20 • 28 DE ENERO 2021
HIGHER ED TODAY
I was profoundly moved by the messages
of unity and compassion delivered by President
Joe Biden during his inaugural address
on Jan. 20.
Weeks after a violent insurrection in the
U.S. Capitol provided an inflection point in
the tumultuous and divisive chapter that has
marked our recent history, Biden spoke of the
need to heal.
The president urged Americans to embrace
the difficult process of engaging one another,
putting our differences aside and trying
to find even a small patch of common ground.
In that way, he said, we will begin repairing
the fissures and divisions that have roiled this
nation.
The City University of New York, the most
racially and ethnically diverse University in
the country and arguably the world, has long
been a home to such helpful dialogue and a
beacon to the honest exchange of ideas, a place
where students, faculty and staff are encouraged
to work together, find common ground and
forge a more civil and symbiotic community.
I’m proud that CUNY continues to develop
programs that foster a climate of openness and
mutual respect among people of different backgrounds,
perspectives and experiences. The
pursuit of tolerance and respect has always
been a key tenet of CUNY’s mission, and it has
fueled my own work as a professor, college president
and chancellor.
In 2016, when I was serving as president
of Queens College, I helped lead a Universitywide
committee that was formed to bolster the
University’s promotion of civility and its resolution
of on-campus disagreements. The group
was formed amid a troubling uptick in conflicts
that involved matters of race, religion, gender
and politics on college campuses across the
country.
Through the group’s assessment of those
incidents and issues, I was attracted to the
Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding
(CERRU), a program that has become
an effective driver of inclusivity and equity at
Queens College, where it is based, and on three
other CUNY campuses.
Today, thanks to financial support from
New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson,
CERRU is on track to double the number of
CUNY campuses it can reach. Through its Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Incubator,
CERRU is helping our campus communities
to promote anti-racist practices and cross-cultural
communication.
CERRU Director Sophia McGee said that
she, too, felt empowered by President Biden’s
stirring inauguration message to the country
earlier this month.
“It hit me on a visceral level, the importance
of what we’re doing,” she said. “If we can
engage enough people through our DEI training
and through CUNY’s continued commitment
to equity and diversity, we can create a
shift in the culture where eventually we can
become less divisive and start to work to effect
positive social change.”
The avenues are many in which CUNY can
generate awareness and fluency on a range of
equity-driven, social justice issues.
CUNY’s LGBTQI Student Leadership Program,
brings together motivated students for a
yearlong training experience in leadership and
personal development, civic and community
engagement, and social networking opportunities
with LGBTQI industry and community
leaders.
Our University-wide Black Male Initiative
supports the inclusion and educational success
of African, Black American, Caribbean and
Latino/Hispanic males, who are underrepresented
in higher education.
In 2013, CUNY began a Biennial CUNY
Faculty Diversity & Inclusion Conference that
aimed to help faculty constructively address
sensitive issues surrounding race and ethnicity,
sexuality and gender, age, disability, language
and religion, as well as those of cultural
competency, pedagogy for ESL students and
unconscious bias regarding economic status.
These valuable initiatives at CUNY are all
aimed at creating a more tolerant and inclusive
climate, an objective that is helpful on multiple
fronts. CUNY’s commitment to diversity and
access extends to all aspects of the University,
from its student enrollment efforts to its approach
to faculty hiring, and to the scores of
services that CUNY provides to advance and
sustain its community.
In addition to enabling all students to more
effectively pursue their academic goals, these
endeavors can impact our society in a broader
but no less valuable sense, evidence that higher
education can serve as a powerful engine of
change.
In his inauguration speech, President
Biden ticked off a litany of challenges the country
now faces, and it was a daunting list. Only
by showing respect and listening to one another,
he said, do we stand a chance of writing a
new chapter in the story of America.
That’s a prescription for healing and a recipe
for success. It’s one that CUNY strongly endorses
and has long practiced.
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