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Editorial Board

SU’s diversity update email is a step in the right direction

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An interim chief diversity officer was hired following the Theta Tau controversy, and he has since initiated projects about diversity and inclusion.

Keith Alford, Syracuse University’s interim chief diversity officer, sent a campus-wide email Tuesday afternoon with updates about several diversity initiatives SU has kickstarted since the spring semester. 

In years past, SU email updates specifically related to diversity haven’t been regularly scheduled or comprehensive. So it’s commendable that this update was thorough and included logistics including the date of the Disability External Review Committee’s next meeting. Including details not only makes initiatives more understandable and accessible but also bolsters a certain degree of transparency between SU and its students.

What the email is missing, though, is forward-looking information on future events to detail how students can best contribute to campus discourse by engaging with decision makers, like Alford, in public settings.

Including that information would add to the accessibility of initiatives mentioned by Alford in his email. 

Although plans mentioned in this update raise  several questions related to progress and implementation, SU’s efforts to share this information thus far, in the form of monthly emails following the Theta Tau controversy, have not gone unnoticed.  



As long as  SU continues to disseminate information regarding major campus plans on a regular basis, and officials encourage public, in-person discourse with students, emails like Tuesday’s are a step in the right direction for a university that needs better communication with its campus body. 

The Daily Orange Editorial Board serves as the voice of the organization and aims to contribute the perspectives of students to discussions that concern Syracuse University and the greater Syracuse community. The editorial board’s stances are determined by a majority of its members. You can read more about the editorial board here. Are you interested in pitching a topic for the editorial board to discuss? Email opinion@dailyorange.com.

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