Demand 05
REPRESENTATION IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
We demand that the University of Cincinnati allocate appointed voting student senate seats in Student Government from selected representatives from underrepresented communities (race, sexuality, and gender). Additionally, Student Government must report their composition each year including race, gender, sexual orientation, and other self-identifying information for each faction.
PROGRESS BAR
Why?
Status & Updates
In the Spring of 2015, Student Government hosted arguably the most diverse elections of all time with nearly 50% of candidates being persons of color. However, these elections yielded a group of 10 (President, Vice President, and 8 Senators-at-Large) leaders who were mostly white, cis-gendered, and straight. For Senator-at-large, the probability that in a pool of 22 applicants (9 identifying as persons of color) that all 8 winners would be white was 1.4%.
This demand has since shifted to seek more diversity and inclusion in Student Government as a whole:
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The African American Cultural and Resource Center now has its own Cabinet Director position for Student Government (thanks to Sinna Habteselassie, Casmir Thornberry, and Stephanie Adamec)
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Student Government now reports their composition annually (with the exception of the protections of people who do not want to self-identify their gender, race, or sexual orientation). Check it out here.
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The cap on campaign spending was cut in half to make the process more inclusive, allowing more students to run without worries of having to accrue thousands of dollars to be a successful candidate
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The University of Cincinnati Undergraduate Student Government Association (SG) contracted Make It Plain Consulting to assess organizations strides to embody and promote diversity and inclusion. Make It Plain Consulting designed and conducted a diversity and inclusion assessment approach using a combination of focus groups, individual interviews, and data analysis to develop a summary report.