Diversity and Inclusion
We Embrace and Invest in Everyone
At St. Lawrence, our goal is to build a community that celebrates and respects diversity in all of its forms. We work hard to engage a multitude of voices and intentionally develop spaces where we can teach and learn from one another in order to create a culture where every Laurentian’s ideas are welcomed, valued, considered, and respected.
We have work to do and Laurentians are committed to doing it. To integrate diversity meaningfully into our curricular and extracurricular community life, we need to challenge previous habits and assumptions in order to understand the structures of power and injustice in which they exist. We are willing to risk difficulty and discomfort in working towards achieving our goals.
Campus Resources
The Diversity and Inclusion office supports the University’s quest to create and sustain a living-learning community that embraces diversity in all its forms, challenges habits and assumptions underlying the structures of power, privilege, and injustice, and work to ensure that we are inclusive, welcoming, and empowering to all our members. We host, coordinate, and facilitate numerous programming opportunities each semester, collaborate with many departments, teams, clubs and organizations on their efforts, and work with the other colleges in the area and members of the local community to develop larger programming initiatives.
The mission of the Chaplain’s Office is to enhance and nurture the spiritual life of students, faculty, and staff at St. Lawrence. We are grounded in the welcome and inclusion of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or religion/spiritual tradition.
Native American Affairs at St. Lawrence University collaborates with students, faculty, and staff, to develop and strengthen relations with Indigenous communities locally, regionally, and nationally.
In addition to guiding programming to support the enrollment, retention, and success of St. Lawrence’s Indigenous students, Native American Affairs also collaborates with external organizations to identify opportunities for partnerships across communities.
The International Student Services team supports the intellectual, ethical, personal, and social development of our international students as they explore their place and purpose as engaged learners in a diverse and interdependent University and world.
Our Student Accessibility Services will work with you individually to reach your goals. The team provides a wide range of support services and accommodations for students with learning differences, for those who suspect they may have a learning difference and need to be tested, and/or medical conditions.
The LGBTQIA Student Services is a collaborative interdepartmental initiative aiming to provide advocacy, information, and resources for LGBTQIA students, allies, and the overall community of St. Lawrence University.
The First-Gen Initiative was developed to both support and celebrate first-generation college students (students who are the first in their family to go to college). First-gen students enrich the St. Lawrence community by bringing under-represented perspectives to higher education and reflecting one of the highest ideals of college in the United States, the expansion of opportunity for young people of great talent and hard work.
Being a first-gen student is something to celebrate, but it also comes with unique challenges. The First-Gen Initiative exists to help level the playing field. Several faculty and staff members, including several who were also first-generation college students at one time, serve as mentors.
The Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) is a partnership between St. Lawrence University and the New York State Education Department, designed to find and support students who are capable and motivated to be successful as college students but whose test scores and/or high school grades do not meet regular admission standards and who come from very low income families.
Take Action, Facilitate Change
Diversity and inclusion work belongs to all of us. Here is a glimpse into what that looks like at St. Lawrence.
Multicultural student clubs
Social justice and advocacy student organizations
Alumni Events and Programming
Alumni and parents are invited to take part in webinars and forums, as well as events celebrating diversity around the country.
Members of the Diversity Committee
Faculty, staff, and students collaborate to design programming and educational opportunities for the campus community.
Nearby Colleges
We partner with the area colleges--all located within 10 miles of St. Lawrence--to connect our students with one another and host various programs.
Faculty and Staff Opportunities
Everything from Book Club and workshops to a multi-week course focused on raising cultural awareness, our diversity and inclusion work is happening everywhere on campus.
To Fight Racial Injustice
The Black Laurentian Initiative Fund for Racial Justice and Equity Project, funded by our President’s Office, supports research, teaching, and service-focused missions dedicated to addressing the issues of racial injustice in academic disciplines.
Strategic Action Plan
We are putting in the work it takes to build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community. Our Strategic Action Plan for Diversity and Inclusion, launched in 2021, proposed a series of actions and interventions designed to raise awareness and improve the climate for inclusion.
Embedded in Our Curriculum
You’ll take courses where you will develop a deeper understanding of the nature and significance of diversity within and among groups, the dynamics of power and justice within those groups, and a capacity for critical self-reflection on how social location shapes interactions between people.
Diversity and Inclusion Week
Each year, the Diversity Committee collaborates with departments and student groups to host a week packed with events that foster important conversations and encourage individual contemplation and reflection on identity.
Celebration of Diversity
This celebration often takes place each spring and includes a talent show, a recognition ceremony, and opportunities for admitted students to meet with current students, campus leaders from multicultural programs, and scholarship coordinators.
Connect With Us
Tsewang Lama
