Diversity Landmarks Promote Diversity Awareness Across Campus

A community-wide call for quotes about the importance of diversity resulted in more than a dozen Diversity Landmarks around the St. Mary’s College of Maryland campus. The St. Mary’s Resource for Inclusion, Diversity & Equity (StRIDE) created signs, named Diversity Landmarks, from the submitted quotes and planted them along sidewalks and at entryways across campus to promote individual and group diversity awareness and a heightened sense of community. “Diversity Landmarks are a perfect way to learn the hearts of the people who make up the SMCM community without exchanging a single word. They prompt us to review again the makeup of fellow students, faculty, and staff and to do so seeking an even greater good within. All are encouraged to share in this display of pleasant and positive quotes, borrowed and original, that help us envision a more pluralistic society and refine the St. Mary's Way," said Ken Coopwood, interim associate vice president of diversity and inclusion/chief diversity officer. The blue signs display the submitted quote and include the author and the member of the community that submitted it. One sign for an example reads: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, there will be peace,” By Jimi Hendrix, submitted by Mike Wick, SMCM Provost. Inclusion, diversity and equity are core components of the St. Mary’s Way — a concept that centers on respecting one another and the world around us — and mission of the College. The StRIDE Office focuses on each component as mutually exclusive as it works to lead the College towards its next level of excellence through student impact, campus life and culture, and community outreach.