On Monday, Jan. 27, the deadline passed for applications to the Campus Climate Fund. The fund, which was established at the beginning of this quarter, is a $20,000 grant opportunity available “to support cross campus collaborations that will create a more inclusive campus climate at DU,” according to an email sent out to the university last December by the Center for Multicultural Excellence (CME).
“We were intentionally broad about what this might look like,” said Frank Tuitt, associate provost for inclusive excellence. “The idea was to generate creativity and innovation on the part of students, faculty and staff to see what they thought might create a more inclusive and affirming campus.”
The fund is a collaborative effort between the CME, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Diversity Committee and the DU Programming Board (DUPB). It will be managed by the DU Inclusive Excellence Collective, which was started three years ago in response to the 2011 Inclusive Excellence Assessment.
According to their website, the Collective’s mission is, “To provide a forum for university units to share ideas, establish collections and support initiatives to advance inclusive excellence.” The Collective is made up of 40 representatives from across campus, including undergraduate students, graduate students, staff and faculty. According to Tuitt, this year is the first year students have been included as members of the Collective.
“A lot of the activities around inclusive excellence involve students, so it made sense that they should be involved,” said Tuitt. “The university has a commitment to share governance, so this seemed like an area where student input would be valuable.”
According to Tuitt, the fund is an idea that the Collective has thought about and discussed since last year.
“Our plan was to get it up and running for the fall, but it took longer than we imagined. You want to make sure that the resources are there before you make promises,” he said.
Tuitt added that this year they are testing the fund as a pilot program. When they see what the results are, they will evaluate its impact and make a decision moving forward. This quarter they anticipate funding no more than five projects, with award amounts in the range of $1,500 – $3,000.
The Collective plans to meet later this week and go through the proposals they have received.
“When we announce the winners, we’ll provide some information on what the proposals were and why we chose the ones we did,” said Tuitt.
Decisions should be announced by Jan. 31, and awarded funds must be used by May 30. Tuitt said if the program is successful they might do it again in the spring quarter.
Tuitt discussed the importance of promoting inclusive excellence on campus, referring to several events that have occurred in the past couple of years, including the Cowboys and Indians party, the mascot controversy and the graffiti in Centennial Halls.
“There have been a series of opportunities for learning,” said Tuitt. “Instead of being reactive, this was one way to be proactive and leverage the brilliance of people on campus and see what they can come up with.”
