Affirmative action program university of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts

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  Nuance Multicultural Student Community, an inclusive, socially just living and learning environment based on mutual respect among persons of diverse and multiple identities.
  
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  The Asian/Asian-American Student Community, designed for Asian and Asian-American students, and others interested in Eastern cultures. Residents explore issues of identity, leadership, belonging and college life in this era of global migration, media and capital.
  
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  Harambee African Heritage Student Community unites students who identify as African or wish to learn more about African history and culture.
  
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  Kanonhsesne Native American Student Community brings together Native American students and others interested in native cultures. Residents have the opportunity to affirm their identities while learning about the customs and traditions of other tribal nations.
  
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  Spectrum LGBTQA Community supports the rights and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and their allies. Campus collaborations, programming and other initiatives foster connections while seeking to eradicate genderism and heterosexism.
  
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  Wellness Community members creative a safe, healthy, inclusive community, living an alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle and engaging in programming supporting all forms of wellness.
  
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  The Veterans Community supports students transitioning from military to academic life, through programming, resources and a supportive, peer-oriented residential environment.
  

In addition, Residential Life’s new SophoMORE initiative offers four living-learning communities for second-year students. One, “Explore, Engage and Connect for Social Justice,” is designed for students seeking to discover and bridge commonalities and differences across diverse social identities.

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  Center for Education Policy & Advocacy: This policy and advocacy agency of the Student Government Association works in partnerships with students, student organizations, faculty, staff and administrators, to address a range of student issues and strives to build a campus environment that is inclusive of and responsive to the diverse needs of students from different cultures and backgrounds, including but not limited to ALANA, LGBTQ, low socio-economic, first generation, international and nontraditional students.
  
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  Student Bridges: Under its mission of increasing college access and success for underrepresented students (including low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color), Student Bridges advocacy and retention efforts include: collaborating with Success Centers and RSOs to provide support and networks for underrepresented students at UMass; advocating for policies and practices that support college access and success for under-represented students; providing interns in local schools and community-based organizations to engage in college preparation workshops, trips to UMass, and community-based events.
  
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  Women of Color Leadership Network (WOCLN): Based in the Center for Women and Community, WOCLN provides advocacy, mentoring and training for university and community women of color in the Five College area. WOCLN provides mentoring, workshops, events and programming that raise women’s consciousness around issues of social identities, self-care, self-expression, and opportunities for women of color to gain leadership skills necessary to make a difference in their communities.
  

The five goals of the division’s strategic plan – transformative learning, student engagement, resource expansion, excellent staff and partnership recognition – actively address diversity and inclusivity. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboard measurements shared with university stakeholders measure annual achievements.

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  2,085 community members reached through CMASS events to increase awareness of diverse cultures; nearly one-quarter of the ALANA student population is actively affiliated with CMASS.
  
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  3,500 SACL and Athletics staff participated in Title IX compliance trainings.
  
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  224 UMass families participated in the Amherst Family Center’s drop-in family support program; households included 325 children under age five and 35 grandparent households.
  
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  UMass Amherst was recognized as one of the top 10 trans-friendly schools and one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly schools by Campus Pride. For the second consecutive year, the university received a top ranking of five stars on the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate index.
  
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  GI Jobs Magazine named UMass Amherst a veteran-friendly campus for the fourth consecutive year.
  
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  Students and interns contributed 17,502 hours of community service valued at $228,830 in support of the CWC’s sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts.
  
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  The university received a second round of 24-month funding from the Office on Violence Against Women Grants to Encourage Arrest program. Funding was increased from $174,000 in FY 2011 – 12 to $300,000 for FY 2013 – 14.
  
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  The SophoMORE living-learning community initiative launched by Residential Life in collaboration with academic partners attracted an inaugural cohort of 489 students. The “Explore, Engage and Connect for Social Justice” community is supported by the university’s College of Education.
  
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  The “Lead UMass” leadership certificate program was created. Based on the social change model developed by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, the program helps students create positive change at the individual, group and societal levels, and connect their experiences to the global community.
  

