Diversity Initiatives

As you see in our Departmental Values, the Office of Residence Life (ORL) values diversity in the residential communities on campus. Following are some ways in which we enact that value.

Staff Training

  • Resident Assistants and Professional Staff receive at least 8 hours of diversity-related training in July and August.
  • Training topics include but are not limited to Identity and Inclusion at Miami, Responding to Incidents of Intolerance, Diversity Resources on Campus, and OEEO & Title IX.

Living Learning Community and Living Options

  • Several Living Learning Communities are directly connected to diversity and inclusion including Love. Honor. Pride., WiSDEM (Women in Science Disciplines, Engineering and Mathematics), and Community Justice and Wellbeing.
  • Miami offers Gender-Inclusive Housing.

Programming

  • One of our Pillars of Success is to Develop Diverse and Inclusive Environments.  One way we achieve this pilllar is to implement and support diversity-related programs in our communities. 
  • Every year, ORLs Diversity and Inclusion committee plans and implements one campus-wide program such as a speaker or workshop.
  • ORL staff, LLCs and Community Leadership Teams offer a variety of in-hall programs such as Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Emerson Hall), Decorating with Diversity (Scott Hall), Shabbat Dinner (Dodds Hall), and Values Exploration (Brandon Hall).

Staff Development

  • Professional Staff affinity groups - the opportunity for our staff to self-create support groups based on identity affiliation
  • Reading book groups - Examples of past reading group books includes Blind Spot by Banaji and Greenwald and We Can't Talk About That At Work by Winters. 
  • Diversity and Inclusion Committee
  • Regular diversity-related calendar event updates

Assessment

  • Several questions on the annual Assessment of Living and Learning survey completed by thousands of on-campus students are related to diversity and inclusion. Demographic information about respondents is analyzed to identify trends among underrepresented students.
  • Two annual climate surveys are administered, analyzed and discussed; one to the RAs and one to the Professional and Central Staff in ORL.