Students throwing colored chalk into the air

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. 

Learn About the Diversity and Inclusion Office

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.

Learn About the Chaplain's Office

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.

Learn More About Native American Affairs at St. Lawrence

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.

Learn About International Student Services

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.

Learn About Student Accessibility Services

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.

Learn About LGBTQIA+ Resources

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.

Learn About the Initiative

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.

Learn About HEOP

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.

16

Multicultural student clubs

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Social justice and advocacy student organizations

Pride parade

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.

20+

Members of the Diversity Committee

Faculty, staff, and students collaborate to design programming and educational opportunities for the campus community.

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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.

Martin Luther King Day celebration with Laurentians singing

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.

$100K

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.

Mosaic that creates stained glass window

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.

Read Our Strategic Action Plan
Students taking class outdoors

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.

Students looking at artwork

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.

Learn About Traditions and Special Events
Hana Bushara playing guitar

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

Tsewang Lama

Director of International Student Services International Student Services
Brenda Papineau

Brenda Papineau

Director Community-Based Learning
Director Native American Affairs