SACL supports hundreds of diversity-related programs, events, trainings and initiatives annually, covering a range of themes. Period highlights included:

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  Annual sessions for international students during Fall New Student Orientation. Presentations provide information, connections and resources to support students’ transition to UMass Amherst.
  
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  First Week events at the Stonewall Center. An open house and vegetarian dinner welcomed new and returning students to the center on Sept. 6; a ‘glow-out’ party was among the next evening’s UMass Night Out events.
  
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  CMASS’ Cultural Connections First Week event at the Campus Center welcomed students, faculty and staff with entertainment and multicultural foods.
  
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  Open houses at the Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center, Latin American Cultural Center, Malcolm X Cultural Center and Yuri Kochiyama Cultural Center were among First Week events.
  
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  Administrators and faculty took part in “Massachusetts Steps Up: Key Sexual and Domestic Violence Issues,” a regional forum at the Campus Center auditorium. Sponsored by the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, the event supported prevention and response efforts in higher education settings.
  
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  A peer mentoring program offered through Campus Pulse linked first-year and returning ALANA students for support during the transition to college.
  
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  The Office of Fraternities and Sororities’ annual officer retreat ends with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dinner. During this event, an aspect of Dr. King’s leadership is profiled and discussed in application to building a more inclusive fraternity and sorority movement. The department also hosts an annual Leadership Day, which focuses on social identity within Greek Life through small group dialogue sessions on topics such as race, gender, sexual identity and social justice.
  
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  Each year, a number of departments engage in Heritage Month programming, celebrating diverse cultures through themed workshops, social activities, speakers, and musical events during September (Latino Heritage), November (Native American Indian Heritage), February (Black History Month), and April (Asian American Heritage).
  
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  The division’s Upward Bound initiative is a federally sponsored educational program helping underrepresented and low-income students from Springfield’s High School of Commerce succeed in higher education. Students receive individual tutoring, career advising, SAT and MCAS prep, college workshops, cultural enrichment and other programs to enhance academic skills and motivation.
  
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  Student Activities and Involvement (SAI) advises approximately 20 cultural Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), including the African Student Association, Vietnamese Student Association, Latinos Unidos, Haitian Student Association, the Black Student Union and the Pride Alliance. RSOs sponsor a significant portion of campus cultural programming, including large-scale annual events like HASA/CASA, Cape Verdean Night, and Asian Night. SAI also provides guidance and supervision to the coordinating board for the annual Soulfest Week, attracting over 2,500 students.
  
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  The University Programming Council incorporates a focus on diversity in its programming and engages in multi-cultural collaborations with groups such as the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Black Student Union and the Stonewall Center.
  
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  The Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH) provided ongoing consultations to staff of Disability Services, the Stonewall Center, CMASS, CWC and the WOCLN, Veterans Services and the International Programs Office.
  
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  CCPH workshops and involvement with groups and programs including the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professorate, the WOCLN, Stonewall Center, Veterans Services; CMASS, Upward Bound and Disability Services.
  
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  Training for CCPH staff on micro-aggressions, as part of campus bystander intervention initiatives.
  
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  A new hiring process implemented by the Center for Student Business, which initially identifies applicants by their student ID number alone, to increase employment diversity within student-run organizations.
  
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  An annual ALANA diversity career fair organized by Career Services and a planning committee. The February event attracted 550 students and 60 employers seeking to diversify their workforces.
  
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  A partnership between Career Services and CMASS which produced a variety of career-related programs reaching underrepresented student populations. Events included a mock interview week with employers, panel discussions on careers in non-profit organizations, education and government, a Boston networking event and “What Not to Wear,” a program on professional dress.
  
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  Partnerships uniting Career Services with a variety of campus offices to present targeted programs for diverse student populations. These included job searches for international students, a work-abroad fair and a program on transferring study-abroad skills to employers, in conjunction with the International Programs Office. Other joint efforts included working with LGBTQA students and the Stonewall Center; first generation students through the Bottom Line program; and offerings with Disability Services, Commonwealth Honors College, the Center for Women and Community and Veterans’ Services.
  
