Christmas, Holiday Lights and Kwanzaa

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

On December 25, Christians around the world will celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Hanukkah begins at sunset on December 18 and ends at sunset on December 26. Kwanzaa begins on December 26 through January 1st and celebrates the roots of Black culture.

We wish you a joyous holiday season.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Updates

As the year draws to a close, we would like to share our progress this semester on Goal 4 of Harvest Our Treasures, the University’s strategic plan, which aims to “further cultivate and nurture a trusting and collaborative Seton Hall community that educates and empowers all its members to advance equity, inclusion and social justice on campus and in the wider world.”

Goal 4 seeks to establish partnerships, transparency, and equity as grounding principles by creating and/or cultivating cross-divisional partnerships, improving communication across campus, and helping Seton Hall strive to be a more equitable, inclusive, and just community. Please reach out to dei@shu.edu with your ideas and concerns, as we remain committed and happy to talk to everybody about how we can be a stronger University community.

Throughout the year, the University achieved the following Goal 4 initiatives:

Faculty, Academics, & Curricula

Seton Hall course evaluations have been revised thoroughly to include two new questions on inclusive pedagogy and course content (as appropriate to each different discipline), among other improvements. These course evaluations will go live in spring 2023.
Every College/School now has an active Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice subcommittee tasked with ensuring that its college core curriculum addresses DEIJ subject matter, teaches inclusively, and develops inclusive extracurricular initiatives that advance equity. These teams also contribute ideas to improve faculty hiring and mentorship and to design extracurricular programming for the College. Many new courses have been introduced and countless syllabi have been modified to diversify our curricula, and this work continues in the Colleges and academic programs.
With support from the Office of the Provost and University DEI Committee, the University has partnered with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) to offer faculty a 25-module professional development opportunity as part of the University’s commitment to instructional excellence, inclusive teaching practices, and student success. 32 faculty are presently enrolled in the course, which is designed to improve equity and success for all students.
The Center for Faculty Development (CFD) continues to host an ongoing DEI Film Series, a DEI reading group, and a funded special seminar on anti-racist pedagogy, as well as occasional talks and community book discussions. The CFD is establishing an advanced DEI seminar for faculty and planning another session on what students want their professors to know about DEI for early next semester.

Community Training & Development

The DEI Committee continues to deliver monthly anti-racism training sessions, the third Friday of each month.
The University is partnering with the National Building Coalition Institute (NCBI) for a train-the-trainer program. The three-day workshop will take place in January 2023.
The Truth and Racial Healing Transformation Initiative participated in Summer 2022 (and 2021) training programs and conducted the first racial healing circle on October 25.

Policies & Procedures

Launched in 2021, the University's Bias Education Support Team (BEST) is a cross-campus team of administrators, faculty, and students to whom members of the University community can report instances of bias.
Several policies and procedures have been updated, including the University Statement on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Institutional Statement on Academic Freedom Statement Beyond the Classroom, and the Student Protest Policy.
Everyone who serves on faculty and administrative search committees is required to attend diversity training facilitated by Human Resources and the Office of EEO Compliance & Title IX.

Programming & Communication

The University continues to support DEI events and programming, including a recurring budget line item through the Student Government Association (SGA) for an additional $20,000 for student-planned activities during Black History, Hispanic-Latino History, Women's History, Asian American Pacific Islander History, and Islamic History months and other multi-cultural celebrations
The University Libraries provides several community resources, including documentaries on diversity and resource guides, which can be found on the heritage month websites.
Additional funding opportunities are available through the DEI Committee Funding Form.
The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) survey aims to measure the community’s overall view on inclusivity, DEI efforts on campus and gauge knowledge of resources for discrimination and harassment. The survey also provides insights for future DEI programming, workshops, and events to enhance inclusion efforts on campus.
2022 event highlights include the Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium; Lunar New Year Fest NJ; Adelante: Noche Folklorica; South Orange/ Maplewood Book Discussions and Women & Gender Conference; and the AAPI Heritage Month.
The Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute Gala honored Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Mariano Rivera, and Dr. Ramon Tallaj on October 27 at the annual Unanue Gala.

Dates of Note

December 24 – Christmas Eve
December 25 – Christmas Day
January 1 - Solemnity of Mary
January 7 – Eastern Orthodox Christmas

December 21 – Winter Solstice
December 22 – Soyal, a Native American tribal festival
December 24 - Las Posadas ends
December 26 – Kwanzaa begins and ends on January 1
December 26 – Hanukkah ends at sunset
December 31 – New Year’s Eve
January 1 – New Year’s Day
January 4 – World Braille Day

Coming soon - MLK Symposium on Monday, January 16 and National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

Our partners at EAB have developed a robust resource center that brings together a vast library of best practice DEIJ research, tools, and insights dedicated to "helping college and university leaders cultivate diversity, foster inclusion, promote equity, and fight for justice for their students, faculty, staff, and communities." All Seton Hall community members have access to this free resource. To sign up for a free account, use your SHU email address at eab.com.

The DEI Committee is responsible for helping to cultivate and nurture a trusting and collaborative University community that educates and empowers all its members to advance equity, inclusion, and social justice on campus and in the wider world. Please fill out this form if you are interested in sharing events, initiatives, ideas, or looking to get involved.

Jonathan Farina, Ph.D.
Interim Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Assessment and Professor of English

Monica Burnette, Ph.D.
Vice President of Student Services

Co-chairs, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

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