Deadline Extended to Dec. 3: DEIA Draft Strategic Plan Review and Survey

Dear Members of the Syracuse University Community:

It is with immense gratitude that we, the interim diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) leadership team, write to you today. Just under four weeks ago we called on the campus community to read and respond to the draft of the DEIA Strategic Plan. We understood that the draft includes a tremendous amount of information and that reviewing and responding to it would take dedicated time and consideration. We also understood that our university community cares deeply about the future of our campus, and we anticipated that students, faculty, staff and alumni, both on campus and across the globe, would provide their input to the best of their ability. We greatly appreciate the individuals and groups across campus who are making unique efforts to review the plan and provide feedback. Here are just a few examples:

• The Inclusive Leadership Assembly, which is composed of each of the DEIA leads from the schools and colleges, scheduled two meetings to review the survey questions together.
• The Office of Diversity and Inclusion scheduled a special team meeting in which time was given to read the draft of the plan, complete the survey and discuss any feedback.
• The Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience is engaging with student groups and providing them with multiple ways to review the plan and share feedback.
• The Center for Disability Resources staff was provided time to review the plan draft ahead of a team meeting in which they were encouraged to share their feedback. The team was then asked to complete the survey after the meeting.
• The committees within the University Senate will review and respond to the draft of the plan as individual groups.

Even with the tremendous progress made toward our goal to have the full campus community engage with the draft of the plan, we know there are many who would appreciate additional time and methods to provide feedback. It is critically important to the success of the plan that we maximize the opportunity for review and response. Therefore, the deadline for survey submissions has been extended to Friday, Dec. 3. In addition, a function has been added to the survey that allows groups to submit feedback as a collective, which provides the option for submissions both as an individual and as a team.

The decision to expand the draft plan review and response process was a result of feedback we have received from campus members. In addition, other opportunities for immediate improvement have arisen. For example, we were notified that the current survey does not allow for optimal usage for those who use screen readers. We have worked diligently with our accessibility partners to rectify this issue and a resolution will be available shortly.

We encourage you to continue to share your recommendations and ideas with us. Feedback can be submitted via the DEIA draft plan survey or by emailing Eboni Britt in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at DEIAPlan@syr.edu.

Sincerely,

Diane Lyden Murphy
Dean, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics

Shiu-Kai Chin
Professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Cerri A. Banks
Vice President of Student Success and Deputy to the Senior Vice President for the Student Experience