Undergraduate Student Government continues to grow into a diversified organization five months after passing their first ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan.

Senator at Large for diversity Aiyana Ncube is proud of how far the organization has come since the passing of the DEI plan.

“Working with this plan has made our organization a lot more intentional with how we deal with issues among our student body,” Ncube said. “I think we’ve really had to look at our organizational practices with a microscope and see if this actually serves students.”

The plan is composed of eight sections detailing the DEI plan. The first three sections deal with administrative context. The next five sections deal with the following;

• Section 4 is to “foster an organizational climate where each member recognizes the interdependent nature of USG in creating a truly equitable and inclusive campus.”
• Section 5 is to “provide DEI training opportunities to members to facilitate personal and professional growth.”
• Section 6 is to “evaluate organizational practices to develop an equitable and inclusive USG that prioritizes diverse perspectives.”
• Section 7 is to “engage with the undergraduate student body in a way that fosters trust and creates an inclusive campus culture.”

The last section of the DEI plan is to bring accountability and implementation to the organization by ensuring that the plan will always be present on the official USG website and that the Senator at Large for diversity will provide a progress report at the end of each month.

“We wanted to have a written plan to ensure that we were actually doing something, and then a big part of that plan is to involve every single member of USG in our DEI efforts,” Jenna Gilbreath, USG president said.

The written plan is the blueprint for future USG members to have guidance on the DEI efforts of the organization.

“We created a protocol to address hate that’s formulated as a list of questions,” Gilbreath said. “I feel like there is a sense of urgency to take action immediately, and sometimes the action taken isn’t as thoughtful or as intentional.”

The list of questions was created with the help of administration at Kent State to ensure the questions were appropriate to use to respond to hate on campus. When something happens on campus, USG convenes a group together to review the questions before formulating a response.

“As a result of that, our response to things has been incredibly different than it has ever been in the past,” Gilbreath said. “And it has been incredibly more intentional.”

On April 25, USG will hold a focus group to measure the success of the DEI plan and efforts. The focus group will allow them to see where they have been successful and where they may need to improve and fix for the future.

“DEI&B is an ever-changing and important topic which is vital in the success of organizations,” said Sage Mason, director of Student Involvement.

“Specifically for USG, being able to have a resource that helps guide us through current DEI&B situations but is still able to be continuously updated and advanced allows our organization to prosper and ensure that all bases are covered when dealing with situations concerning DEI&B.”

Chania Crawford is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].