Opening remarks by Benita Sampedro at Diversity and Inclusiveness event

My name is Benita Sampedro and I am a Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, as well as in the Latin and Caribbean Studies Program, here at Hofstra. I am also one of the Associate Directors of the Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice. I would first like to acknowledge my two other colleagues at the Center: Dr. Veronica Lippencott, also Associate Director, and Dr. Jonathan Lightfoot, who serves as the Director. 

We have come here today to formally thank Dean Mark Lukasiewicz and Vice Dean Mario Murillo, of The Lawrence Herbert School of Communications, for being the pioneering unit on campus to offer a day-long Diversity and Inclusiveness training session for faculty; we hope this will serve as an example for the other schools to follow. We also thank Elaine Gross, President of EraseRacism Long Island and Dr. Sofia Pertuz, who currently serves on the Board of EraseRacism and the Advisory Board of the Center for “Race”, and most recently served as Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students here at Hofstra. They have been working in the field of diversity and inclusion for many years, and The Herbert School stands to benefit today from their expertise. Last, but not least, we wish to thank all of you who have showed up today to participate in this training workshop. Asking faculty and staff to sacrifice their Saturday is a big deal. We believe, and hope you agree, that this training should be of such high priority, and is important enough to warrant scheduling future training sessions like this during the week.

Today’s program looks exciting and we really appreciate you including the Center for "Race," Culture and Social Justice in this important initiative. We encourage you to keep an open mind and allow yourself to be vulnerable as you trust this is a safe space for learning, sharing and reflecting. We cannot stress enough the importance of you making a commitment to follow through and continue to build on the foundation you start today. It is virtually impossible to achieve needed institutional change and transformation by participating in a 4 or 5-hour diversity and inclusion training workshop. Ongoing formal and informal engagement with these and related issues is the key to building a welcoming and inclusive school environment where students, faculty and administrative staff can develop the mindset and tools to advance progressive missions and solve complex problems.  

·    Diversity is more than just cultural facts: Different customs, proper greetings, and modes of observance are important for raising awareness. However, diversity training is more than just recognizing holidays and facts about diverse people and religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. 

     We need to be clear about training goals.

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     Training at a school level needs the support, commitment and collaboration from all of us, including in promoting diversity training to our different constituencies, and in convincing people (or those more skeptical) that diversity training is in their best interest.

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     The idea of the training is to aim for respectful, tolerant and accepting behavior: The goal is to build effective, productive teamwork and diversity training can help to diminish or eliminate many of the barriers to such teamwork.

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     Training programs and workshops like this can be supplemented with online materials, and other cost-effective efficient methods, to keep the conversation ongoing, and they can also provide useful evaluation tools.

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     For training to be effective, everyone present should be engaged, and collaborate in the experience.

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     The post-training assessment is also an important part: A follow-up evaluation should be implemented after the training to allow for continuous training improvement; keep your options open and flexible to adapt to results from the on-going training experience.

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     Diversity events: A key component to an effective diversity program is organization-wide awareness of key diversity events. The benefits include increased morale, as well as recognition and respect for difference. You should all be encouraged to take part in the many campus events from the Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice, the Center for Civic Engagement, the various programs and units on campus such as the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, etc…

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     And, finally, please be patient: Effective change takes time, but it provides a high return on your investment. Training is more than an isolated or occasional event. It needs to be part of an on-going program supported by a variety of non-training efforts, from affinity groups, to mentoring programs, to talent development plans, and of course recruitment and retention at all levels.

Before I close, I’d like to share with you some exciting news. Because of a proposal elevated from the Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice to the President and Provost at Hofstra University, to hire its first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, an announcement was sent out last September for a national search for a CDIO. The search committee is currently busy vetting prospective candidates, and we hope the best-qualified professional for the job will soon join the Hofstra community, in spring 2019.

To stay abreast of the Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice’s news, information and programming, please visit our website. Again, thank you for your presence here today, and best wishes to all on behalf of the Center for "Race," Culture and Social Justice, for what promises to be a great learning experience.

December 3^rd, 2018