By Paige Fitzpatrick
It has been nearly a year since the Students in Action (SIA) group held a sit-in to address racial injustice issues on campus. Since then, the college appears to be making changes.
Stonehill appointed a new Provost as well as an Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga, was appointed in December of 2020.
“Since my arrival I’ve had great conversations with students, faculty, and staff who were involved with the sit-in,” Agbényiga said. “For me it was important to have those different conversations to get a clear understanding of where we are as a community with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Last spring, the college launched a nationwide search led by Professor Jaclyn Badey and included a student diversity advocate on the committee to find someone to fill the inaugural role of Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
The candidates in the first round were not the right fit for what the college was looking for, Agbényiga said, and the search was immediately relaunched.
This September, Joanna Ravello was appointed to the role of Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
“I’m pleased with our inaugural AP DEI that we have coming in; she definitely is going to be a key figure for us on campus and so engaged with our community that I think we are really going to see a transformation with respect to DEI at the faculty, staff, and student level,” Agbényiga said.
Ravello said she plans to examine the culture of Stonehill particularly around diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, and then decide what projects and programs may need some extra support and which programs might need to be started, she said.
“There are a lot of different activities, programs, projects, goals, objectives, feelings, and history around DEI at Stonehill, but it looks like they want to unify that in terms of a way to move forward,” Ravello said.
Before arriving at Stonehill, Ravello served as the director of Community and Organizational Development at the University of Rhode Island. In this role, she was responsible for three areas around diversity, equity, and inclusion: strategic planning, staff training and development, and engaging departments.
At URI, Ravello was the lead creator in the 2017-22 Office of Community, Equity and Diversity Strategic Plan: A Campus–Wide Guide for Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Ravello said she could see herself providing similar support in her role here at Stonehill for academics and other programs.
“My role seems to be centered around general education and curriculum, although one of the things I do find interesting about a role like this is even though it is centered around academics, I can see there are a lot of other places looking for feedback or input,” Ravello said.
Ravello said she heard about last year’s sit-in through her research when applying for her position.
“To me the protest seemed very aligned with what the mission of the institution is, and I am all about it, so be it that you need to acknowledge that what we say and what we do aren’t aligning and somebody can call us in to hold accountability, I’m all for it,” Ravello said.
Ravello said her role is to support change that would help create a more inclusive community.
“To invest in a position like this, it speaks to that alignment in wanting that change to happen,” Ravello said.
SIA representative, Tahj Valentine ’22, said he is happy to see some progress over the past couple of months that will continue to benefit the Stonehill community.
“I was very excited to see the creation of the MultiCultural Lounge over in Duffy that will allow for students to collaborate”, Valentine said. “As well as the hiring of our new Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion who will truly help change the culture and norms of the community,”
The focus on diversity on campus comes after students raised questions last October following a letter by a few faculty members asking how diversity would be included in curriculum. That letter, sent to fellow faculty, was later publicly leaked, and sparked an online controversy. It also served as a catalyst for change on campus, led by student leaders.
Valentine said while Stonehill is not fully there yet, we are on the right path to create a more just, compassionate, and inclusive campus.
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