By Cinara Marquis
Over the summer, SUNY Plattsburgh took an initiative to improve inclusivity and equity on campus. The School of Education, Health, and Human Services hosted a intersectionality conference and the newly appointed Feinberg library director created a new initiative to share fiction and educational books.
MISSION
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh continues to strive to provide a welcoming and inclusive campus environment where all students feel appreciated and encouraged to succeed. As written in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mission statement, “It is our mission to promote equity for all members of the campus community by leading efforts and creating partnerships that cultivate an inclusive academic institution.”
The campus promotes access to learning experiences through the development of programs, policies, and initiatives with all members of the community. SUNY Plattsburgh hopes to effectively bridge equity gaps within its institution and infrastructure.
Visit the DEI webpage for more information: https://rb.gy/t0ff9i.
CONFERENCE
Earlier in the summer of 2024, SUNY Plattsburgh faculty and staff from the School of Education, Health, and Human Services attended a conference about supporting their diverse student body.
“It was a place to learn, discuss, and practice new strategies for understanding who we and our students are, with all of the intersecting identities, and building inclusive environments to help our students and us thrive,” wrote Julie Richards, chair of the social work department and associate professor of social work, in an email.
Richards found that the conference was essential for expanding her and others’ abilities to best prepare themselves and their students for success within their chosen fields.
“Additionally, since all of our EHHS students also have field or internship components to their education, gathering together field supervisors, faculty, and staff helps everyone to see the seamless flow between the classroom and the field and embrace that we are all working together to help our students flourish,” Richards wrote.
Richards wrote that she was inspired by what she learned and wished to reflect that in her classroom. “I particularly appreciated some of the suggested strategies for how we, both faculty and students alike, can be vulnerable with each other to further build community and understanding,” Richards wrote.
FEINBERG
One of Joshua Beatty’s objectives for the Feinberg library is to promote equity. In early July, he was appointed director of the library.
“It’s important for libraries to be inclusive because we’re, first of all, a part of a university,” Beatty said. “But also, libraries have not always been inclusive, even today. In the choices that we make about the books that we purchase and the kinds of study spaces that we have, libraries can tend to assume that all students are roughly the same.”
Beatty said that the library must strive for inclusivity in all areas, both physical spaces and the books themselves. He asks a lot of questions about the books at the library, some of which include: which books they should acquire in the future, how many works within the library are by minority authors, and what books are made outdated and inaccurate by time and context.
“So in that sense, inclusion really is at the center of what we do as libraries,” Beatty said. “The center of how we should be thinking about ourselves as a library.”
Beatty’s predecessors shared similar values, emphasizing making the physical space more welcoming to students. Specific “zones” can be found within the library, one of which is the wellness zone, a comfortable area with board games, puzzles, bean bags, and a mural of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
“The idea is just to have a more relaxing environment, something that isn’t coded as ‘this is a place where you must work,’” Beatty said.
On the second floor of the library, there is a sensory-friendly zone where the lights are dimmer. Like the wellness zone, this room also has beanbag chairs.
There is also a family study room where students with dependents can work. There are toys, books and games for younger children in the room, along with a desk with a computer.
“I rarely see small children on campus, but we and the rest of the new university know that students (with dependents) are there, and we want to find ways to make them feel welcome to bring their children to campus,” Beatty said.
Beatty said he wants to create more group study rooms and individual private rooms within the library. “That seems to be what students are looking for,” he said.
New additions that Beatty has seen happen in the library include three sets of shelves that flank the left wall of the library’s entrance. Each shelf covers a different section: new books, a browse selection, and featured books. The new books section contains books that were recently purchased by the college. Library staff members do some selections of fiction for the browse selection, Beatty said.
“We’re trying to expand the collection to include books that students want to read for pleasure,” Beatty said. “And that, even during the summer, has been successful for people coming in and checking out books.”
The featured books section will change roughly every month. August is all about student success. “If we’re doing events in partnership with others, we will set up our featured books so that they match up with the events around campus,” Beatty said.
Previously, there have been collections about Black History Month, Pride Month and banned books.
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