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\u201cThere’s a big gap. There’s this huge, huge gap where UL says how committed they are but students aren’t feeling that,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Student Information and Support Coordinator Jenny Blake sees a Diversity and Inclusion Office as a way to bring together the work being done by many different departments and organisations within the university together in one place that gives a voice to students and staff.<\/p>\n
According to her, a key role that an office of this kind could play is to support the sustainability of collaborations between UL, research groups such as the Hate and Hostility Research Group (run jointly by the Departments of Law and Sociology), UL Student Life, and clubs and societies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there’s 50 different people doing 50 pieces of diversity and inclusion work on their own, well then things get lost, and I suppose we don’t have a coherent approach and an active approach, or a proactive approach,\u201d Ms Blake said.<\/p>\n
The planned increases in student numbers by UL, especially international students and students from diverse backgrounds, is one of the many reasons Ms Blake sees a need for an office like this.<\/p>\n
It is also vital that it be student-led, or include a major element of student participation, to ensure the inclusion of students from every type of background in university life, she said.<\/p>\n
She believes while the new Centre for Student Life, when completed, will present an excellent opportunity to establish a Diversity and Inclusion Office, the groundwork for setting it up needs to start now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you decide to do, do it well. Don’t try do too much too soon and then it’s all diluted, so if you are gonna have a space and it’s gonna be a space for diversity and inclusion, make it your best room, at the front of your best building,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n