DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
A PROMISE TO ELEVATE MARGINALIZED VOICES
DE&I TRAINING FOR ALL UAs
Undergraduate Associates at Miami have a unique and serious responsibility. They put in countless hours of work on top of their own academic schedules to mentor students and lighten the loads of professors. Though many UAs have the power to assign grades and exert influence over students’ learning experiences, many departments do not require Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training for these student leaders. Madelyn and Aidan believe that to be a UA means to represent every student with respect, and without the proper training, marginalized students are put at higher risk of microaggressions and other unfair treatment.
As a Farmer School of Business senator, Madelyn spearheaded an ongoing initiative to require this training for UAs for the FYIC (First Year Integrated Core). In their administration, Madelyn and Aidan plan to expand this ongoing initiative campus wide so students of color, queer students, and students of all identities feel comfortable in class, and so UAs better understand how to become truly intersectional mentors.
APPOINTING A DIRECTOR OF TRANSGENDER EQUITY AND INCLUSION
As members of the LGBTQ+ community, Madelyn and Aidan each understand the barriers to inclusion at Miami–in our social structure and in the classroom. No university is perfect when it comes to queer equity and inclusion, and Miami is no exception.
Under the ASG bylaws, the Student Body President has the power to appoint three directors to oversee specific policy priorities. Madelyn and Aidan plan to utilize this ability to appoint a Director of Transgender Equity and Inclusion. Trans and nonbinary students at Miami face unique obstacles not limited to social, financial, and psychological burdens. The director they appoint will report to the Secretary of Diversity and Inclusion and pursue initiatives to enhance the experience of trans and NB students at Miami.
SINCERELY, MIAMI U
Over the summer, thousands of Miami students wrote to our administration detailing their experiences with social injustice at Miami. Sharing these stories took profound bravery, vulnerability, and strength, and the result spoke to the collective power of marginalized voices on this campus. What it also spoke to was the university’s impotency in fulfilling one of its core duties: responding in a meaningful way to the concerns of its students.
Madelyn and Aidan will encourage the continuation of the Dear Miami movement and push to form an ad hoc committee which will respond to concerns posted on Dear Miami with demonstrable steps the University and ASG are taking to elevate the experiences of marginalized students.