Making Strives for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hofstra

Students and faculty members express their concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion in relation to their personal experiences. // Camryn Bowden / The Hofstra Chronicle.

Hofstra University’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee, with support from the Student Diversity Advisory Board, hosted an open town hall meeting on Monday, Feb. 12, to discuss DEI and belonging at Hofstra. The conversation welcomed many perspectives, including those of Hofstra leadership, faculty and students. There was also a virtual comment submission page for students and faculty members who wanted to share their experiences but did not feel comfortable sharing them out loud. Chermele Christy, the dean of students, and Kashmiraa Pandit, president of the student Diversity Advisory Board, moderated the session.

Aisha Wilson-Carter, the associate director of equity and inclusion, began the conversation by explaining key DEI terms. Notably, she said that the goal of Hofstra’s various DEI teams is to ensure that “people feel a level of supportive energy and commitment for those in the institution.”

The first question asked audience members to share their experiences with DEI at Hofstra and suggest how Hofstra could make positive changes surrounding DEI and belonging. Margaret Hunter, an associate professor of engineering, shared, “I started here 26 years ago; I was the only woman in my department when I started, and [it was that way] for probably 10 years.” Hunter explained her experience with Hofstra’s faculty mentoring program. She was paired with a female professor in STEM from outside of her department. “[It] was very useful for me,” Hunter said, “I could find out things outside of my department … that I might feel uncomfortable discussing with my colleagues.”

Following further faculty responses, Christy asked audience members to share experiences when they “did not feel that [they] belonged.”

Additionally, Hannah Alfasso, vice president of the Disability Rights, Education, Activism and Mentoring (DREAM) student group, shared that the dining locations on campus have led to a variety of issues for those with allergies. One instance, she said, occurred when a student with an egg allergy had an allergic reaction due to a change in the way eggs are cooked on Hofstra’s campus. Her most poignant takeaway from this incident was that “there is a lot of work to do on this campus.”

Other students were welcomed to the microphone, including Bastion Hamilton, a freshman public relations major, who shared their experience in a class in the fall 2023 semester. After sharing that their lecturer was an openly nonbinary professor, they explained that their discussion leader, who was another professor on campus, used she/her pronouns for the professor, who exclusively uses they/them pronouns. Hamilton felt that microaggressions like this on Hofstra’s campus are threats to the vision of a diverse, equitable and inclusive institution.

After listening to the difficulties that many of these students experienced and shared during the town hall meeting, Hamilton felt that there was an important takeaway from the discussion. According to Hamilton, “there is such a diverse amount of people here who are mistreated on campus,” but they feel that this can be combated by having “consistent education [about diverse groups] on campus.”

Students raise concerns about the impact of microagressions in creating an inclusive and tolerant community within Hofstra. // Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle.