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University of Denver

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
University Hall
2197 S. University Blvd
Denver, Colorado 80208
Phone
(303) 871-2000
Email address
admission@du.edu
School Information
"Located where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, we embody the spirit of exploration and discovery that defines our region and our history. The University of Denver is a private institution built on exploration through research and collaboration among educators, students, and local and global communities. "With nationally recognized academic programs, a history of widespread influence, a forward-looking vision for a 21st century education and a deep commitment to promoting inclusion, we open a world of opportunity to students and empower Pioneers to make a difference around the world." The university enrolls over 12,000 students, has a 11:1 student-faculty ratio, and offers over 100 degree programs. (Source: https://www.du.edu/about/overview) (Source: https://www.du.edu/academics)
General Information
The University of Denver has taken steps to forward its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. In addition to pledging additional funding for DEI initiatives and hiring new senior leadership, the university also promised to "Continue baseline mandatory training for administrators, faculty, staff, and students." See developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • An update regarding the DEI Action Plan was provided in November 2021. DU claims to "have outlined shared definitions," "honored our Native students and Native community members," "launched a new Latinx Center website," among other updates.
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • DU will "Continue baseline mandatory training for administrators, faculty, staff, and students."
  • Managing Bias Training is provided year-round for faculty, staff, and student workers. The training "defines terms such as discrimination, harassment, bias, microaggressions, and seeks to promote awareness about employees’ behaviors and how to manage their own biases."
  • The Social Justice Education Department offers custom DEI workshops "on a range of issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice." The workshops are specially designed for student audiences.
  • All incoming undergraduate students must complete the "Everfi module on diversity, equity, and inclusion, including introducing concepts of identity, stereotypes, bias, power, privilege, oppression, microaggressions, allyship, and more." Students are required to complete this module "as part of their Discoveries Orientation experience." Resident Assistants and Discovery leaders are also required to complete the training.
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • In collaboration with the College of Education Student Association (COESA), Dean Karen Riley of the Morgridge College of Education (MCE) has committed to providing all incoming and current MCE Students with an eBook of How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, "to foster reflection, dialogue, and antiracist action." In the fall of 2020, all students started participating in a cross-college, Action Book Club (ABC) throughout the Morgridge College of Education, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, and the Graduate School of Social Work. The purpose of the ABC is to "bring systemic issues surrounding power, privilege, and oppression to the forefront and to invite interdisciplinary community-building to address current issues."
  • The Core Curriculum requires 16 credits of "Society and Culture Courses" to help students navigate living in a "diverse and interdependent society." Students may choose from classes such as ETHN 1004: Introduction to Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, MFJS 2220: Popular Music and Social Justice, GWST 1112: Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies, and many other classes focused on themes of DEI and critical race theory.
Disciplinary Measures
  • The University has a "bias incident response team" that responds to bias incidents, which is defined "as any behaviors that target individuals or groups based on their actual or perceived group identities." It provides examples such as "graffiti, harassment, jokes, and direct insults."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • All existing and incoming faculty must complete "modules on harassment, diversity, equity, and inclusion and implicit bias." Furthermore, "faculty are also required to take the inclusive teaching practices training modules" through the Faculty Institute for Inclusive Teaching (FIIT).
  • All administrators and staff are required to complete "modules on harassment, diversity, equity, and inclusion and implicit bias." The University is also exploring other training to "further grow competencies in diversity, equity, and inclusion." 
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • The University has set out to "facilitate substantive discussions throughout the year on exploring the term antiracism." The discussions seek to address what ways "your area [has] fallen short of or engaged in antiracism" and what "antiracism’s implications [are] in the context of DU’s past, present, and future."
Program and Research Funding
  • The university announced the creation of the "Faculty Institute for Inclusive Teaching", "an asynchronous, interactive, self-paced, online program on inclusive teaching. It is designed to meet DU’s faculty where they are – either building on years of inclusive teaching practices or just beginning to incorporate inclusive teaching into their curricula."
  • DU will "Provide resources from strategic imperative planning funds to the office of diversity, equity, and inclusion to implement the action items."
  • DU will "Grow DU’s existing DEI leadership by expanding the ODEI fellows program."
  • The ODEI is offering funding for up to $5,000 for "Programming and Learning about Antiracism" as part of the DEI Action Plan.
  • ODEI has funded three proposals through its antiracism initiative: antiracism in legal education, antiracism in clinical psychology curricula, and antiracism and its impact on CAHSS’ promotion and tenure decisions. ODEI is planning to fund proposals related to addressing anti-Asian and anti-immigrant racism and violence against Native American and Indigenous women, as well as proposals that commemorate or reflect on Juneteenth.
  • Over the last several years, the ODEI, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science, and the undergraduate research program "awarded nearly $100k in summer grants... for racially minoritized students" through the University's E-STEM Summer Research Initiative.
