Video: Open Your Mind History
Saint Elizabeth University was founded over 120 years ago to provide opportunity to
those whose higher education choices were limited by a system which was slow to respond
to the needs of individuals who were not in the majority.
In 1899, we opened our doors to women because men were the favored college student.
As the years went by, College leadership looked beyond our gates and saw a need to
meet the needs of adults for bachelor’s and graduate degree programs – again we stepped
up to serve the need.
Over the last 20 years, the College has grown from being a predominantly undergraduate,
majority-serving, Catholic, women’s college to being a diverse campus of women and
men of various ages from a variety of social, economic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
For the past five years, the College, now University, has made great strides in building
an inclusive community. We have focused on the equitable treatment of the diverse
individuals who work and study at the University and we have engaged in the training
of our staff and faculty to build better racial understanding.
Our students and employees have recognized our work to date by rating the institution
highly on our respect for and inclusion of others. We are committed to celebrating
our multiple diversities but, most importantly, we are committed to assuring that
this is an accepting community especially of the racial and economic realities, which
are a major component in serving our mission.
It is with our unique diversity in mind that we now find ourselves at a crossroads
in our country. A crossroads where we have come to understand that only being for
the educational advancement of those who have been marginalized is inadequate.
As a Catholic institution steeped in solidarity with the poor and in our commitment
to serve others, we must do more. To this end, we are instituting a group to work
on inclusion, equity, and advocacy. The work of this group will be built on the premise
that we will be part of a consistent agenda to advance the rights of the black and
brown members of our community.
We will do more than educate, we will be part of advocating for sustained change in
our society.
Purpose
The purpose of the Inclusion, Equity and Advocacy Committee (IEAC) is to work with the President to develop an institutional agenda to advance the University's role in building inclusive communities, assuring equity for diverse populations, and creating a sustainable agenda of advocacy in support of eliminating structural and societal barriers created to maintain racial and economic inequality.