Visit the 91探花鈥檚 once, and you鈥檒l be impressed by its size, the historic murals and the number of resources available to students.

Go a second time and you鈥檙e likely to make friends, feel at ease and find what many students call a 鈥渉ome away from home.鈥�

鈥淚t is like a totally family vibe,鈥� said Calen Garrett, a 91探花junior studying psychology with an eye on medical school.

Garrett arrived on campus from his home in Concord, California, at 18, and felt immediately overwhelmed and alone. But he quickly found the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, or Kelly ECC, and that set him on a path toward academic success and campus leadership. He鈥檚 now a student senator, president of the and vice chair of the Student Advisory Council in the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, OMA&D.

鈥淚 really felt like I wasn’t alone in my experience, because a lot of people that were in that room at the Kelly ECC were in the same situation that I was: I’m the only Black person in this class, I’m the only Black person in my major, I’m the only Black person who lives in the same residence halls as I did,鈥� Garrett said. 鈥淎nd it was really refreshing for me to not feel isolated.鈥�

The 26,000-square-foot building on the corner of Brooklyn Avenue Northeast and Northeast 40th Street provides聽study and meeting space for students and groups, a聽computer lab, cultural conference rooms,聽multipurpose rooms, a dance studio and a 161-seat auditorium.

It also has a history.

Born of the demands of the Black Student Union in 1968, on Thursday, the community will celebrate 50 years of the 91探花ECC.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always been students leading, and we see that still today. They believe that this is their institution, as they should, and they believe that they should be treated fairly and equitably,鈥� said Rickey Hall, vice president of OMA&D and university diversity officer. 鈥淭he Kelly ECC was established because back then, it was important for students of color to see representations of themselves on campus. It is just as important now as it was then.鈥�

Back in 1968, 91探花students from the Black Student Union staged a sit-in to demand a minority educational program. Despite UW鈥檚 sprawling campus, the number of Black, Latinx, Native American and other minorities enrolled was miniscule. The protesters wanted the 91探花to recruit, retain, educate and graduate more Native American and Alaskan Native students and students of color, and diversify the faculty.

After months of discussions, the 91探花opened the Office of Minority Affairs, which evolved into OMA&D, launched the Special Education Program (SEP 鈥� later to be known as the Educational Opportunity Program) and in 1972 opened the Ethnic Cultural Center/Theater.

Former King County Councilmember , helped lead the 1968 protests. He recalled that students demanded the establishment of a place on campus where they could go to feel more comfortable and less alienated.

鈥淚t would be theirs,鈥� said Gossett, who鈥檚 also the 2021 91探花Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, a 91探花Wondrous 100, 1975 Charles E. Odegaard Award recipient and a graduate of the class of 鈥�71.

Originally, the ECC was to be a temporary, 10-year facility located on the west side of campus. Progress was made in the years that followed, with increasing representation of Native American and Alaskan Native and students and faculty of color. Gossett noted that in those early years, enrollment from underrepresented populations at 91探花swelled.

New policies helped diversify the student population, but in 1998 the state legislature passed I-200, which eliminated the use of affirmative action on campus. Part of the university鈥檚 response to the legislation was a renewed investment in the ECC, including a $1.75 million grant to renovate and improve the building. In 2001, after three years of negotiations, design, development and construction, the ECC reopened.

Then, about a decade later, in 2013, the campus celebrated the grand opening of the newly renovated Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, named in honor of the late聽, the inaugural vice president for minority affairs at the 91探花and the university鈥檚 first African American senior administrator.

鈥淪am Kelly was a really unique person, with high character and significant experience,鈥� Gossett said.聽 鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 have made the progress we made without him.鈥�

The Kelly ECC became the largest and oldest stand-alone college cultural center in the United States. It is also the first 91探花building named for an African American, and it houses 22 historical murals that were brought over and restored from the original building.

鈥淭he Kelly ECC is such a significant piece of how students express their identities and where they find community on campus. Today, there are more than 100 Kelly ECC affiliated registered student organizations, many of whom have dedicated office space in the building itself. The building is impressive, but it鈥檚 the students that bring it to life,鈥� said Kristian Wiles, the assistant vice president for Student Success in OMA&D.

For Letauaeletise 鈥淭ise鈥� Hunkin, a senior from Spanaway who is double majoring in American ethnic studies and medical anthropology with a double minor in diversity and Oceania and Pacific Islander studies, the ECC offered a safe place on campus where she could be herself, hang out, nap, watch TV and study.

