Campus News and Stories on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In support of North Central College's efforts to facilitate racial healing and promote racial justice, Healing Illinois awarded the College a $20,000 grant. The grant will be used to help expand five of the College's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Writer and historian Robert W. Fieseler will give a virtual lecture on how North Central College's home of Naperville became a large, suburban “melting pot” with a diverse population and broad sense of social acceptance.

North Central College's Office of Multicultural Affairs and Center for Social Impact are implementing dialogue training and a toolkit for it called CHIRP, named for how Cardinals communicate with each other.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, students in Professor Ann Keating’s HIST 200 Methods class uncovered racist images in North Central College’s student newspaper and yearbook archives. 

While enrolled in Models of Social Thought and Philosophy of Race and Gender with Ann Dolinko, visiting professor in the Shimer Great Books School, Beth Rodriguez '21, Josselin Rodríguez '21 and Mayra Dominguez '21 formed an idea: to create an organization on campus that provides a safe and welcoming environment for all. 

The North Central College Board of Trustees expanded its committee structure in order to give Board members more time to engage with student programming and success and the College’s continued work on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Honors Program is hosting a Salon Series focusing on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion as a way to expand important “conversations” within the campus community. Led by North Central faculty and staff, all six sessions can be joined via Microsoft Teams; many can also be attended in person.

Each year, Welcome Week at North Central College offers valuable workshops and events for first-year students. Welcome Week 2020 included a virtual keynote session with bestselling author, public speaker and media producer Austin Channing Brown. 

As students study the writing of social change movements of the past and present, they learn how their own writing can influence public media.

North Central’s faculty were inspired to reflect on their beliefs and consider new teaching approaches during a virtual workshop on diversity, equity and inclusion, lead by Dr. Sumun L. Pendakur, chief learning officer at University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs held two special events to promote dialogue about race and racism in July. These events were fully virtual and open to the public, and saw strong attendance.

Ambitious students use their skills as entrepreneurs by bringing Colombian jewelry to the U.S.