Office of Diversity expands horizons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Jacob Freehart

Staff Writer

Hudson Valley Community College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion held a 10-week training program to embrace diversity on campus with multiple solutions.

Ten volunteers took part, including administrators, faculty and staff.

The goal of the Embracing Diversity Group is to “promote awareness, respect and foster opportunities to advance inclusion and engagement of a diverse community at the college,” according to Zoë O’Brey, the Technical Assistant in the Diversity Office.

They plan to work with various staff and students and plan to offer trainings on diversity in the near future.

From some student’s perspective, the diversity on the Hudson Valley Community College campus is noticeable.

“Well, I guess since I’ve been here I’ve met numerous people from different backgrounds and cultures that I didn’t have a chance to learn about in my previous schools,” said Maggie Helenek.  

“There are tons of types of people here making it diverse,” psychology major, Jack Furlong, agreed.

Diversity is a large topic of discussion in the world currently. All types of people want an equal opportunity to be able to succeed and receive the same chances to accomplish their dreams.  

Ainsley Thomas, Chief Diversity Officer, shared he goals for Hudson Valley.

“Creating a college environment where diversity, equity and inclusion are respected and valued [is one of them],” he said.   

“There is a large demographic because of our open enrollment and with that variety here we want to respect other people’s perspectives in life,” Thomas said.

“The percentage of Hudson Valley’s students that are minorities is 26.4 percent and that includes people of Asian, Hispanic, African-American and Native American descent,” Thomas said. “There is a large number of international students too,” he said. “This entails such a wide set of people that have different mindsets, attitudes and experiences that we want to have them all feel like they are included, by not demonizing their perspectives.”

To help the Hudson Valley staff appropriately approach their students by acknowledging their diversity, Thomas conducted a 10-week training program: Embracing Diversity.

Thomas took 10 faculty members, all from different departments, and read the book, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum.

Thomas’ main goal through the book was to have those professors, “see things through a different lens,” as Thomas put it.

Each individually then absorbed the material and formed their own methods to embrace diversity. Thomas didn’t want to give a one-way design on how to embrace diversity because this would defeat the whole purpose. By having the professors practice embracing diversity through their own background, experience and methods, they then became beacons and symbols of what the whole mission was about.   

By doing the training program in an open way, Thomas felt he was able to see the professors shine and be a part of the learning process.   

“We were able to bounce ideas off of each other and be really creative about what we can do to be supportive of the students we teach while conveying our own message to them,” Thomas said.

One way Hudson Valley embraces diversity is through their many resource centers and support services. Some of these offices include the Center for Academic Engagement, the Center Access and Assistive Technology, various Learning Centers, the Collegiate Academic Support Program, Veterans Affairs and various others.  

Not only does Thomas hope to improve these areas and how they can help students, but also looks to more effectively advertise their services to students on campus.

Thomas said the huge amount of support he has received allowed him to get to where he is now.  

Thomas believes diversity can improve a college’s well-being.

“College is where we have students come from all sorts of backgrounds to come and hear other people,” he said. “We have to be open and respectful of other people’s views and cultures and we cannot approach this world or communities believing we have the one sure way of doing something.”