鈥淚t’s really hard for underrepresented students to find a place where they feel comfortable enough to be themselves or safe to do so,鈥� said Hunkin, who chairs the . 鈥淲e’re all able to just be our authentic selves, and I feel like it’s hard to do that at a school as big as ours, like making a big campus smaller.鈥�

Wendi Zhou is a junior double majoring in history and philosophy. She鈥檚 chair of OMA&D鈥檚 Student Advisory Board and has benefited from OMA&D educational programs supporting underrepresented students in the graduate school application process.

鈥淚t really does show the importance of student activism and creating an environment where students can feel respected by the institutions that they’re a part of,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t also reflects an ongoing commitment to promoting justice and equity in our institutions.鈥�

She鈥檚 using her platform to call for more to be done. The university needs additional services, especially mental health, for students with marginalized identities, she said. And the Black Student Union continues to use campus activism to call for change. In January, the group updated demands first made in 2020: They鈥檙e asking the administration to improve campus safety, connect Black students with Black faculty, remove racist statues, create a Black dorm and provide healing circles for Black students.

鈥淚鈥檓 very confident that the university has not yet achieved satisfactory stature where we can say equity has been established,鈥� Gossett said. He blames state policies, like I-200, but also acknowledges that students today face many of the same struggles he did five decades ago.

Still, it鈥檚 important to celebrate successes and acknowledge the student activists and leaders working to ensure 91探花is a space that respects all students, Zhou said.

鈥淭here’s still work to be done, but what has been accomplished over the years is really inspiring,鈥� Zhou said.

Diana Paola Vergara, a first-generation, first-year student from Auburn, sought out the Kelly ECC after reading about it on Instagram. As an undocumented student, she鈥檚 sought counseling from Leadership Without Borders, and, like so many other undergraduates, finds commonality and peers at the center. Vergara, who plans to major in business and labor studies, also chairs Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztl谩n, or M.E.Ch.A.

鈥淎s a person of color, you’re very afraid of coming to this new place where you have no idea and you don’t know what to expect,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut as soon as you come and you see that there is this place where there’s other students like you and they offer you hope and so many other resources, you kind of find peace there.鈥�

It was spring 1968. A group of students occupied the 91探花 administration building calling for change: justice, diversity, agency for Blacks on campus.

The campus protests would pay off by planting the seeds of what today is the (OMA&D), considered a national leader in supporting underrepresented minority and economically disadvantaged students, and students who are the first in their families to attend college. That office now is a half-century of service.

It started in a year when civil rights protests were gripping college campuses around the nation. At the UW, members of the Black Student Union told then-President Charles Odegaard that his campus fostered not diversity, but policies that supported the white middle-class majority.

“Through its administration, faculty, curriculum, and admission policies, the University has sent white and black students into society with the racist notion that white, middle-class, Western ideals and practices are superior,” the students wrote in a letter to Odegaard.

The students made five demands for change on campus: They wanted a voice in decision making for Black students. They wanted to recruit more people of color to campus. They yearned to study Malcolm X and other Black authors. And the students demanded that their teachers and counselors reflect the diversity of the students: Black, Latino, American Indian and Asian.

Negotiations stalled, then the demonstrations escalated, culminating with the May 20, 1968, occupation of Odegaard鈥檚 office.

“We thought we were revolutionaries, and we were revolutionaries,” said Emile Pitre, 73, a graduate of the 91探花and a聽senior advisor聽to the vice president of OMA&D, who took part in the occupation. “It changed things, and that’s what revolution is all about.”

The occupation ended that day when the administration capitulated, giving in to the Black Student Union鈥檚 demands and creating what would become the OMA&D.

鈥淚t was crying out for change, and we wanted our university to get well, to get better, to become healthier. We felt that all students and faculty would benefit from our five demands,鈥� said King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, 73, who helped lead the occupation. He鈥檚 also a 91探花Wondrous 100 and a graduate of the class of 鈥�71. 鈥淭he university, after we had the sit-in, found the resources to build and support and try to make progress in all those arenas.鈥�

Now, activities have been planned on campus to recognize the 50th anniversary of those auspicious days. Pitre, who went on to become an associate vice president with OMA&D, is scheduled to give a of OMA&D Thursday evening聽 in Kane Hall. An in Allen Library, “Revolution and Evolution,” is on display through June 13.

The history of those heady days of 1968 plays out in the work done in OMA&D today, said Linda Ando, an academic advisor in the Educational Opportunity Program who has been working with students in OMA&D for more than 20 years. By providing a safe and supportive environment, OMA&D gives students a platform to realize their own greatness and potential.

“It鈥檚 important for all students to be valued and heard,” Ando said.

