Cornell University
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

There are several programs throughout the university designed to support underrepresented groups within the student body. The Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives provides support and guidance to students from underrepresented racial groups, low-income and first-generation college students. Students can receive assistance and counseling for a variety of issues and the office acts as a resource and network for students helping to connect them across the campus. This office works closely with the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, which is charged with strengthening the sense of community among the student body and providing student programs. There are also services provided at a macro level through the Dean of Students Office for students. For assistance with writing, there is an ESL peer mentoring program through the Knight Writing Institute available to students. This program offers a number of Writing Workshops across campus; students can attend drop-in hours and have someone work on a paper and review it for them to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. On a more micro level, each college and school has an office dedicated to its diverse student population. Through this office, counseling and advising services are offered to its students, as well as mentoring in some programs and peer support and guidance in others. The College of Engineering, for example, has Diversity Programs in Engineering (DPE). Through this office, the students have regular appointments with the staff and advisors. The staff advise several student lead organizations including the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), and the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE). Each college has an office that acts in a similar way providing services to students. Also, the university has well-established ethnic studies programs that offer academic support and mentoring and advising to students. These include the American Indian Program, the Africana Studies and Research Center, Latino Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program. There are also resource centers and programs for students including the Asian/Asian American Center, the LGBT Resource Center, Student Disability Services Office, and the Women’s Resource Center.

Cornell’s current Reporting Bias System grew out of a series of events and community-action efforts and has evolved from 1999 until now. (SeePolicy 6.4, Prohibited Discrimination,Protected Status (Including Sexual) Harassment, and Bias Activity.) This program is designed to supplement existing discrimination-related procedures and processes, and support the efforts of administrative units that address bias activity – such as the Cornell Police, the Office of the Judicial Administrator, and the Office of the University Ombudsman. The primary goal of this program is to respond to bias activity by advising the university community of the occurrence of bias incidents and crimes, providing support-related resources to individuals who have experienced bias activity, and developing programs that will help to prevent or eliminate bias activity. The program’s process is not intended to be punitive in nature. Anyone who directly witnesses or experiences bias activity (or finds evidence of or hears about past bias activity) on the Cornell campus or in an area that impacts the Cornell community should intervene in the moment as appropriate (e.g., contact Campus Police at 911, if a crime is in progress, or interrupt the behavior in as much as the observer feels skilled and safe) and be sure to also complete this confidential report of the incident, as soon as possible. Reporting bias and the resulting efforts to understand and prevent bias activity are a matter of taking part in a caring community.This report will result in: 1) Appropriate involvement/communication from the Reporting Bias System staff in the Department of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity (DIWD); 2) Intervention with the agent, target, and witness(es) of the bias activity with assistance from the Office of the Judicial Administrator, Office of Workforce Policy and Labor Relations and Cornell University Police; 3) Follow up with the reporting person if desired. Reporting is confidential and open to anyone with an internet connection.

Reporting Bias System: https://www.hr.cornell.edu/diversity/reporting/bias_response.html To report a bias incident/form: https://publicdocs.maxient.com/reportingform.php?CornellUniv&layout_id=4 Bias Reporting Team Members: https://www.hr.cornell.edu/diversity/reporting/bias_team.html http://living.sas.cornell.edu/live/apply/apply_undergrad/gender_inclusive_housing.cfm