Center for Diversity and Inclusion and Center for Black Student Excellence to Merge Into Larger Office

Loyola’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion will merge with the Center for Black Student Excellence at the end of the semester to become the Center for Student Inclusion and Belonging.

Students who work in programs run under CDI and CBSE worry initiatives may suffer as a result of the merger. Assistant Vice President of Student Engagement Astrid Beltrán oversees CDI and CBSE. She has been a part of an over two-year effort to create the CSIB.

“We had students come forward saying, ‘I would love more resources on X, Y, Z’ or ‘for my identity to be more represented,’” Beltrán said.

Student leaders of programs from CDI and CBSE, such as Ramblers Analyzing Ideas and Students Together Are Reaching Success, were sent an email at the beginning of the semester to invite student leaders to come together for a meeting to share how the respective centers’ initiatives were going.

Beltrán said teams of different administrators looked at models across the nation, and did site visits to schools in Chicago to determine what kind of restructuring would best suit Loyola’s demographics and what the school aims for its demographics to look like in the future.

“We looked at different schools that had models that were similar to ours, or very, very different, or something that we were aspiring to be,” Beltrán said. “And so that helped inform what the vision is.”

The new center will keep all of the functional areas CDI currently offers, including LGBTQIA Initiatives, the Undocumented Student Program and the Social Justice Education and Practice Program. The administration planning teams intend to expand upon the programs as well, according to Beltrán.

Third-year political science and Spanish major and Chief Diversity Officer to Administrators at the Student Government of Loyola Chicago Kailani Moore said she’s unsure of how the merging will affect the school’s commitment to ensuring diversity.

“I’m supportive of Loyola standing firm on its commitment to making sure our campus is diverse, that it’s inclusive of all backgrounds, and that each student has a fair chance at success,” Moore said. “I mean, that’s really what DEI should stand for, and what it has stood for for a while, and so I completely support that.”

The Trump administration recently enforced a Feb. 28 deadline for universities receiving federal funding, which includes Loyola, to end diversity programs, The Associated Press reported. The Office of the Provost wrote in an email to students Feb. 27 they were “monitoring federal directives” relating to diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Loyola said it remains committed to DEI policies as part of their Jesuit values, The Phoenix reported. 

Beltrán acknowledged while some other universities are shutting down DEI resources, Loyola plans to expand upon diversity initiatives with the creation of CSIB.

Students who work in CDI programs expressed concern over the upcoming merger.

Third-year neuroscience and psychology double major Ayodeji Awodein is a programming assistant for Students Together Are Reaching Success, an undergraduate peer mentorship program for students of color and first-generation students. He said he and other leaders and mentors involved in CDI and CBSE programs were told in a meeting the administration would try to keep programs similar to how they currently function.

Awodein said one student explicitly asked administration whether CDI would be defunded during the “come together” meeting at the beginning of the semester, to which they responded budgets are intended to remain similar to what they currently are.

In his first year, Awodein was a mentee for Brothers For Excellence, a one-year mentorship program designed for first-year undergraduate and transfer students of color. 

He became a mentor for B4E in his second year, which was afterwards merged with the Rambler Brotherhood Project — an organization which aims to improve the educational experience through mentorship, programmatic and academic opportunities.

Awodein said after B4E merged, he and his colleagues were told the same thing — budgets and operations would remain mostly the same.

“As of right now, there are no specific men of color mentorship programs on campus,” Awodein said.

Despite his concern, Awodein said he doesn’t think the merger is inherently a bad thing.

“I think both offices have aspects they can give to the other office to help them grow and be a better program, like, more holistic,” Awodein said.

Second-year political science major Fatimah Alawami is a student leader with the Ramblers Analyzing Ideas program, a social justice cohort within CDI which Beltrán said will be expanded. Alawami said she’s concerned resources could be lost in the process.

“CDI and CBSE are great organizations,” Alawami said.  “They serve populations that are very, I guess, low at a [Predominantly White Institution]. And I think them being merged together is a loss of two missions, and everything’s just getting put under this huge umbrella.”

Beltrán said teams of different staff members have been gathering student input via focus groups, which were organized in February. Awodein said he and other students haven’t heard back about the focus group results since their involvement in them.

Beltrán has worked at the university for over 10 years and said she’s seen change in student demographics throughout her time. She said the administration teams have to acknowledge the needs of current and future students.

“Who was being born 18 years ago?” Beltrán said.  “What students are coming to universities? That has informed us that our population is becoming more and more racially diverse, religiously diverse, diverse in sexual orientation, all these different kinds of diversity. What are ways we can celebrate and build upon that?”

She stressed the merger wouldn’t be an overnight process, but would happen little by little. As an example, Beltrán said the planning teams are learning about the experiences of Latinx and lower-income students to better serve those populations.

The transition to CSIB will occur in May, in time for new students to learn about what the center has to offer.

While the transition will come at the end of the semester, the physical office space CDI and CBSE take up will remain, according to Beltrán, who acknowledged space at Loyola is a “premium.” Still, she said the planning teams are hopeful to expand physically in the future.

CDI didn’t respond to The Phoenix’s request for comment.

Editor’s Note: Kailani Moore is a previous contributor for The Loyola Phoenix.