The CSU’s Diversity Services Offices have officially launched
DSO will provide inclusive service centre for all BIPOC Concordians
Last year, the Concordia Student Union’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour Committee fought for the creation of the Diversity Services Office until it was voted in.
Sandra Mouafo, hired as the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisor and leader of the Diversity Services Office, is now taking the steps to create long-term systemic changes and finding out what student needs are.
The DSO initiative began as a response to the continuous racism and discrimination faced by students for their gender, race, religious beliefs, sexuality, and age. The office is part of an anti-racism and anti-discrimination initiative for students whose voices are not being heard by the university.
The DSO was approved for funding by students in the CSU referendum on Nov. 19, 2021, with 65.6 per cent of students voting in favour. The DSO is fully funded by fee-levy.
According to the CSU’s Facebook page, the DSO wants to give leadership opportunities to racialized students and clubs, and help students connect with event collaborations, internships, and co-op placements.
“One of the things we want is to provide services to students. [Or] when they need to be referred to another service that might be able to help them specifically,” said Faye Sun, sustainability coordinator at the CSU and BIPOC Committee co-chair. “Sort of like a starting point to determine what they need.”
Sun said many students do not know who to talk to when they feel like they have been treated unjustly by peers, faculty, or staff at Concordia. She said the CSU offers many services, like the Advocacy Centre, which fights for the rights of students, but not people know about them.
“I think I’ve heard about [the CSU] on Instagram, or through email,” said Dalia Ibrahim, an undergraduate student in psychology. “But I don’t know what they do.”
“What I want the Diversity Services to be is an incubator for ideas that come from students,” Mouafo said. “Students can come to me and talk to me.”
Among other things, the EDI Advisor is tasked with leading, planning and implementing strategies to diversify the CSU. Her job is to keep track of what the priorities and needs of the different Concordia undergraduate organizations are, to ensure that the diversified communities at Concordia have their different views heard. She must also make sure that the policies at Concordia and the CSU are diverse and equitable.
“How do we centralize the support system to tell you where to go and for somebody to be accountable to giving you that information? That is what I’m hoping Diversity Services will be,” Mouafo said in an episode of The Yellow Curtain, the CSU podcast.
The DSO was implemented in to help undergraduate students carry out projects and initiatives against challenges to their student experiences. This includes supporting initiatives against hate and discrimination like homophobia, Islamophobia, and hate-speech. It also includes supporting ongoing CSU demands for more diverse representation, both within faculty and curriculum.
Mouafo is enthusiastic about the impact the DSO could have on the future. However, according to Sun, this project does not come without its challenges.
“It will be hard to gauge what the needs are,” said Sun. “Often, the students that are marginalized find it difficult to ask for help because they’re so used to being disregarded and deprioritized. It can be very demoralizing [for them].”
BIPOC Committee members are volunteering and helping the DSO set sail, and executives hold paid positions as non voting members. As the only permenant CSU staff member who focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Mouafo can extend her involvement with the committee beyond the capacity of other CSU staff.
Each year, new executives come in, and these new executives may have other priorities . Mouafo hopes to hire more people in the upcoming months to help her carry out this initiative in the long-term.
“Diversity Services seeks to help students, but we can’t create immediate change. We are able to push for a systemic change,” Mouafo said. “People need to know that we will provide immediate help in any way we can, but Diversity Services is more focused on incremental services.”
The Diversity Services project is still in its first stages, as Mouafo has yet to set up a website or Instagram page for the office. An announcement of the office’s location should be given this year, according to the EDI.
Mouafo invites students who need help to reach out to her by email.
A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the role of BIPOC members and CSU executives in running the DSO. The Link regrets this error.