Resources
  • DU will "Create a widespread culture of DEI through new programming related to power and privilege, as well as thinking more expansively about existing programming, such as heritage months."
  • "The Department of Philosophy at the University of Denver offers an undergraduate specialization in Critical Theory for DU students. Our critical theory curriculum consists in graduate and undergraduate courses taught by faculty across the Humanities, including Philosophy, Communications, Religious Studies, English, Economics, Emergent Digital Practices, and Gender & Women’s Studies."
  • DU also offers a minor in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, one of the goals of which is to "Uncover and understand the social, cultural, and historical contributions and lived experiences of racialized populations in the United States, and around the world."
  • The university library has a "Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Guide" site to "support students in the CRES minor."
  • The library has "Anti-racist Resources" specifically geared toward white students, staff, and faculty.
  • Between January and March 2020, the University of Denver hosted its virtual 20th annual Diversity Summit where DU "explored and examined antiracism." The Summit hosted 34 virtual events and four additional DU community events with 105 speakers and 1,555 attendees.
  • The Office of DEI is hiring Social Justice Peer Educators for 2023-2024, with some online trainings during the summer and the pilot program launching in the Fall.
  • DU has a list of Social Justice Resources, including links to the DU Equity Portal, Equity Labs, and Catalyst Series for Social Justice.
  • DU's IRISE program supports interdisciplinary research, scholarship and creative works that promote equality and equity in historically underrepresented communities on issues of inequality, social justice and inclusivity. IRISE founder and interim Vive Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion Dr. Tom Romero describes IRISE to be about "joining with underserved and underrepresented communities to dismantle systems of oppression and inequity."
  • The Hubb is DU's student staff-curated blog on social justice and DEI topics.
  • The Cultural Center at DU provides identity-based student programming, annual cultural signature events, and leadership opportunities and support. It seeks to create an environment where students of color, students of marginalized faiths, and LGBTQ+ students can "critically engage their historical legacies, while enhancing their educational, intellectual and personal/professional interest" as it relates to intersectional identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status.
  • DU DialogUes provides students with personal, professional and community development opportunities as students engage with one another to "increase mutual understanding around current events, salient identities, and complex issues." Program offerings include single-session dialogues, dialogue series, for-credit courses, and facilitation trainings.
  • Students Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) LLC aims to "[foster] the knowledge and skills needed to become change-agents in responding to racial and related social inequities in support of a greater public good." 22 like-minded students live together, learn together by enrolling 2-credit seminars, and work with faculty mentors.
  • After three professors of color in DU’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology left in May 2022, the school worked to fix its "systemic issues" partly by hiring a new dean and finding replacement faculty.
  • The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences has a DEI Committee.
  • The Office of Teaching and Learning includes resources on inclusive pedagogy, defined as "an approach to teaching that requires [educators] to recognize, assess, and respond to microaggressions; to co-construct knowledge, community agreements, and curricula." It also includes sample "inclusive syllabus statements" and a land acknowledgment.
  • The Office of Teaching and Learning has a module on "Inclusive Teaching Practices." It also hosts information on "Identity Pedagogies" and "Teaching Models" on "Intersectional Pedagogy."
  • The Sacred Sounds and Social Justice Initiative is a project whose "mission includes performance, social justice and education."
Symbolic Actions
  • The University hired a vice chancellor for diversity, equity, and inclusion to "ensure DU’s strategy and priorities are in line with [its] commitments to being a diverse and welcoming campus."
  • DU's WORC (Whites Organizing for Racial Consciousness) hold monthly meetings that attempt to "advance white identity consciousness and criticality, with discussion of and engagement in action steps to deconstruct and dismantle white supremacy."
  • The Chancellor’s Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mentioned how DU integrated a culture of Inclusive Excellence in its "processes, systems, mission statements and other structures."
  • DU's Butler Institute for Families is seeking an anti-racism consultant with expertise in "planning and implementing strategies to build an anti-racist and multicultural organization." The consultant will engage in a multi-year project with an anticipated span of 3 years.
  • The Department of Media, Film, and Journalism Studies is committed "to critical thinking and experiential learning alongside immersive community engagement and social justice." The department has a "Statement of Inclusive Excellence" that recognizes "the interrelationship of power and representation" and aims "to support the rights of all persons to dignity and respect, with special attention to those who are members of marginalized or oppressed communities." It also states that it "strives for inclusive excellence" in the classroom by "recognizing and respecting diverse identities, privilege, and personal experiences."
  • The University's Mental Health and Awareness Collaboration supports "racial justice." It provides support and resources for "those impacted by acts of mass [gun] violence" and for "BIPOC community members who are experiencing traumatic reactions to recent, highly publicized events of racial violence in the context of longstanding, systemic oppression."
  • The University states it places "a high priority on expanding diversity by supporting the hiring, retention, and development of faculty and staff from historically underrepresented groups."
Last updated July 30th, 2024
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