Create Systemic Student Support in Drexel University's EIC
The Issue
Please sign with your Drexel email if possible so we may accurately count the number of signatures from the Drexel community.
On September 8th, the Office of Equality and Diversity (OED) reorganized into the Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusive Culture (EIC), and in doing so, the Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion (SCDI) and Spiritual and Religious Life (SRL) were acquired and separated from their previous home in Student Life. This resulted in these student facing and student serving organizations being removed from Student Life’s oversite to an organization with deep ties to Human Resources (HR).
This new leadership for the SCDI and SRL has proven to be ineffective. The University Chaplains were not consulted before nor contacted after their move from Student Life to EIC. When individual students brought concerns to EIC, they were dismissed. Student organizations were improperly credited when cohosting events with EIC. Furthermore, the tone-deaf university-wide messaging regarding Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual memorial service the SCDI hosts, further shows a lack of attention to necessary resources that students rely on.
We are calling upon EIC to transparently acknowledge its intrinsic connection with Human Resources which causes OED to focus on institutional compliance, limiting its ability to support students. EIC must acknowledge that students require more support than university employees. Unlike university employees, many students rely on Drexel University for their first- and second-year housing and meal plans, in addition to the opportunities provided by social, spiritual, and religious spaces. Even beyond the first two years, Drexel students are inherently tied to the wider Drexel society and culture. We are calling upon EIC to address the shortcomings of OED by creating the necessary structures and channels in EIC to allow for improved accountability, transparency, and student advocacy.
Our petition first calls for a pause on the hiring round for the Associate Director of the SCDI to allow for petition negotiations as we believe this leadership is not sufficient for the needs of the student body. We also call for EIC to share our petition with the applicants as we believe it is unethical to bring in a new employee to a position where the office they will preside over and the organizations they will partner with are actively petitioning against their role. Additionally, we call for MyKella Mitchell, the only full-time employee of the SCDI, to be properly compensated for her fulfillment of the essential functions of the Associate Director of the SCDI in addition to her responsibilities as the Assistant Director of the SCDI.
We are calling for the SCDI to exist as a third department within EIC, sharing a direct connection to Student Life and intentional separation from HR, and have the SCDI’s leadership fairly placed at the Director level. Additionally, we demand that Spiritual and Religious Life to be provided with the leadership to be treated as an identity-based center following the blueprint defined by the Center for Black Culture (CBC).
Our full petition goes into detail regarding these concerns and presents a list of correlated requests to further create systemic support for the student body within EIC. This document, a full itemized list of primary demands and correlated requests, and references can be found in our LinkTree.
This extensive document is the product of many months of research and meetings. Its demands were written exclusively by students and recent alumni and endorsed by the executive boards of the 32 student organizations that signed it. It has already been sent to EIC and Student Life administration and we plan to begin petition negotiations in January 2023. Their refusal to pause the hiring round for the Associate Director of the SCDI has prompted us to collect signatures from the Drexel community.
The Coalition of Identity-Based Organizations (CIBO) is a student-founded, student-led, and student-focused organization. CIBO’s focus is our ongoing petition for systemic student support in EIC. Regardless of the outcome of this process, CIBO intends on continuing its mission to serve as a support for all identity-based organizations in ways that these organizations deem necessary. Our LinkTree also provides more information for organizations that would like to support CIBO beyond change.org.
The Issue
Please sign with your Drexel email if possible so we may accurately count the number of signatures from the Drexel community.
On September 8th, the Office of Equality and Diversity (OED) reorganized into the Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusive Culture (EIC), and in doing so, the Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion (SCDI) and Spiritual and Religious Life (SRL) were acquired and separated from their previous home in Student Life. This resulted in these student facing and student serving organizations being removed from Student Life’s oversite to an organization with deep ties to Human Resources (HR).
This new leadership for the SCDI and SRL has proven to be ineffective. The University Chaplains were not consulted before nor contacted after their move from Student Life to EIC. When individual students brought concerns to EIC, they were dismissed. Student organizations were improperly credited when cohosting events with EIC. Furthermore, the tone-deaf university-wide messaging regarding Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual memorial service the SCDI hosts, further shows a lack of attention to necessary resources that students rely on.
We are calling upon EIC to transparently acknowledge its intrinsic connection with Human Resources which causes OED to focus on institutional compliance, limiting its ability to support students. EIC must acknowledge that students require more support than university employees. Unlike university employees, many students rely on Drexel University for their first- and second-year housing and meal plans, in addition to the opportunities provided by social, spiritual, and religious spaces. Even beyond the first two years, Drexel students are inherently tied to the wider Drexel society and culture. We are calling upon EIC to address the shortcomings of OED by creating the necessary structures and channels in EIC to allow for improved accountability, transparency, and student advocacy.
Our petition first calls for a pause on the hiring round for the Associate Director of the SCDI to allow for petition negotiations as we believe this leadership is not sufficient for the needs of the student body. We also call for EIC to share our petition with the applicants as we believe it is unethical to bring in a new employee to a position where the office they will preside over and the organizations they will partner with are actively petitioning against their role. Additionally, we call for MyKella Mitchell, the only full-time employee of the SCDI, to be properly compensated for her fulfillment of the essential functions of the Associate Director of the SCDI in addition to her responsibilities as the Assistant Director of the SCDI.
We are calling for the SCDI to exist as a third department within EIC, sharing a direct connection to Student Life and intentional separation from HR, and have the SCDI’s leadership fairly placed at the Director level. Additionally, we demand that Spiritual and Religious Life to be provided with the leadership to be treated as an identity-based center following the blueprint defined by the Center for Black Culture (CBC).
Our full petition goes into detail regarding these concerns and presents a list of correlated requests to further create systemic support for the student body within EIC. This document, a full itemized list of primary demands and correlated requests, and references can be found in our LinkTree.
This extensive document is the product of many months of research and meetings. Its demands were written exclusively by students and recent alumni and endorsed by the executive boards of the 32 student organizations that signed it. It has already been sent to EIC and Student Life administration and we plan to begin petition negotiations in January 2023. Their refusal to pause the hiring round for the Associate Director of the SCDI has prompted us to collect signatures from the Drexel community.
The Coalition of Identity-Based Organizations (CIBO) is a student-founded, student-led, and student-focused organization. CIBO’s focus is our ongoing petition for systemic student support in EIC. Regardless of the outcome of this process, CIBO intends on continuing its mission to serve as a support for all identity-based organizations in ways that these organizations deem necessary. Our LinkTree also provides more information for organizations that would like to support CIBO beyond change.org.
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on December 16, 2022