Cassa Niedringhaus

cniedringhaus@coloradoan.com

CSU administrators are exploring adding a required ethnic or women's studies class, one of several recommendations made by a faculty and student group to make the university more inclusive.

If administrators add the required class, it would join math and composition as courses each Colorado State University student is required to take.

The push for the class requirement started in late 2015, when CSU students, staff and faculty rallied in support of the protests at the University of Missouri in Columbia over the racial climate at the school and submitted a list of recommendations to CSU administrators.

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In addition, three CSU students have revived the university's ethnic studies student organization. The students, seniors Briana Compton, Angela Groves and Erica Lafehr, said the organization is meant to build a community among students within the Ethnic Studies Department and provide a forum for the broader campus community to talk about related issues.

“We want to foster critical discussion of issues of marginalization in a productive way,” Compton said.

CSU President Tony Frank released an update on the 2015 recommendations in December and outlined what the university planned to do moving forward, including researching the possible class requirement and supporting the newly formed President's Commission for Diversity and Inclusion.

Some of the updates Frank provided drew the attention of conservative-leaning publications such as Daily Caller and Campus Reform — namely the hiring of a psychologist who specializes in what is called racial battle fatigue, the theory that people of color are forced to work daily against stereotypes and discrimination.

The possible class requirement has drawn some criticism as well.

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Compton, Groves and Lafehr emphasized the importance of adding the class requirement to help students better understand such concepts and why they matter.

“We’re trying to make the university a better place for everyone,” CSU Vice President for Diversity Mary Ontiveros said. “It’s not unusual to have some pushback. Generally it’s from a lack of understanding. … It gives us an opportunity to inform.”

Ontiveros said work to make the campus more inclusive was ongoing before the group submitted their recommendations, but the proposals helped illustrate student priorities.

Compton, Groves and Lafehr said they believe the class requirement should be a priority. They would like to see more urgency on the university’s part.

Ontiveros said it’s challenging to implement such changes in curriculum quickly.

Administrators have been taking stock of all courses offered at the university and which would qualify for such a requirement. Currently, social work, ethnic studies and speech communication fulfill the criteria for diversity and cultural awareness, according to Frank's update. Administrators have also been forced to consider the capacity departments have to accommodate every student on campus as well, Ontiveros said.

“The decision has been that if we’re going to do this, we want to do it right,” Ontiveros said. “We don’t want to just add a class here and there.”

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Since the recommendations were submitted in 2015, the university said it has also:

Created the President’s Commission for Diversity and Inclusion to make and implement a strategic diversity plan

Agreed to adopt national best practices regarding hiring and recruitment

Increased money for diversity programs, including hiring the specialized psychologist

Increased seats in the student government (Associated Students of Colorado State University)

Reconvened the Athletics Diversity Council

Last spring, the Associated Students of Colorado State University passed a controversial diversity bill that added voting seats for minority offices to CSU's student government. Work to better define the bill is ongoing, according to reporting by the school's student newspaper, the Collegian.

Joe Tiner, a graduate student who is the chair of the President's Multicultural Student Advisory Committee and a member of the new commission, said he's glad the university is listening to its students.

"These recommendations came from students," Tiner said. "It shows this is what our student body is wanting."

CSU student population

In 2016, 19 percent of CSU’s student body — which totals about 23,700 undergraduates and 4,500 graduate students — were minority students.

About 1,200 incoming freshmen in 2016 were minority students, a number that has increased year over year. Minority students made up 25 percent of the incoming freshman class in 2016, up from 22 percent in 2015 and a 10-year low of 14 percent in 2008, according to data provided by the university.