I remember when I said  “yes” to the University of Denver and the obvious nervousness I felt with  starting college because of the pressure of redefining adulthood outside of high school. I remember thinking, “I don’t live too far from my home, in Aurora, and Denver is a hot spot — my neighborhood won’t change.” 

Orientation week was a complete contradiction to my initial thoughts. All of my schooling up until that point had been provided by the Aurora Public School district, so the idea of being the “minority” was never a concern for me. Growing up, I got to interact with different people of multiple backgrounds. My education was, in fact, so diverse, I went to a school dedicated to learning an additional language. I walked away with nine years worth of Spanish lessons and a huge appreciation for the world which in large part was a result of watching my peers’ “Culture Day” presentations — a day dedicated to appreciating work from the Spanish, French, or Chinese Villages).

Walking into DU felt like a literal slap in the face. For the first time ever, I was the only person who looked like me in most of my classes, and as a theatre major, I didn’t meet anyone who looked like me in the theatre department until spring quarter. 

Naturally, I started to consider the community resources available to me on campus — and found Black Community Initiatives (BCI), African Students United (ASU) and the Black Student Alliance (BSA), the latter recruited me to be their secretary and part-time intercultural liaison. 

Before I found the DU Clarion and started writing for UNIFY, which assisted me in connecting with other on-campus affinity groups beyond my own identity, I found the Student Inclusion and Belonging Suite, often shortened to the “SIB Suite” and incorrectly called the Cultural Center, but will in my heart always affectionately be the “Orange Suite,” as the entire suite is enveloped by the color orange.

I don’t remember exactly what happened when I walked into the suite for the first time, but for the rest of my freshman year, it was like I never left. It was where I did interviews for UNIFY articles, where I worked on making visit packets for Volunteers in Partnership (VIP) and where I spent the most quality time with my friends. The staff members in the space became my mentors whom I’d regularly bother with my freshman year complaints.

Although I wasn’t too surprised by the news concerning the changes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), I still felt a bit of uncertainty for the future of the programs and spaces that were instrumental as I navigated DU as a freshman. The “Orange Suite”  is now located on the third floor of the Community Commons and is now finding its new footing, under a new name: Community Support and Engagement; with former DEI programming being titled now as The Division of Community Support & Engagement. 

First@DU and staff members who worked at The Cultural Center (TCC) were originally both in the same space; First@DU remains on the first floor with 4D Experience, Health Promotion, New Student and Family Program and Office of Student Engagement. As both a person of color and first generation student, I see myself having to split into two different spaces to get to know students who share my identities, as they both overlap. 

“It’s a learning environment and a learning situation for our students to see how our university is staying true to its values while also working hard to comply with the environment it finds itself in,” Chancellor Jeremy Haefner told 9News. 

In the strangest way possible, I think he’s right. Let me clarify, I now have a solid group of friends at DU that mirror the friends I built and the community I was surrounded by at home —  I am not worried for myself. I worry for this year’s freshmen. I worry that there might be a freshman like me who looks forward to continuing their journey of exploring diversity in a bigger world, but will quickly realize that it will take a little more work than expected to find the pieces that make DU feel like home. Although things are changing at a very interesting rate, I’d still encourage incoming students to invest their time in and engage with Affinity groups.