Written by the members of the Advocates for Institutional Change.
1. We demand that the University of Puget Sound build a Cultural Center in the space that will be available where Warner Gym currently resides. The current space given to students in the SDC is insufficient and limited. It is unable to meet the needs of marginalized students on campus as over 30 clubs battle for time and space, it often is overcrowded and presents safety hazards, and the building itself is badly in need of repairs and additions. Student leaders from the University’s identity and faith based clubs must be included in the layout and design of this new building. The University must provide sufficient space in the Cultural Center to allow for cultural events and programming, club meetings, a kosher kitchen, and a lounge.
2. We demand that the Office of Admission schedule diversity programming that highlights opportunities for involvement and inclusion for all prospective students who may identify with a traditionally marginalized identity. This programming should be in coordination with representatives from identity and culturally-based clubs for prospective students during Discover Puget Sound and Admitted Students Days.
3. We demand that all campus tours visit the Center for Intercultural and Civic Engagement and the Student Diversity Center and include information about cultural programming, opportunities, and safe spaces on campus. Further, we demand there be an option for tours to be conducted in the variety of languages that our university offers (i.e. Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and American Sign Language) and include information about where the nearest gender neutral bathrooms are.
4. We demand that the Office of Admissions seek out students from underrepresented populations by visiting their communities and schools. We specifically demand that Admissions visit schools and communities that meet the following criteria: 1) Public High Schools 2) Schools with populations less than 30% Caucasian/White identifying 3) Low income communities with a predominance of households earning less than twice the federal poverty line. This is a necessary demand to ensure students in these communities know of Puget Sound and have access to our institution.
5. We demand that the University of Puget Sound provide institutional support allowing students from cultural and identity-based groups (i.e. Black Student Union, Latinos Unidos, and Q&A) to be present during New Student Orientation. This support must include room and board, as well as designated time and space to develop meaningful relationships with incoming students who identify as a person from a marginalized or minoritized background.
6. We demand that Student Financial Services immediately endow the BSU’s One More Scholarship and Latinos Unidos for Cultural Education (LUCE) Leadership Scholarship to demonstrate the university’s commitment to ensuring students from diverse cultural backgrounds feel financially supported.
7. We demand that the University of Puget Sound require all students involved in our varsity sports teams, Greek Life, university faculty, and university staff members to attend a mandatory Diversity Summit provided by the Center for Intercultural and Civic Engagement.
8. We demand that the administration physically and financially support Peer Allies in order to demonstrate an institutional commitment to both supporting survivors of sexual assault as well as fostering a campus community of consent and respect.
9. We demand the university provide the Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and Title IX officer with additional staff to aid in the search processes to hire professors from underrepresented identities in disciplines that reside outside of their racial and sexual/gender identity. We demand these professors specifically be hired in STEM, English, Music, Theater, Politics & Government, Business, and International Political Economy which are disciplines traditionally filled by dominant identity groups.
10. We demand that students of the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS) at Purdy Women’s Correctional Facility receive equal course credit to students enrolled at UPS. Female students at Purdy who are enrolled in classes taught through FEPPS must receive credit towards a University of Puget Sound Bachelor’s degree.
11. We demand that before the presidential transition, the current administration of the University of Puget Sound personally guide Gender and Queer Studies and Latino Studies through the same framework toward becoming a major as established by African American Studies.
12. We demand that the future President-Elect of the University of Puget Sound be required to attend a meeting of every identity and faith based group on campus to better understand the realities of the current campus climate, and the needs and concerns of students moving into the future.
