SUNY Cortland

One of the goals of the Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office is to "[f]oster a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment through the recruitment and retention of underrepresented and minoritized students...."

On June 29, 2023, SUNY’s Chancellor and Board of Trustees issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision on race conscious admissions which reads in part as follows: “Today, the US Supreme Court attempted to pull our nation backwards in the journey toward equity and civil rights with an egregious ruling that will have serious impacts on students and families seeking the American dream of opportunity through higher education...Today’s decision threatens to undermine what progress has been made, by throwing up roadblocks and barriers when what’s needed are better paths and bridges...At SUNY, our resolve to provide opportunity for all has never been stronger. The commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion will continue to be a factor in every goal we pursue, every program we create, every policy we promulgate, and every decision we make."

Faculty members of the President’s Council on Inclusive Excellence attended three training workshops with the Black Lives and Liberation Forum.

The university's Anti-Racism Task Force will be, "Developing tools and appropriate methods for educating our campus on issues of racism and ways to properly address these matters in an anti-racist manner."

On February 21, 2024, as part of its Black History Month events lineup, SUNY Cortland hosted the "NYSUT Implicit Bias Workshop: 'Sticks and Stones' where "[p]articipants [were] invited to learn how to promote social unity and increase cultural awareness in school and community by attending this inaugural New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) workshop for members and local affiliates."

The university's Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office provides faculty and staff diversity training on such topics as implicit bias, microaggressions, and racial/ethnic identities.

One of the goals of the Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office is to "[e]stablish educational programs and initiatives on inclusive pedagogy, cultural competency, and equity-mindedness."

The Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) Initiative offers "sustained professional development opportunities that address access to curricula and inclusive pedagogical approaches."

The Multicultural Life and Diversity staff at SUNY Cortland "offer a variety of multicultural, diversity and social justice workshops tailored and designed to assist students, faculty and staff in understanding topics such as issues of inclusion, the intersections of social identities, the components of oppression, and issues of power/privilege."

On February 25, 2021, SUNY Cortland announced its 25-Point Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan to "close the racial equity gaps" and "eliminate cultural and institutional racial discrimination across SUNY." The 25 initiatives fall under four categories: creating a more inclusive culture at SUNY, embedding racial equity into curriculum and towards racial equity, strengthening the institutional role of the Chief Diversity Office, and increasing diversity of faculty and staff at SUNY. The Board of Trustees also approved one of the key recommendations from the Action Plan—creating a new DEI Committee of the Board of Trustees to "provide policy direction."

SUNY Cortland outlines its "Bias Related Incident Reporting Form" process and states the following: "Anyone in our campus community can report a bias related incident as it relates to SUNY Cortland. You do not have to be a student/faculty/staff member of SUNY Cortland for you to disrupt bias related behaviors in our campus community."

University lists Black Lives Matter and website of Ibram X. Kendi as part of anti-racist resources.

$2,000 ImPACt civic engagement scholarship rewards "antiracist work" among other initiatives.

The SUNY Cortland University Police "will continue to train our members on topics that include implicit bias and de-escalation to ensure that we support a system that guarantees equal justice under the law for every community member. We will routinely review our policies and procedures to ensure they support an anti-racist culture."

Global Literacy Conference will feature sessions on anti-racist online literacy teaching.

"All members of the campus community are invited to take part in the 21-day anti-racism challenge to in part foster awareness, compassion and understanding".

University's Black History Month programming includes seminars titled “Eastern Europe, Anti-Black Racism and the Unfinished Project of Decolonization” and “The Scramble for Anti-racist College Campuses: Rethinking Strategies for Racial Justice in the American Polity."

The university has an Anti-Racism Task Force, which aims to "proactively identify and address matters related to racism on campus that serve as barriers or inhibitors of maximum academic, social and personal success for our BIPOC students. Furthermore, we strive to contribute to the creation of a campus climate that is socially and racially inclusive, diverse and just for ALL our students."

SUNY Cortland invited Brendan Kiely, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege, to discuss white privilege. The virtual "Dinnertime Dialogue" occurred on Monday, March 7, 2022 and was presented by the Antiracism Taskforce and university's Literacy Department.

On November 5, 2022, SUNY Cortland hosted the 12th Annual Student Diversity Conference. Tibisay Hernandez, a diversity and inclusion team leader for the New York state Department of Civil Service's Office of Diversity and Inclusion Management, delivered the keynote address. Hernandez' talk was titled "Afro-Latinx: Exploring the Cultural Complexities in the Latinx Community."

For Black History Month 2022, SUNY Cortland hosted over two dozen events throughout February. Events include presentations, panel discussions, and podcasts. 18 university offices, schools, departments, and associations co-sponsored and funded Black History Month events.

On February 21, 2024, as part of its Black History Month events lineup, SUNY Cortland hosted an event titled, "Over-Policed and Under-Protected: Intra-Racial Violence and the Hyper-Policing in the Black Community." The event was described as follows: "Bell will discuss the need for critical race methodology (CRM), a research methodology that explicitly treats the thoughts, experiences and words of marginalized communities as actual data, making their lives the primary focal point of overall research design."

SUNY Cortland's "21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge" is described as follows: "Unlearning your biases is an incredibly difficult task. You cannot become an anti-racist just by deciding you are one. We hope that the topics here will challenge and inspire you. Proceed with an open mind when you see an activity that might be at odds with your beliefs. Those may be the ones that spark the greatest change."

SUNY Cortland Faculty member John Jones states that his research is based on "Marxist critical theory, critical race theory, semiotics, and American pragmatism."

SUNY Cortland announced that its "14th Annual Student Diversity Conference on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice" would take place on November 2, 2024.

The university provides "Racial Justice Resources" which includes a "Racial Trauma Toolkit," "Responding to Anti-Asian Racism," and "Academics for Black Lives."

On March 5, 2024, SUNY Cortland News announced that "[d]uring Women’s History Month in March, SUNY Cortland plans a series of events on the theme of 'Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion'.”

As part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, SUNY Cortland offers an "Inclusive Language Guide" which "provides suggestions for using more inclusive and considerate language and serves as a point of reference for the way we communicate."

The Multicultural Male Initiative at SUNY Cortland was "created to help men of color (African American, Asian, Latino, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native) access education, stay in school, and graduate." This initiative "provides academic help, career development and mentoring."

The research interests of Literacy Department Assistant Professor Keith Newvine include "developing racial literacy with K-20 students, critical race English education, teacher advocacy, and critical pedagogies."

Danica Savonick is an Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Cortland whose teaching and research include the analysis of "critical race, gender, and sexuality studies."

One of the goals of the Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office is to "[e]liminate the systemic and historical barriers of discrimination in order to provide equal opportunity and education for all."