CU Denver will drop $4 MILLION on diversity programs

The University of Colorado Denver unveiled $4 million in funding toward “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming.

In April, Chancellor Michelle Marks announced that the school would seek to become an “equity-serving institution” by “earmark[ing] $1 million of campus funds, $2 million from the CU President’s Office, and $1 million from the CU Foundation.”

“As an equity-serving institution, CU Denver will be able to expand its capacity to deliver the highest level of education services to its students,” explains the same CU Denver News article. “The university will focus on courageously humanizing its systems and policies to foster a diverse, inclusive, and equitable campus dedicated to the success of every member of our community.”

CU-Denver secured the $2 million from the CU President’s Office after it achieved the designation of “HSI” and “AANAPISI” — a “Hispanic-Serving Institution” and “Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution,” respectively.

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The funds will be used for “student retention, hiring more staff to support new and growing programs, summer education, inclusive pedagogy, and more,” per CU Denver News.

The school’s “Equity Task Force” — which recommended the funds —  suggests “ongoing evaluation of various curricula and pedagogical techniques’’ in its recent report. Specifically, the task force recommended that the university work to “redesign curriculum to decenter whiteness and other sources of oppression, and communicate graduate and major curricula to represent EDI commitments.”

Additionally, the task force’s report recommended that CU-Denver “develop and employ a CU Denver land acknowledgement statement developed by members of Indigenous and Native American communities” and “develop and communicate clear pathways to resolve conflicts and disputes that negatively impact the successes of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students, staff, and faculty, as well as those with physical disabilities, neuro-diversities, and mental illnesses.”

Other universities across the United States have likewise spent millions of dollars on equity initiatives.

For instance, the Andrew Mellon Foundation — one of the largest nonprofits in the United States — pumped more than $72 million into over one dozen American universities for anti-racism projects. Both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota received over $4 million from the foundation’s “Just Futures Initiative.” 

[RELATED: Universities nationwide receive whopping $72 MILLION for anti-racism projects]

Campus Reform reached out to CU-Denver for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.

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