Diversity Programs at Boise State

Earlier this year, 28 Idaho Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Boise State University criticizing the school’s efforts to address gender-based violence, aid underrepresented minority students and to avoid bias in hiring decisions because the lawmakers say those and other programs increase tuition costs and go against the “Idaho way". Their argument was that, essentially, these programs were a waste of money that could be used towards academic acheivment. This was met with an intense amount of backlash of BSU's student community, particularly from diverse groups that already exist, for making them feel rejected and unheard. Many argued that the letter only benefits the white suprmancy that rules over Idaho lawmaker's and not the BSU student body whom it actually effects.

“I believe every student we serve helps every student on campus,” Tromp said in an Idaho Education News interview. “That student becomes a part of that thriving campus.”Her diversity programs included inclusive activities and spaces such as gender-based centers, Black graduations, and LGBTQ programs . This is part of a long-awaited effort to finally expand Idaho's stereotypes and boundaries as a "red" state, or as one that is not welcoming to groups that do not match a specific criteria. Tromp's proposal came just twelve days into her presidency, starting her reign off with controversy.

Boise State's current efforts towards making students that belong to minority groups more comfortable include a Student Diveristy and Inclusion Program, led by directior Francisco Salinas since 2008. This program works to create spaces, events and support to students who may not normally feel included in campus activities. These include a Student Diversity Lounge, a Bronco Welcome tradition called Diversity Day Defined in which students celebrate the history of diverse voices and people at Boise State, a multimedia experience by Boise State students called the Tunnel of Oppression and so much more. This mixed offering of expression and visibility towards minority students is crucial to keep a diverse student body at Boise State, and to feel potential new students feel like they are just as welcome here.

• Gender Equity Center
• International Student Services
• Veteran Services
• Multicultural Greek Council
• Boise State Trio Student Success Program
• Louis Strokes for Minority Participation
• Additional clubs including but not limited to: African Student Association, Black Student Association, Multilingual Student Alliance, Transgender Alliance, Pride Alliance, Boise American-Filipino Relations Club and Diversity Association, International Students Association, etc.

• Diversity Central
• Women of Color Alliance
• Idaho Commission on Human Rights
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations
• National Organization for Women
• The Japanese American Citizen League
• Interfaith Alliance of Idaho

According to U.S. News.com, diversity provides the following for a university: it expands worldliness, enhances social development, prepares students for future career success, prepares students for work in a global society, promotes creative thinking, enhances self-awareness, increases our knowledge base, enriches multiple perspectives, etc.

However, this is entirely aside from the fact that diversity on campus doesn't need to be beneficial to anyone to matter. Fact of the matter is, the world is naturally diverse with people that come from all sorts of economic backgrounds, ethnicities, sexualities, disabilities, etc. and yet universities still only represent a population of straight, white students. The letter signed by our Idaho legislatures says that this is the "Idaho Way" and any radical efforts to improve these ways are shuffled away in favor of more "academic" pursuits. How can students succeed in an environement where they feel underepresented and unwelcome? It's time to challenge this "Idaho Way" and ask ourselves: why?

• Turchi - I thought of this reading for the line, "to ask for a map is to say, tell me a story" because each one of the infographics and maps of Boise State that include diversity spaces tells a story of the university's values
• Barton- Describing maps as "ideological" helps to understand why so many groups are misrepresented on maps; even the map of campus pictured above isn't helpful in clearly marking safe spaces for diverse groups on campus
• Deconstructing the Map - "Our task is to search for social forces that have structural cartography" meaning that maps reveal truth and discourse about their subject, which Boise State has not quite done for diversity groups. These groups can feel unseen because there isn't a way to find them specifically on a map seperate from Boise State's
• Propen-Connecting visual rhetoric and spatiality could help us understand the messages that Boise State pushes by what they choose to include/disclude in the visual rhetoric of their marketing, maps, and in the words of the lawmakers.
• Wood, Unleashing the Power of the Map- Understanding how maps and our perception work under a political and judicial context, and how our perception of Idaho via maps and ideographs influence what both lawmakers and citizens perceive to be the "Idaho Way