and monitoring campus perceptions surrounding diversity and inclusion at the University of New Haven. Recently, the council reorganized itself to focus on three key objectives – increase recruitment of under-represented students, faculty, and staff, increase retention of under-represented students, faculty, and staff, and better promote the work of the council to the campus community. In addition, the University of New Haven has a student-run organization called the Campus Climate Coalition. The Campus Climate Coalition's goal is to address concerns around the interaction between students, faculty and staff of different backgrounds. Since it’s inception in 2015, the Coalition presented the University President with recommendations for changes to improve the overall campus culture. These include; the creation of a student center for diversity and inclusion, diversity and inclusion trainings for Resident Assistants and Academic Peer Mentors, an increase in departmental involvement in the planning processes for a cultural themed month (i.e. Spanish Heritage Month), ensuring that Identity Studies courses become a requirement in the University’s core curriculum, and an improvement to the University’s Bias Incident Report system. https://chargerbulletin.com/a-message-from-campus-climate-coalition/

University of No Hate Workshop Series: This workshop series is designed to create awareness, understanding, and interaction between diverse individuals and groups to foster a more inclusive environment at the University of New Haven. Module 1: Knowledge and Awareness. This introductory-style workshop introduces concepts like privilege, power, and oppression to the audience while discussing how our personal and social identities experience privilege, power, and oppression. Module 2: Building Community. In this workshop, we reflect on the importance of community structures and their impact, distinguish multiple elements of diversity, and practice effective communication strategies across difference. Module 3: Allyship. The focus of this workshop is Allyship, an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power can seek to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group. Participants in this workshop work to define and examine allyship, reflect on cultural competency and proficiency as a process that takes time, examine barriers to allyship, and provide tips on self-care. Safe Zone 101. This workshop focuses on five main learning outcomes. • 1) Understand the processes of attraction, gender, romantic behavior, and social identities as making up an individual’s sense of sexual identity. • 2) Recognize that sexual and/or romantic attraction comes in many forms, and is not always a clear-cut distinction between gay and straight. • 3) Reflect on conscious and unconscious biases on may have surrounding LGBTQ+ identities. • 4) Identify the various resources on the University of New Haven campus and within the broader community for LGBTQ+ individuals. • 5) Demonstrate the ability to listen and appropriately refer an individual that may be in crisis. Diversity Workshops for Faculty The Myatt Center for Diversity and Inclusion has developed two workshops available to the University community with an emphasis on faculty. Workshops will be scheduled in conjunction with the Provost’s Office, College Deans, and Department Heads. Microaggressions: An Introductory Workshop. This workshop is designed to introduce microaggressions and provide participants with an understanding of the impact microaggressions have on individuals. Participants will consider what microaggressions look like in the classroom and how they may affect our students. Standing Up to Implicit Bias: In this workshop, we define implicit bias, examine how our behaviors might be impacted by these biases, and discuss effective strategies to address bias.