University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

The offices in Diversity and Inclusion, under the leadership of Barbara Stewart, the Associate Dean have developed a closely-connected and highly collaborative network of student support services for historically underserved students. The Disability Resource Services office (DRS) provides academic accommodations for students with documented disabilities and a testing service for students with accommodations based on individual needs. The DRS office also addresses the intersections of 1st generation college students, veterans, and other identities. The Eagle Mentoring Program (EMP) is a mentoring and retention program for historically underrepresented minority sophomores majoring in the arts and humanities. Initially developed over 2007 and 2008 in response to programmatic gaps in the Divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Life, it has served a total of 54 students in five annual cohorts of ten to twelve protégés since 2009-10. The program has seen significant progress, as evident in its participants’ 96% success rate, graduation rate, increase in grade-point average, and participation in high-impact learning experiences. The Office of Multicultural Student Services (OMSS) has worked with the College of Business Administration on several initiatives, including a mentoring program, and a course-embedded tutoring program. OMSS has also reconnected with and created a strong partnership with the Financial Aid office. Through that partnership, strong movement has been made with regard to helping students decreasing student debt load through sound financial management, in part through our award-winning program, “It Makes Cents.” UW-La Crosse has enjoyed success with our TRiO programs partnering with each other in addition to other campus offices to develop an academic pipeline starting with our multicultural pre-college programs and moving students through Upward Bound which has been on campus since 1979. For those Upward Bound students that choose to attend UW-La Crosse they are immediately connected to our Student Support Services office, on campus since 1978. In the summer of 2013 the Counseling & Testing office hired a counselor to work specifically with the underserved student population. This individual is responsible for developing and fostering relationships with those departments that serve underserved populations, as well as underserved student groups; assessing needs of underrepresented groups and developing strategies/programs for improving access to mental health services; referral; consultation and training to campus and CTC staff. This counselor also participates on student affairs and university committees, as well as campus multicultural and diversity events and initiatives.

Several offices and units at UW-La Crosse play a role in responding to discrimination: ● UW-La Crosse Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Retaliation: The University’s Anti-Discrimination policy covers all categories of discriminatory conduct and applies to all members of the university community and all contexts that affect people’s ability to benefit from the university’s services and educational opportunities. ● The Office of Affirmative Action is the primary source of support and advocacy for employees experiencing discrimination, and is available to provide support, counsel, advocacy, and mediation to all members of the campus community. In addition, the Office of Affirmative Action provides a complaint investigation process for those employees wishing to seek more formal recourse for allegations of discrimination, harassment or retaliation. This investigation process has the potential to result in formal findings of discriminatory conduct and a referral to the Chancellor and/or to a disciplinary hearing board if punitive action is warranted. The Office of Affirmative Action collaborates with Human Resources, Campus Climate, Diversity & Inclusion, and Student Life to provide holistic services and a coordinated response to all members of the campus community experiencing any kind of discrimination. ● The Hate Response Team: The Hate Response Team receives reports through a voluntary online form that any individual may use (anonymously if they wish) to document incidents of discrimination, bias, or bigotry. Reports are reviewed weekly by the team, which then follows up by: providing direct support to those impacted; referring individuals to appropriate resources on and off campus; tracking aggregate data and trends; informing and empowering bystanders to promote a culture of civility; and reporting their findings to administration and the campus through open forums at least once a year if not more often. ● The above offices are able to make a direct referral to University Police in case of an incident that may involve criminal activity or that may warrant law enforcement involvement for any reason. Such a referral would ordinarily be made only when the victim elects to do so, or when there is a concern for public safety. ● The Violence Prevention Coordinator in the Student Life Office provides confidential support and advocacy for victims of sexual assault or other forms of sexual misconduct. The Violence Prevention Coordinator provides referrals to counseling and health resources on and off campus, as well as to University Police and to the university’s student disciplinary process, for victims who choose to pursue any or all of those courses of action.

Additional URLs with information about UWLs discrimination response policy, program and/or team: http://www.uwlax.edu/Campus-Climate/Hate-Response-Team/ http://www.uwlax.edu/violence-prevention/