Climate
Committee controls campus diversity
By Jill Thomsen
On-line Forty-Niner
Developed
nearly 10 years ago as a standing committee
in the Academic Senate, the Cal State Long
Beach Climate Committee oversees equity
and diversity issues on campus and monitors
the campus climate with regards to inclusion
of all students’ needs on campus.
This
school year’s agenda is still in the planning
stages, but there are already issues that
the committee knows must be addressed, including
enrollment management on campus. As the
university grows more popular, the number
of students being admitted is limited and
the committee plans to research how and
if the diversity of the campus is being
impacted.
Some
of the issues addressed last year included
actively developing a Web site that will
list services that promote and ensure diversity
on campus. The site should be up and running
in a few weeks, said Alan Nishio, associate
vice president of Student Services.
The
committee also implemented a model for a
volunteer crisis response team on campus.
Volunteers were trained in helping students
cope and remain calm should an incident
occur on campus. The committee wanted to
get faculty and staff more trained and prepared
for helping students emotionally in the
event of a disaster.
Another
large task the committee addressed last
year was researching multi-cultural education
and how it is being integrated into the
curriculum. A report was issued about 10
years ago regarding multi-cultural education
and the committee plans to revisit its findings
and see what progress has been made.
Made
up of a constituency of faculty, lecturers,
staff and students the committee reports
annually to the president, and sometimes
more often, via the Academic Senate.
Jan
Reyes, acting director of Equity and Diversity,
is entering her second year on the committee
and said that the efforts of the committee
vary from year to year depending on current
issues facing the campus as well as the
membership of the committee. Reyes said
she is excited about the particularly active
and motivated group of people who are involved
this year.
Nishio
has been a member of the committee since
its inception. He said the Climate Committee
is hoping to be a really valuable resource
this year.
Carolyn
Sandusky of the design department became
part of the committee last year.
“I
liked the idea of promoting diversity on
campus and making sure that everyone feels
welcome,” Sandusky said.
The
campus climate committee meets the second
Wednesday of every month from noon to 1
p.m. in the University Multicultural Center.
The next meeting will be held Oct. 9. Students
interested in serving on the committee are
encouraged to attend.
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