New DEIJ Initiatives

Dear Campus Community,

I hope you were able to relax, engage, enjoy, and reflect over our wonderfully long break. Now that staff have been back to campus for over a week, I wanted to send out the first 2023 communique that announces the formation of a new Council and the forthcoming implementation of a new campus-wide plan. Over the last couple of months, our Vice President of Talent, Culture, and Diversity (TCD), Cristallea Buchanan, and the DEIJ Core Team have been helping me think through these new initiatives. 

Starting this semester, a 15-person President’s Equity Council (PEC) that includes faculty, staff, and students will be formed. The PEC will serve as a sounding and advisory board forthe Cabinet and me on DEIJ matters. Members of the group, in part and full, will be asked to provide insights, counsel, and support on major DEIJ decisions before they are finalized and communicated to the university community. This means that key DEIJ plans and decisions that impact the campus will neither be made behind closed doors nor by a single person, division, or leadership team. The rationale, goals, and members of the PEC can be found on the attached document or here. 

The introduction of the PEC is related to the second topic of this note: the posting of our first-ever campus-wide Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Strategic Plan, available here, on the DEIJ website. Created through the hard work of our VP of TCD and the DEIJ Core team, this inaugural DEIJ plan has been designed to increase awareness and fuel positive action across the entire institution. Accordingly, it incorporates programs and services from almost every area of the university. But since it's the campus inauguralplan in this area, we expect it to morph and expand as we make our way through it. Hence, if your area is not explicitly incorporated in this first iteration, and you would like it to be included, please work with your respective Vice President to work on getting it in! 

In the spirit of the new year, one of my resolutions is to give all who are interested concrete examples and realistic opportunities to help Cal Lutheran become an even more Future-Focused, Faith-Friendly institution. You are invited to be a part of this work, so please join us.

While briefer than usual, I hope this bimonthly announcement brings a little hope and optimism into the spring semester and new year. If you have any questions about the PEC or DEIJ Strategic Plan, please contact deij@callutheran.edu.

Lori E. Varlotta, Ph.D.
President