Reflecting on the history of Southwestern’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.
For most of Southwestern's history, it has been a Predominantly White Institution (PWI), and today it is working to be a Multicultural Institution (MI). Early initiatives by students of color created "counter-spaces" of belonging for themselves, which is something traced in entries about student spaces elsewhere on the Placing Memory website. This tour focuses instead on institutional initiatives designed to diversify the institution from the 1980s to the present.
SU started the 1980s with an entering class with only 5.2% students of color. By 1999, the entering class was 18.4% students of color. Today, that number is over 40%, and Southwestern is now a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). But diversity is more than demographics; it is about shifting the culture of PWIs like SU to de-center whiteness and create a campus community that is inclusive, where people from multiple identities can belong together. Staff, faculty, and students of color themselves have performed this visible and invisible labor, and we should remember their work more than we currently do.
This set of entries traces the early history of Southwestern's institutional diversity and inclusion efforts--from the Minority Presence Committee to the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Diversity Enrichment Committee, and Office of Diversity Education--the predecessors of the current faculty, staff, and student coalitions focused on Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity (DIBE), the JEDI Center, and the Office of Student Success and Belonging.
Who is Dr. Gregory Washington?
We should remember the achievements of Southwestern’s first full-time Black faculty member and first Multicultural Affairs Director, while also considering how the roles he played reveal Southwestern’s culture as a PWI.
In the fall of 1986, Southwestern hired its first two African American faculty members: Dr. Felecia Johnson, a part-time Instructor of Music, and Dr. Gregory Washington, an Associate Professor of Philosophy, who was the first full-time African American faculty member. This entry is about Dr.…
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Remembering a 1985 report on the experiences of people of color at Southwestern
This entry on Professor Diaz y Miranda’s 1985 report titled “White Alright, Brown Stick Around, and Black Get Back” is part of a series of Placing Memory entries tracing the forgotten history of Southwestern’s diversity and inclusion initiatives from the 1980s to the present.
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Who is Tanya Williams?
Documenting how the presence of a new Director of Multicultural Affairs in the late 90s and early 2000s marked a changing perspective on the purpose of diversity education at Southwestern.
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What were Operation Achievement and Passport to the Future?
Tracing the history of diversity recruitment efforts and how they were affected by campaigns against affirmative action initiatives over the years.
Operation Achievement was a program started in the Spring of 1988 that served as a cooperation between Southwestern and the Georgetown Independent School District to increase the retention rates of the Black and Latina/o middle school students by improving their basic academic skills and inspiring…
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Remembering the shifting roles of Upward Bound
How has this public service/recruitment program at SU shaped how its participants see themselves and their futures in higher-ed?
Upward Bound is a federally funded program initiated by the U.S. Department of Education in 1965. The program was inspired by the Educational Opportunity Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, declaring that no U.S. state can deny equal educational opportunity to any…
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Who is Dorita Hatchett?
Remembering one of the first African-American students to join a sorority and be a cheerleader at Southwestern, who went on to play a significant role in Student Life as an alum.
Dorita (or “Dede”) Hatchett, class of 1988, made significant strides in fostering inclusivity and breaking barriers during her time at Southwestern. Her influence extended across multiple facets of campus life for almost a decade, leaving an indelible impression on the University’s history. Her journey as one of the first two African-American women to pledge a sorority at Southwestern underscores…
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