Office for
Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

May 2023

Featured this month

• Faculty development series focuses on LGBTQIA inclusion
• Pitt slates Juneteenth celebrations, education
• Pride Month activities coming to campus
• Evacuation planning assistance for people with disabilities
• Meet OEDI’s Drew Armstrong

It’s been more than 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. One of the champions of that bill, then-U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh — a 1957 Pitt Law graduate — called it one of the proudest moments of his life, and a day of “emancipation” for millions of Americans.

Accessibility is a key pillar of the equity, diversity, and inclusion equation. “Equity” means allocating resources and advancing opportunities in ways that ensure that everyone has the maximum chance to succeed in their life and career. Opportunities to learn and thrive must not be inaccessible to anyone because they have limited mobility, vision, or hearing.

It should be noted that the ADA was not uniformly welcomed in 1990. Many of the same forces who now object to equity, diversity, and inclusion fought to stop the ADA, calling it an “expensive headache,” “disastrous for business,” and an infringement on religious liberties.

Yet up to 1 out of 4 Americans has a recognized disability, such as difficulty walking or climbing stairs (12 percent), difficulty hearing (6 percent) or limited vision (4.8 percent). I think most of us agree that we do not want to return to a world where 25 percent of Americans are excluded from daily life.

On our campuses, there is a general understanding that accessibility is essential and a necessity, not a luxury. We also recognize that providing accessibility for people with disabilities makes our facilities easier to use for everyone. This work remains a front and center priority for all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Over the past six years, our Disability Resources & Services team has more than doubled the number of accommodations it provides to students, whether in classrooms, housing, or dining services. Many of the people DRS is helping have what might be considered a “hidden” disability — a long-term health condition that isn’t immediately apparent to an observer. DRS works tirelessly to explore every option available to provide fair and equitable access for all students, faculty, and staff.

I have watched DRS staff consistently strive to deliver services in a way that is transparent, outcomes-focused, and above all, dedicated to equity. While we recognize the need is growing — and at times threatens to outpace our efforts to keep up — the University understands that there can be no equity, diversity, and inclusion without accessibility.

This effort also includes digital accessibility. We saw during the COVID-19 lockdown and in the months that followed that digital access is an essential lifeline for basic human services, including healthcare and education. As a society I think we all understand that there can be no going backward.

On Thursday (May 18), Pitt will join institutions around the world that are celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day — a time set aside to remember that websites and social media must be intentionally designed in ways that provide successful outcomes to everyone, regardless of physical ability or health challenges.

We’ve posted a list of resources on our website, and if you or someone you know is responsible for your office, unit, or department’s website or social media feed, I encourage you to take a look at some of the best practices outlined and share this information broadly.

As I close, I wish you all the best for the rest of May. If you are like me, you appreciate the good weather and are excited about the opportunities to take advantage of the many outdoor community activities. We encourage you to stay in touch with us during the upcoming summer months and look forward to opportunities to be together in community.

Sincerely,
Clyde Wilson Pickett, Ed.D.
Chief Diversity Officer
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Faculty development series focuses on LGBTQIA inclusion

The Provost’s Diversity Institute was created to offer Pitt faculty the opportunity to increase awareness about equity and inclusion and develop skills needed to teach in a diverse, multicultural environment.

This year’s theme is “Queering the Classroom.” Discussions are designed to explore intersectional queer experiences in the classroom and beyond; consider pain, exclusion, and joy as experienced by LGBTQIA faculty and students; and work towards creating queer-inclusive classrooms.

The first session, on Tuesday, explored some of the hundreds of anti-LGBTQIA pieces of legislation introduced in state legislatures nationwide, and the implications those bills have on K-12 students and educators, as well as higher education.

Upcoming sessions include:

May 18: Queer Praxis Workshop will explore strategies that facilitate teaching and learning outside of normative structures and honor the strengths and needs of our queer and trans students.

May 19: LGBTQ+ Health and the Medical Curriculum. This session discusses medical curriculum development focused on LGBTQIA health care.

May 25: Queering STEM Culture and Classroom. This session will discuss how to create a culture where LGBTQIA students and professionals thrive in STEM disciplines in higher education.

May 30: Teach In: Trans Identities for University Educators. This session will present and outline considerations when supporting transgender and non-binary students, as well as what’s at stake with current anti-LGBTQIA legislation across the United States.

May 31: Queer Joy and Belonging in the University Classroom. This session focuses on how to recognize, celebrate and cultivate queer joy in teaching and learning spaces and centers the voices of queer students from our campuses.

June 1: Using LGBTQ+ Digital Archives. This session will highlight the University Library System’s LGBTQIA digital archives and showcase the ways that the digital archive can be used by instructors as they create queer-inclusive classroom spaces, cultures and materials.

All sessions are virtual. Registration in advance is requested.

Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas received their freedom. The holiday first began to be celebrated in Black communities in the 1890s and became more widely known during the struggle for racial equality in the 1960s.

In 2021, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, making June 19 a federal holiday.

Although the University is closed on Juneteenth, Pitt will be hosting a celebration as well as a community volunteer event, says Chance Wideman, director of equity and inclusion programs in OEDI.

