The Baylor African Student Association held its annual cultural showcase, Afrique, on Saturday, offering attendees a night of traditional and modern African culture. Student organizers said they hoped the event would help cultural diversity become a medium to foster understanding and unity among Baylor students.
Browsing: diversity and belonging
During Dr Pepper Hour Tuesday afternoon, the Modern Languages and Cultures Department gave students the opportunity to learn about different cultures through languages.
As Sing approaches, many multicultural organizations on campus continue to fight to make the supposed “all-university” event more inclusive for the entire student body.
The come-and-go event offered free food and boba tea while students rotated between activity tables decorated in Spring Festival elements. Students participated in traditional games and learned about the meaning behind Lunar New Year customs and symbols.
International students at the annual Celebration of First Year Excellence said the university’s resources have helped them transition into life at Baylor while chasing academic success.
“I just want students to realize we’re all going through the same things, and you may not have figured out a way to navigate it just yet, but somebody next to you knows how to conquer it,” Sherwood, Ark., senior Mia Ellington-Williams said.
Students who ventured to Penland Dining Hall on Thursday afternoon were greeted with red lanterns and red envelopes filled with spices in celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year.
The event aimed to remind students of their ancestors’ legacy and to shape how they think about it. The goal was to transform legacy from just a concept of the past to an active responsibility of the present.
Walking through any freshman door during the first week, you will see the anticipation. But under that, there is an uneven playing field that goes unnoticed. Universities pride themselves on global enrollments and the way they cater to freshmen, but that could not be further from the truth. International freshmen start further back from where the race begins.
The Black Student Success Initiative and Black Faculty and Staff Association co-hosted Forward Together on Tuesday night in Marrs McLean Science Building to discuss descriptive representation. The goal was to encourage Black students and students of color to navigate struggles at Baylor and to prepare for life after graduation by hosting a career-readiness and leadership panel discussion.
“I think especially for the students and interns that work here, we’re kind of told that we are supposed to be like leaders amongst our peers,” Houston sophomore Tan Green said. “[It’s] kind of to help guide people and help us with teaching moments in leadership.”
Baylor held its annual Faculty and Staff of Color Reception Thursday afternoon to welcome new staff for this school year and celebrate plans for the new year, one being the new memorial on Founder’s Mall.
Baylor is now faced with a socio-political crossroad: uphold its commitment to diversity as a private university or blend in with the unavoidable fate of state education.
The second-annual Global Cultural Fest was held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursday at the Hankamer School of Business. The event was sponsored by the Dean’s Office, Department of Economics and the McBride Center for International Business as a way to bring the business school together to learn about different cultures and countries.
Other than diversity, Baylor was recognized in seven different categories this year: job satisfaction and support, mission and pride, faculty and staff wellbeing, compensation and benefits, supervisor effectiveness, confidence in senior leadership and professional development.
“We ask that students converse with other Baylor students who come from different backgrounds, so that everyone can better understand how systemic inequalities and identities come to fruition,” Serrato said.
“Everyone saw the value in being here, even though they came from so many other places and backgrounds.”
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers began an official Baylor chapter in May and is now working to create a community for Hispanic engineers at Baylor.
Dr. Coretta M. Pittman is settling into her new position as associate dean of diversity and belonging in the College of Arts and Sciences. As the first to hold this position, Pittman will review the DEI committee’s recommendations for improving standards of diversity and belonging.