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  Career Services advisors regularly held on-site, drop-in assistance in other offices on campus, reaching students who may not have accessed the department’s Goodell offices. Satellite sites included Veterans Services, the Stonewall Center, the College of Natural Sciences, and the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
  
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  All Career Services staff, including student peer advisors and office work-study students, attended an in-house Title IX Training conducted by the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office.
  
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  The Center for Early Education and Care (CEEC) trained 25 undergraduate assistant teachers on diversity issues in the early childhood classroom.
  
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  CEEC staff will attend “Embracing Diversity in our Work with Families,” a training taking place during the spring, 2014 semester.
  
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  Registered Student Organizations traveled for community-service themed alternative spring breaks to Haiti and Cape Verde.
  
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  All undergraduates have the opportunity to take EDUC 258 and EDUC 291, classes which focus on issues of power, privilege and oppression, and use peer education theatre to share information. SHAHA: The Storytellers is based in the Residential Life department; the troupe performs weekly on campus and by invitation in the community. Shaha is a diversity themed peer education troupe based in Residential Life that creates and performs skits to educate about social justice issues. The group supports Residential Life’s commitment to multiculturalism by providing learning opportunities to students around issues of inclusion, social justice, and multiculturalism through theatre-based peer education.
  
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  Several other peer programs throughout the division address social justice issues through creative means:
  

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  Nearly 70% have discussed race or ethnicity with their close friends at UMass Amherst; 60% have discussed religion.
  
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  Students define diversity in multiple ways. Females are more likely to include religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, political affiliation and veteran status; graduate students are more likely to include age and disability. Students whose primary language is English are more likely to include sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and political affiliation.
  
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  72% of students see UMass’ administrative leadership as very or somewhat committed to diversity.
  

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  Distributed 5,000 copies of the Maroon Folder, a resource and referral tool to assist faculty and staff in responding effectively to students in crisis.
  
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  Designed and launched the UMatter website which contains resources, information, and bystander intervention strategies to support students impacted by bias activity, bullying, sexual assault, and drug/alcohol misuse.
  
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  Promulgated an anti-bias poster campaign in the residence halls for Halloween 2013.
  
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  Provided a series of bystander intervention and Title IX trainings.
  
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  All RAs were trained to lead discussions about active bystandership during RA training in August 2013 and January 2014. All other Residence Life staff received training as well about active bystandership and supporting RAs. In addition, all RSO student leaders received this training.
  

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  Creates and maintains an educational and work environment that is diverse, equitable and accessible.
  
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  Includes diversity, equity, and access initiatives within its strategic plans and creates a diverse staff, programs and services through recruitment and hiring strategies targeting underrepresented populations.
  
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  Provides programs that contribute to student learning and development along multiple diversity dimensions (including understanding and appreciating cultural and human differences, social responsibility, global perspective, sense of civic responsibility).
  
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  Modifies or removes policies, practices, facilities, structures, systems, and technologies that limit access, discriminate or produce inequities.
  
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  Addresses the characteristics and needs of a diverse population when establishing and implementing programs, services, policies, procedures and practices.
  
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  Provides staff members with access to multicultural training and holds staff members accountable for integrating the training into their work.
  

As the stature of our university continues to grow, both as the flagship campus of the Commonwealth and as a premier national public research institution, the importance of communicating our considerable achievements to the public grows as well. Within University Relations, it is our responsibility to tell the impressive story of UMass Amherst: our faculty and their global research; our students who are preparing to lead; and our hundreds of thousands of alumni who make the world a better place every day. University Relations advances this goal by implementing comprehensive communication strategies that collectively build a compelling identity for the University. We provide centralized services to the campus and strive to support the campus goal of inclusion and diversity for all communication efforts with an emphasis on recruitment and retention of students, private giving, and engaging alumni and other constituencies.

An editorial board consisting of pan-campus representation meets weekly to review university stories and accolades and consider the most appropriate channels for distribution. These options include social media, press releases, the homepage and other communication venues. The editorial board reviews the proposed list of stories for distribution to ensure that the all our communication channels reflect a diverse campus. This vetting of stories is a primary requirement of our editorial process: we do not leave the message that the University values diversity to chance.