The efforts of 1968 created an infrastructure of support that continues today for underrepresented minority, first-generation and low-income students. That foundation includes outreach and college preparation, advising, instructional services, cultural spaces for building community and more. OMA&D college access programs serve more than 21,000 middle school, high school and two-year college students across Washington state. Its student support programs serve more than 5,700 91探花undergraduates.

OMA&D also works to address aspects of campus diversity such as climate, faculty and staff hiring and retention, and diversity-related research, teaching and service.

Despite the gains, more work needs to be done. Students still arrive on campus marginalized due to race, religion or other identities, Ando said.

Joshua Dawson was one of those students. The son of an Ethiopian immigrant and a 2018 Husky 100 senior, he arrived on campus from Federal Way High School where he鈥檇 already been exposed to OMA&D. He鈥檚 excelled at the UW, where he鈥檚 been recognized with a Gates Millennium Scholarship and a Costco Scholarship.

It wouldn’t have been the case, he said, had it not been for the bravery of the 1968 protesters.

“Students put their whole career at risk for a crazy dream that someone like me could go on to become a physician researcher,” Dawson said. “Now, 50 years later we have this program, this office, that means the world to me.”

Speaking for his cohort, he said, “We鈥檙e excited to carry the baton.”

Professor is a 91探花Presidential Term Scholar in sociology. A 91探花alumna, she took advantage of OMA&D’s Early Identification Program while an undergrad and today works with the program to help mentor students.

“I’m able to let students of color know that we have a space, we have a voice, we have a perspective, we have experiences that are all just as valid as everyone else’s,” she said.

Pitre paraphrases scholar Henry Louis Gates when he looks at the work left to be done.

“How could we have come so far, and yet, still have so far to go?” Pitre said. “Still so far to go, even though we have graduated thousands of students.”

He points to narrowing gaps of admission, STEM degree attainment and graduation rates between the OMA&D population and the general population.

“There’s still a gap. We’ve got to close that gap. We need to close that gap,” he said. “If the communities are going to be viable, they need higher representation.”

Rickey Hall, the vice president of OMA&D and the university鈥檚 chief diversity officer, agrees. While there’s a lot to be proud of, until students of color and other minorities come closer to meeting the same benchmarks for graduation, for starting salaries, for achievement, his work isn’t done.

And meeting the demands of today’s students will help prepare us for the next generation, Hall said. Rather than focusing solely on different ethnic or cultural identities, students increasingly are concerned with intersectionality, defining themselves as both African-American and queer; Asian and Latina; and so on. Rather than being forced to identify with a singular identity, they’re opening up to embracing cultures and differences, finding commonality and supporting distinctions.

Hall welcomes the opportunity.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to stretch. It’s an opportunity to learn. It’s an opportunity to grow,” Hall said. “It allows students to bring their full selves inside these institutions. And, we know that when they’re able to do that, they’re much more likely to be retained, to graduate, to have a better 91探花experience, a better student experience while they’re here.”

###

Like post-secondary schools across the country, the 91探花 has struggled to attract and retain a talented, diverse faculty.

But efforts that have been quietly underway for a few years are starting to pay off, attracting top-level candidates to the 91探花even over schools that are able to offer bigger salaries and more perks. That work involves not simply convincing excellent candidates to come to the UW, but creating a supportive and inclusive environment that prompts them to stay, said , the UW鈥檚 associate vice provost for faculty advancement, who was hired in 2015 to help increase faculty diversity on campus.

“The money helps. We know that,” Allen said. “But after a certain threshold, we still need to compete in other ways. It鈥檚 not just about the money.”

Over the last four years, the UW鈥檚 Office for Faculty Advancement has helped recruit close to 50 faculty members whose work contributes to campus diversity and inclusion 鈥� many of these from historically underrepresented groups 鈥� including 18 starting this fall, through a multipronged approach that considers everything from how positions are advertised to helping faculty members balance competing demands for their time.

That starts with appealing to highly skilled candidates. To that end, faculty representatives attend academic conferences to scout for potential candidates, introduce themselves and talk up the university. The university has started jointly advertising positions in multiple departments focused on areas of study involving minority populations to signal to applicants that they would have potential allies on campus.

Faculty from various departments and schools also serve on each other鈥檚 search committees and meet with candidates. Last year, for example, the university brought four African-American female candidates to campus to interview for a position in black feminism in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and coordinated their visits with the Department of American Ethnic Studies, which was hiring for a position focused on African-American history.