From 7 to 9 p.m. June 15, OEDI and 1Hood Media will host a panel discussion at Oakland’s Blaxk Box Theater titled, “This Thing We Call Hip-Hop,” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this distinctly American musical genre that emerged from Black culture in New York City and has since gone global.

Pitt staff, faculty, students, alumni, and community members, including hip-hop artists, will discuss the impact the music has had on Pittsburgh, and the influence Pittsburghers have had on the music, Wideman says.

Then, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 16, OEDI and other University partners will host “Rooted in the Community.” Pitt staff, faculty, students, and alumni will volunteer to work at local community gardens.

Other events in the Pittsburgh area include:

June 10-11
Juneteenth Youth Festival
Black Heritage Celebration
Mellon Park

June 16-19
Juneteenth Freedom Day
Point State Park

June 17
Juneteenth & Voting Rights Parade
Downtown Pittsburgh

July 13-15
Pittsburgh Black Music Festival
Downtown Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh will mark LGBTQIA Pride Month in June with “Pride on the Patio” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 20 outside of the William Pitt Union on the Oakland campus. This resource fair will include games, prizes, informational booths, and live music.

On June 26, Alora Chateaux, one of Pittsburgh’s premier drag artists, returns to the William Pitt Union Ballroom to host Drag Bingo at 6 p.m. Along with the chance to win a prize, Alora will provide witty banter and drag performances for entertainment.

Other activities around the city include:

Pittsburgh Pride Revolution: A four-day LGBTQIA+ community event beginning June 1 and continuing through June 4, with events Downtown, on the North Side, and in Bloomfield that are focused around inclusion and diversity.

Pride March & Parade: Beginning at the corner of 16th Street and Liberty Avenue at 10 a.m. June 3, and featuring a new route through Downtown Pittsburgh, as well as the return of vehicles and floats in the parade.

Washington PA Pride: Sponsored by the Washington County Gay Straight Alliance, this event will be held June 10 along North Main Street in Washington, Pa.

Pride Millvale: Millvale Borough’s third-annual Pride celebration will be held June 24 and include education, outreach, and entertainment.

People’s Pride PGH: Sponsored by SisTers PGH, this June 25 event in Swissvale includes a parade and a day-long festival at Dickson Field.

In light of recent hoax emergency calls on campus and near campus that resulted in heavy law enforcement response and building lockdowns, University officials want everyone to know about evacuation plans available for those with disabilities.

During a meeting with the University Senate’s Equity, Inclusion & Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee, Molly Stitt-Fischer, director of the Office of Environmental Health & Safety, said that anyone who has limited mobility, vision, or hearing should reach out to her team for help developing a personalized safety plan.

“We will work with you to make sure you have the right information,” she said, according to the University Times.

“We will meet with you in your location and help to identify safe areas of refuge for you,” Stitt-Fischer said. EH&S also will help identify primary and secondary evacuation destinations, and will give a copy of each person’s plan to the Pitt police communications center.

More resources and emergency prepared tools are available at www.emergency.pitt.edu.

Drew Armstrong is the newest outreach and response specialist in the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX, where he works alongside Evelin Nunez-Rodriguez. He came to the University in March from The Friendship Circle in Squirrel Hill, where he served as inclusion and membership manager. A graduate of Pitt’s School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Drew is a native of Havertown, outside of Philadelphia, and was considering a career in physical or occupational therapy before becoming interested in the field of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The Friendship Circle provides services to children with special needs in pre-school through grade 12. Although Drew has shifted to working with adults, he says his work left him well-prepared for his new role at OEDI. “I’m one of the initial contacts in OEDI when someone wants to report an issue, and then we try to get them connected to the right people who can help,” Drew says. One challenge, he says, is that when someone comes to the Civil Rights & Title IX office, they’ve often just witnessed or suffered a traumatic event. “I try to be welcoming and affirming, and bring my most cheerful self to every meeting,” Drew says.

His biggest surprise about OEDI? “How nice everyone is,” Drew says. “We’re doing some tough work. It would be easy to get bogged down and negative about it, but I feel like everyone is so welcoming and kind to each other.”

Away from work, Drew enjoys videogaming and singing, and will be releasing a new song soon. As a kid, Drew celebrated his family’s Scottish heritage by learning to play bagpipes, along with his mother. “My grandfather was very happy about that,” he says.

Students who have a disability — including so-called “hidden disabilities” — and who are interested in computer science careers are eligible for tutoring, mentoring, and financial assistance to attend conferences in their field.

Eric Trekell works with AccessComputing, an NSF-funded project at the University of Washington to increase participation of people with disabilities in computing fields.

Trekell says AccessComputing provides students 18 and older, and who have limited mobility, vision, or hearing, or who are neurodivergent, with free online mentoring and tutoring; funding to attend events such as the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference and the Grace Hopper Celebration Conference; and help with applying for internships through the Computing Research Association's Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates Program.

Students do not need to register with their campus disability office, but do have to self-identify as having a disability to qualify for help from AccessComputing, Trekell says.

Participants must attend a U.S. institution of higher education and be pursuing a degree in a computing-related field. There is no deadline and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Find more information at the AccessComputing website.

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