Committees

• Disability Affinity Group
• LGBTQ+ Affinity Group
• People of Color Affinity Group

Future plans

Additional affinity groups are planned in future years. The three inaugural affinity groups will serve as pilots for future organization. If you are interested in establishing an additional AURG, please contact diversity@bgsu.edu.

This council will be replacing PACODI soon and strives to:

• Support the University’s diversity, inclusion, and belonging goals and initiatives.
• Assess and monitor progress towards achieving diversity, inclusion, and belonging goals at all levels of the University.
• Work to enhance the University’s goals to retain students, faculty and staff of color and other minoritized groups.
• Assist with the University’s goals to recruit and hire more faculty and staff of color and other minoritized groups.
• Work with the Office of the Provost, Deans, and other campus partners to enhance and support diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the curriculum.
• Assist the Division of Diversity and Belonging with the creation, development, and assessment of strategic initiatives.
• Support and collaborate with faculty, staff, and student University Resource Groups, better known as affinity groups.
• Provide accountability for the University’s diversity, inclusion, and belonging goals and initiatives including College Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans.

The Student Advisory Council in Diversity and Inclusion (SACODI) is designed to provide a platform for undergraduate and graduate student leaders to promote diversity and inclusion at BGSU. SACODI is a subcommittee of PACODI that is managed by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). Building a campus community that fosters, celebrates, and appreciates diversity and inclusion not only requires a commitment from faculty and administration, but also requires the invaluable input of students. SACODI, which began in 2017, has worked to advance past and present strategies centered on diversity and inclusion.

During the fall 2018 semester, the membership was revived and a new charge was set forth. Out of the need for a streamlined leadership, SACODI adopted a co-chair structure that included one undergraduate student from USG and one graduate student. There was also an emphasis placed on bringing students from key constituency organizations on campus (Asian Student Union, Black Student Union, Latino Student Union, Queer/Trans Student Union) to participate on the advisory council. The following goals guide the work of SACODI at BGSU:

• Provide a platform for continuous exchange, communication, and collaboration between student groups at the university and in the community to promote diversity and inclusion;
• Highlight students’ experiences, efforts, and recommendations as they relate to diversity and inclusion programming and projects at the university and/or in the community;
• Facilitate the development of specific programming and projects that focus on promoting diversity and inclusion at the university and/or in the community; and
• Contribute to an infrastructure for the implementation of institutional plans regarding diversity and inclusion, particularly as they relate to the experience(s) of undergraduate and graduate students at the university.

Within the context of the charge, the co-chairs are tasked with setting an agenda at the start of each academic year to remain relevant and to address the needs of BGSU’s underrepresented communities.

Three formal Dean’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion's (DACODI) exist at BGSU within the Schmidthorst College of Business, the University Libraries, and Firelands College. Additionally, the College of Arts and Sciences Diversity and Inclusion Committee functions as a DACODI. Although the individual structures and charges are specific to each college, DACODI functions as a committee tasked with infusing diversity and inclusion into the work of the college.

BGSU and the City of Bowling Green have been active in supporting diversity and encouraging people to stop hate and build a safe and inclusive community through the collaboration of the award-winning "Not in Our Town" campaign (NIOT). The NIOT campaign began in April 2013 because of students bringing their concerns about diversity and inclusion to the BGSU administration. These concerns brought about a collaboration between BGSU and the city to develop protocols for handling incidents related to diversity, violence, and safety (Kuebeck, 2015).

The Beyond the Dream Committee leads a series of speakers, events, and programs that embody the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This annual series takes place throughout the spring semester. Previous events have included Dr. Cornel West, Opal Tometi, Shaun King, and Tarana Burke.