Correction appended.
As part of its efforts to foster a more diverse campus community, the University has beefed up staffing and funding for the Third World Center, Student and Employee Accessibility Services, the LGBTQ Center and the Sarah Doyle Women's Center over the past two years, according to a recent update on the Diversity Action Plan. The plan, one part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, has also led to increased promotion of religious literacy and support for graduate and international students.
Support at the College
At the undergraduate level, the University has expanded support for staff and services.
The Office of Student and Employee Accessibility Services has employed three full-time staffers to better support employee- and student-access needs. Disability Support Services changed its name to Student and Employee Accessibility Services June 1 to signal a broadening of its focus to employees as well as students, according to Ricky Gresh, senior director for student engagement.
Student and Employee Accessibility Services has also set up shop in J. Walter Wilson to make its services more convenient.
The Third World Center expanded its staffing from three to five people.
Kyle Oberlander '15, who is part Native American, said the Brown community has successfully fostered a welcoming campus. Oberlander especially praised the TWC's Third World Transition Program. "I met the most amazing people who were similar to me," he said.
"It was the best feeling ever to be accepted," Oberlander, who is gay, said of coming to Brown.
Funding also increased for the LGBTQ Center and the Sarah Doyle Women's Center. The University hired two new employees for the LGBTQ Center and instituted a program that asks sympathetic community members to display a badge signalling support of LGBTQ students.
The center saw its funding increase by approximately $8,000 over the last year, covering the costs of additional staff and programming, according to LBGTQ Resource Center Coordinator Kelly Garrett. The extra funding allowed an increase in fall programming covering national coming out week, bisexuality celebration day, transgender day of remembrance and the annual Pride series of events.
"We were able to do a little more this year than we were able to do in past years," Garrett said.
The Office of Student Life also launched a website to centralize information about resources for transgender students. The website covers topics such as the process for changing one's preferred name and email address within the University's system, locations of gender neutral bathrooms and accessible faculty members for communication.
The University has also continued efforts to enhance the experience of international students, Gresh said. The number of international applicants increased last year, accounting for nearly 4,700 of the 31,000 applications submitted for the class of 2015. According to the update, financial aid for international students increased from $3.3 million in 2007-08 to $7.7 million in 2010-11, and the number of international students receiving financial aid increased from 115 students in 2007-08 to 198 in 2010-11. Thirty-four percent of international students now receive financial aid.
International Orientation has expanded to include more information about the American academic experience, including a student-run mentoring program.
Kayla Cruz '15 said TWTP was "helpful in bringing people together, bringing to the forefront a lot of issues, like classism and racism."
"They attempt to continue the support, but it's hard during the school year with everyone branched off into their own groups," she added.
Support at the Grad School
The Diversity Action Plan also aims to support graduate students, Gresh said. The Sarah Doyle Women's Center has implemented family-oriented workshops and get-togethers for grad students who are parents.
The recently completed Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center includes a lounge reserved for graduate and resumed undergraduate education students, which has promoted collaboration between the two groups, Gresh said.
The Office of the Chaplain and the Office of Institutional Diversity have continued to promote religious literacy through projects such as Catalyzing Conversations and B-Literate. B-Literate aims to "get students of varying religious backgrounds to engage with each other through public service," said University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson. The project builds on discussions that address religious literacy held by leadership cohorts comprised of Brown students and faculty members as well as students from the historically black Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss.
This month's conversation focuses on Islamic pacifism. Next semester, the project will take on Native American spirituality. "We have not been very successful at drawing Native American scholars and faculty," Nelson said. "We'd love for many more Native American students to choose Brown."
Oberlander said he has experienced racism toward Native Americans in his native South Dakota. "I didn't change who I was when I came to Brown, but the reasons that I was disliked at home are the reasons why I'm loved here."
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Office of Student Employment has employed three new full-time staffers. In fact, the Office of Student and Employee Accessibility Services hired three additional full-time staffers. The Herald regrets the error.