鈥楢 network of people鈥�

When applicants come for interviews, Allen encourages the hiring unit to arrange for them to meet with faculty members or graduate students from other departments whose work intersects with theirs. It can also be helpful to provide opportunities for candidates to meet other people from underrepresented backgrounds on campus and to let them know about social and cultural aspects of Seattle that might interest them. Knowing they will become part of a larger diverse community can make a critical difference for minority candidates who might otherwise feel isolated, Allen said.

“Everyone wants a community,” he said. “And that doesn鈥檛 have to be in the same department, but you want to know there鈥檚 a network of people who understand your work, who you can collaborate with, an intellectual community as well as a social community.”

, the UW鈥檚 new vice president for the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity and chief diversity officer, sees recruiting a diverse faculty as the purview not only of administrators, but also of faculty and staff. He encourages faculty members who meet promising candidates at meetings or other events to let them know about the 91探花or even ask them to send their CV.

“Diversity and inclusion is everybody鈥檚 everyday responsibility,” said Hall, who started his position in August. “The type of faculty we want to have here at the 91探花 鈥� top-notch, top-tier researchers 鈥� everybody鈥檚 going to be going after those folks. We need to be recruiting all the time.”

For Hall, those efforts start with building a pipeline of minority students who can become the next generation of 91探花faculty. That means exposing undergraduates to research early with the goal of sparking their interest in academic careers, he said, and informing them about the appeal of life as a faculty member.

“We need to do a better job of talking about that, to undergraduate students and certainly to graduate students,” he said.

鈥楨veryone comes knocking鈥�

But hiring a diverse and inclusive faculty is only half the challenge. Keeping people long-term is perhaps even more difficult.

The UW鈥檚 hiring and retention efforts are bolstered by $1 million in funding this academic year, including a first-time allocation of $500,000 earmarked for retention. The 91探花has traditionally done a good job of hiring and supporting junior faculty members, Allen said, but as their careers ascend through major grants, book publishing or high-profile research, they are at risk of being hired away by other universities.

“People from underrepresented backgrounds, if they鈥檙e at all good 鈥� and anyone who鈥檚 gotten a job here is good 鈥� have many, many options,” Allen said. “We often hire really well at the junior level, we mentor these colleagues well, we nurture their careers, and the minute they get national attention, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Harvard, everyone comes knocking.”

A cornerstone of the UW鈥檚 retention effort is its membership in the , a Detroit-based company that provides workshops and intensive mentoring to help all faculty, but especially women and people from underrepresented backgrounds, move forward in their careers while balancing competing demands. That balance can be particularly challenging for underrepresented faculty members, who are often sought out for committees that would otherwise lack diversity. Additionally, minority graduate and professional students frequently request women and faculty of color as advisers, Allen said.

“If there鈥檚 a department with nine white men and one woman of color, who gets asked to be on every committee?” he said. “It鈥檚 hard to say no when you get asked.”

Last year, the 91探花paid for 20 faculty members across its three campuses to go through the center鈥檚 12-week Faculty Success Program, also known as its “boot camp,” at a cost of $3,250 each. In a follow-up survey, 91 percent of participants said their work-life balance had improved after participating in the program and 100 percent reported increased productivity.

University leaders are also focused on the need to create an inclusive and diverse culture at the departmental level. With approximately 2,200 tenured and tenure-track faculty members across 16 colleges and schools, that鈥檚 no easy task, said Norma Rodriguez, director of the 91探花Office for Faculty Advancement.

“These are complex issues, because departments have their own localized culture, and then the college has a culture, and the university has a culture,” she said. “We want departments and units to think about culture at the local level and how they can positively affect that to contribute to retention.”

Efforts to increase faculty diversity at the 91探花dovetail with the university鈥檚 Race and Equity Initiative, launched by President in April 2015 to combat institutional bias by actively encouraging dialogue and engaging the community. Hall said the commitment of Cauce and other university leaders to make meaningful changes around diversity 鈥� along with the UW鈥檚 “cutting-edge” programs to support academic achievement among underrepresented students 鈥� were significant factors in his decision to take the job.

“The 91探花 has a long and storied history in terms of equity, diversity and inclusion. It hasn鈥檛 always been good, but the leadership is really committed to struggling with some difficult issues,” he said.

“There are people here who are committed to making this a place that is welcoming, inclusive and affirming of all our students, faculty and staff.”

Allen said faculty diversity is both a local and national challenge that requires a multigenerational approach.

“Our success has to be measured in more than one way,” he said. “How fair and effective are our processes for recruitment and retention? How inclusive are we able to make our colleges and schools? How well does our faculty support the needs of our diverse student body and of our diverse communities?

“And, perhaps most important, we need to think about what we are doing to help produce a larger cohort of diverse graduate and professional students who can become the faculty of the future.”