Chancellor DiStefano accused of failing in his diversity efforts

On August 12, Chancellor Philip DiStefano announced his formation of the Council for Community and Inclusion (CCI), in his efforts to “diversify” CU Boulder’s campus. This council is among the eight immediate actions to enable change promised by DiStefano in the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) plan. The purpose of this council is to develop and implement strategies to promote diversity at CU.

Appendix B of the IDEA plan stated the CCI will include faculty, staff and students. Vice Chancellor Bob Boswell said, “We are more than ready to fulfill our mission of creating a campus environment that enables all students, faculty and staff—regardless of their personal identities—to feel welcome at CU Boulder as they pursue their academic and career goals.”

The members of the CCI were announced on August 13, consisting of 11 men, of which eight are white; five white women; 10 people of color; and one other member whose identity is unknown. Appendix B of IDEA described that one-third of the group would be made up of students. It can now be observed that there is less than one-tenth of student make-up.

The Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) student leadership group DiversifyCUnow sent a memo on Wednesday declaring that DiStefano had failed at his attempts to diversify CU. They also claimed he failed at providing transparency, communication, accountability and student voices in CCI when appointing group members.

DiStefano responded to DiversifyCUnow in a memo on Wednesday, claiming their concerns were critical. “The memo publicly questions my commitment to antiracism,” said DiStefano. “I directed our campus in June to make rapid progress on all of the above actions, and we have accomplished much in two months.”

Since DiStefano released this statement, he has not yet released any more plans or advancements to make CU Boulder an anti-racist campus.