On Friday, Feb. 7, the Inclusive Excellence Collective met to vote on which proposals the Campus Climate Fund would support this year. The Collective, a group of 40 campus representatives with the goal of promoting inclusive excellence at DU, is in charge of the $20,000 grant opportunity for events that will create a more inclusive campus climate at DU. At the meeting, the Collective unanimously chose to fund four proposals and is currently considering a fifth.
“Overall, the Collective was impressed with the desire to bring together significant portions of the campus community, including faculty, staff, undergraduates and graduates,” said Frank Tuitt, associate provost of Inclusive Excellence. “[The proposals] all spoke to a commitment to the values and ideals of inclusion and diversity.”
The four events the Campus Climate Fund will support this year include a talk in Anderson Academic Commons (AAC), a supplement to the BIG Event, an intercultural communications workshop and a mental health awareness day.
The first two events will occur later this month. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, Religious Life will host speaker Adrian Miller in the Loft of AAC. According to his website, Miller is “a recovering lawyer and politico turned culinary historian.” He recently published “Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time,” which explores African American culinary heritage. At the event, people will be able to hear Miller talk about his book and sample his food.
On Friday, Feb. 28, Student Life will host the quarterly BIG Event. According to their website, the BIG Event this year will feature a zip line, sleigh rides, hot cocoa bar, ultimate ice skating, inflatable games, red carpet photos and a midnight breakfast. Tuitt said Student Life wanted to secure additional funding to promote the involvement of a number of small student groups that do not usually participate.
The other two events will occur by the end of this academic year. The International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS) will provide an intercultural communications workshop, which will be available to faculty, staff and students. The workshop will provide a cultural context for communications that occur on campus, with the goal of increasing awareness and empathy for different cultures.
The last event funded will be a Mental Health Awareness Day, with the goal of creating a more inclusive environment for people affected directly or indirectly by psychological disorders. According to Aimee Reichmann-Decker, psychology lecturer and chair of the event, programming will include walk-up mental health screenings, a documentary film followed by a panel discussion and reception and a visibility-unity campaign using flyers, t-shirts and wristbands.
According to Tuitt, the proposals that were not funded did not meet the criteria established for the application. There was a fifth proposal that has been suggested to revise and resubmit. There was also a proposal that came in after the deadline, which will be reviewed if there are funds remaining.
The requests for funding ranged from $2,100 to $5,000, with most in the $3,000 range. Tuitt said most groups were granted the amount of funding they requested, but not all.
“The actual amount of funding got reduced a little bit,” said Tuitt. “We don’t have as much as we thought we would to work with.”
According to Tuitt, this reduction in funding was due to the fact that the DU Programming Board (DUPB) only contributed $2,000 instead of the original $5,000.
Tuitt added they are going to begin securing resources to make the Campus Climate Fund available again in the fall. They will not offer another opportunity to apply in the spring, because they did not believe new proposals would have enough time to use their funding before the end of the year.
“We also want to wait and evaluate the impact of these proposals to see if we’re getting the kind of return on investment that we hoped to,” said Tuitt. “We’re looking forward to the events and seeing whether or not a small infusion of resources can make a little difference.”
