By Sara Berry
At the end of last semester, CCSU filled a necessary void by hiring Rosa Rodriguez as the school’s new chief diversity officer.
Rodriguez, who began her time as a part of the CCSU community on Jan. 10, is filling the position vacated by Moises Salinas after his removal due to allegations of sexual harassment last year.
The purpose of the office of diversity and equity is to provide a “welcoming and safe environment for people from all walks of life.”
Rodriguez said that diversity is a gift and that in order to achieve excellence as a university, the CCSU community needs to honor diversity. Rodriguez says she is committed to helping the university grow and prepare students to work in a world that is becoming increasingly global.
The position of chief diversity officer position entails a number of responsibilities including issues concerning affirmative action, investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment on campus, supervising the women’s center, developing culturally relevant programming and professional development and acting as the Americans With Disabilities Coordinator on campus. Rodriguez says that she is still learning as her position is always evolving.
Rodriguez, a native of Minnesota with a background in social work, has spent over 20 years working in higher education on issues of equal opportunity and access. While living in Minnesota, she worked with a large minority migrant worker population. As farming technology advanced in the agricultural state, less labor was needed and those who found themselves out of work turned to new educational opportunities as a means of making ends meet. Rodriguez helped them gain access to higher education for themselves and their children.
While in Minnesota she held positions at Saint Cloud Technical and Community College and Metropolitan State University in areas such as student affairs, diversity and anti-racism and investigations into allegations of harassment and discrimination. In her search for jobs, Rodriguez looked at the east coast and found CCSU having a need for a new chief diversity officer.
Rodriguez was attracted to the mission and demographics of CCSU. She met with students and university administrators and attended meetings of the faculty senate and town and gown task force. As she learned more about CCSU, she said that the school’s values matched her own. She liked the openness and honesty of the administration in knowing that progress needed to be made and the healthy climate of the campus. She also noted that CCSU has a unique sense of community, which was cemented by the recent deaths of and memorial service for students Brittany Mariani and Rich Royster.
In the near future, Rodriguez’s plans for CCSU include efforts to diversify the workforce and revising the policy for dealing with discrimination complaints. Still in the first weeks of the job, Rodriguez is evaluating what CCSU is currently doing in terms of diversity and equity and looking for ways that it can improve. She is looking forward to working with cultural groups on campus, as well as both student leadership and administration to make the CCSU environment a welcoming place for everyone.
