President Cady Short-Thompson followed up on her recent decision to dissolve NKU’s Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) with a campus-wide email sent out in the early afternoon of Sept. 3. This follow-up comes just five days after the decision to dissolve the OIE was announced in a similar mass email.
Short-Thompson stated she has “received a few questions and wanted to provide greater clarity about what this decision does and does not mean for our NKU community.”
The body of the email contained a list of six “Notes and Reminders” Short-Thompson wished to share.
The President began with the following quote, “Our commitment to student access, engagement, belonging, and success is the same; it is unwavering. We will continue to support students in ways that value their needs and their identities.”
She followed by reassuring students that the Center for Student Inclusiveness (CSI) will continue its work “in the absence of the OIE now as it did before the existence of this office.” The CSI focuses on academic support, identity-based programming and intercultural understanding among students.
The Office of Inclusive Excellence was established in January 2020. Short-Thompson assured students that the CSI never reported to the OIE and that their work regarding student inclusivity on campus will not be affected by this change going forward.
According to the now-deleted OIE webpage, the office was responsible for ensuring that the values of diversity, equity and inclusion were embedded in all aspects of the university. The specific examples used were recruitment, admissions, hiring and promotion processes; curriculum and co-curriculum, and administrative structures and practices.
The OIE was more focused on diversity, equity and inclusion at the upper/administrative level of the university. The Center for Student Inclusiveness, on the other hand, is focused on inclusivity within the student body.
Short-Thompson then moved to address concerns regarding international students.
“Recruitment of international students and support of international student groups will continue as without change,” Short-Thompson wrote.
The Center for Global Engagement and International Affairs and student organizations focused on supporting international students “did not report to or require funding from the OIE.”
The first two topics made up the majority of the content in the email. Followed by small paragraphs about Title IX, the Office of Student Accessibility, the NKU Community Care Team and other student services like TRIO and the Veteran Resource Station.
Students needing to reach out to the Title IX office will still reach out to NKU’s Title IX Investigator Keisha McCraney. Lori Southwood is now serving as interim Title IX coordinator. Southwood currently works as the chief human resources officer on Short-Thompson’s cabinet and has worked in human resources at NKU since 2004.
The NKU Community Care Team will still be run by the Dean of Students Dr. Bob Alston. The Community Care Team is tasked with receiving reports regarding socially or academically disruptive situations students experience and providing the dean with guidance based on the content of these reports.
TRIO is a program funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. TRIO offers resources and services to first-generation college students, limited-income students and students with documented disabilities. The Veteran Resource Station is focused on providing resources and coordinating programs for military-affiliated students and faculty on campus. Both TRIO and the Veteran Resource Station will continue operating as usual and will not be affected by this change.
Short-Thompson called on students who may have questions about this organizational change to make their questions known.
“Finally, in the weeks and months ahead, if you have questions, feel free to email my office at President@nku.edu and my team will provide a referral or answer for you. All the best to you as you enter the third week of the semester.”