Skip to content

What did people say?

Throughout the equity listening sessions, participants provided thoughtful, honest and passionate feedback. From the many comments and suggestions, a number of themes emerged. These provided the basis for the actions and commitments Chancellor Marks has pledged to undertake immediately and over the course of the 2020-21 academic year.

Summary of Feedback

The following are representative comments from 20 listening sessions, an input form, and emails received. While these do not speak for each individual’s unique experience, they are meant to summarize ideas, perspectives, and sentiments conveyed.

“I am hopeful that CU Denver can be a place that people strive to come work for, given the culture and emphasis on racial equity that I know we can achieve.”

– Equity and Racial Justice Listening Session Participant, July 2020

Faculty and staff of color often feel overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid in their roles, despite taking on additional responsibilities.
Concerns that current practices and norms related to hiring and promotion unfairly benefit white faculty and staff. Concerns about lack of transparency and input from a broad set of perspectives, resulting in a small group of people recommending or hiring candidates who look like them.
To rectify current hiring and promotion practices that disadvantage people of color, suggestions were made to:
- Conduct transparent and equitable searches for all open positions, in addition to requiring training on implicit bias.
- Ensure that external community members and people of color are part of search committees.
- Provide an incentive to units for hiring diverse applicants and/or create a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Faculty Fellowship to recruit postdoctoral scholars.
- Implement 360-degree reviews with an equity lens for all supervisors and before promotions.
- Regularly conduct exit interviews of faculty, staff, and students with specific questions about their experiences of racism and other forms of oppression within the institution.
Review, recognize, and value the additional workload faculty and staff of color take on without title or pay, such as serving on working groups and mentoring students of color. Leadership should provide clear guidance around the balance of teaching and research with these responsibilities.
Review the equity of pay, support and professional development opportunities across all employees, with a focus on inequities for our most vulnerable staff and faculty, including front-line workers and adjunct faculty.
Hire teaching and learning assistants to support adjunct faculty.
Avoid tokenism and be intentional about empowering people of color to lead campus initiatives.

“I have no tolerance for intolerance.”

– Equity and Racial Justice Listening Session Participant, July 2020

Some individuals feel reluctant to speak up about issues of racism on campus for fear of retaliation. To address this, we should:
- Clearly communicate expectations around equity and racial justice at CU Denver and that all forms of racism are at odds with our institutional culture.
- Educate the CU Denver community to effectively address issues related to equity and racial justice. For example, we should establish common language to promote more productive conversations and understanding and require annual equity trainings for all faculty, staff, and students.
- Design venues that promote regular, open, honest dialogue around race and equity.
- Hold faculty, staff, and students accountable for racist words and actions.
Not everyone experiences a sense of belonging and acceptance within the campus environment. To address this, we should:
- Create environments where everyone can participate fully as their true, authentic self—not as the token minoritized person in the room.
- Recognize intersectionality and the many ways that one may or may not experience privilege (e.g., race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, veterans, disabilities).
- Support each individual and their unique experiences (e.g., plan academic experiences that meet the needs of those who are differently-abled; expand access to and offerings at the food pantry; provide trans health care coverage; extend parental leave; offer shared sick leave bank for all employees).
- Implement a regular climate survey and/or add equity-focused questions to existing surveys.
- Publicly acknowledge that our campus sits on ancestral lands (e.g., annually at commencement).
Not everyone feels safe expressing their viewpoint. To create an anti-oppressive culture, we should:
- Design avenues where people feel empowered to ask tough questions and address tough issues.
- Tap into existing talents and expertise on campus and within the community to inform decision-making.
- Re-allocate resources to fund equity and racial justice initiatives.
- Pay attention to mental and physical wellness, particularly at this moment in time.
- Expand opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to serve the community.
- Hold ourselves and others accountable when acts of oppression occur.

“We must seriously and authentically include the students in changing this culture.”

– Equity and Racial Justice Listening Session Participant, July 2020

Students should be central to our work around equity and racial justice. To create a learning environment that encourages the success of all CU Denver students, we should:
- Explore ways to diversify curricula and teaching materials to include voices of minoritized populations and themes of racial and social justice.
- Become test-optional for the purposes of admissions.
- Make it easier for all students to finance their education with us.
- Guarantee equitable access to technology resources for all students.
- Help students develop agency and learn how to navigate support systems.
- Remove bureaucratic barriers to entry and success.
- Invest in student support services, which we know have a positive impact on student success, especially for first-generation students, students of color, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Translate student journey web sites into non-English languages, and support DACA and international students who have limited access to financial aid.
The longer students are away from campus, the more distant and disconnected they may feel.

“I would like equality to ring true and through the place I love to go to everyday. Our university system can be a leader of this and gain respect from the community, potentially leading the charge of faculty and staff equality.”

– Equity and Racial Justice Listening Session Participant, July 2020

There is frustration about the creation of senior administrative positions and the lack of diversity across leadership at CU Denver. To address, we should:
- Hire leaders of color and launch a national search for the Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as soon as possible. This role should be elevated within the institution and empowered to make decisions.
- Address a lack of clarity in expectations, roles, and responsibilities related to diversity and inclusion on campus.
A number of policies and systems should be reviewed. A number of students, staff, and faculty recommended that the institution should:
- Ban facial recognition technology and avoid predictive modeling and artificial intelligence.
- Elevate Ethnic Studies to a department and replace tenure-track lines.
- Review AHEC Police use of force policy and funding.
- Address challenges with proposed Title IX regulations.
- Divest from industries that support correctional institutions.
- Review all policies with an equity lens; engage minoritized populations in those reviews and to make recommendations for systems change.

“We need to get it right this time!”

– Equity and Racial Justice Listening Session Participant, July 2020

Chancellor’s Office

CU Denver

Lawrence Street Center

1380 Lawrence Street

Suite 1400

Denver, CO 80204

303-315-2500

Search