Coleman & Burke roll the DICE

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST

By Dylan Pichnarcik

Associate Editor

By day, Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Jeffrey Coleman and Center for Inclusive Excellence Director Jerome Burke sit on planning boards and task forces promoting FSU’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

By night, the benefits of their work are on display in the form of events, talks, and trips that promote acceptance and a deeper understanding of the many cultures that make up the Framingham State community.

Coleman said his goal in working with inclusion and community engagement is to be aligned with the perspective of an undergraduate student. 

“I think about what I was experiencing in college as an undergrad, and then some of the barriers I ran into, and then some of the ways that I learned to navigate those barriers and see how we could incorporate that in a routine way of doing things,” he said. “Even in our programming, that's the lens that I take.”

He added he also thinks about skills students may need going beyond their time at FSU and how programming can provide these skills. 

To that end, various events are held in the CIE, including diversity dialogues, educational conversations about social issues, and programming around heritage months. 

Burke said the programs focused on heritage months are driven by community engagement. 

Students and community members can vote on specific events they would like to see held, along with theme and program planning. 

Burke said the events are also driven by collaborations with student affinity groups such as the Black Student Union, Brother 2 Brother, and the Afro-Caribbean Dance Group. 

The CIE also partners with Residence Life staff and the Center for Academic Success and Achievement to meet students in spaces they are comfortable in and to provide resources.  

Heritage month programs are also fueled by faculty input, and Coleman encourages further collaboration on events held in the CIE. 

Along with student programming at the CIE, Coleman said a major highlight of the division is an academic calendar that includes all religious holidays that are observed during academic sessions.  

Coleman said the calendar, created by the staff at the Henry Whittemore Library, reflects all religious holidays throughout the year and is a resource for students to direct faculty to information concerning holidays they recognize. 

The calendar is accessible through the division’s SharePoint site and can be used if a holiday interferes with a class's coursework. 

Coleman said if students are “in a class and there's an exam or a paper due, then you can say to the faculty member, ‘Oh, I'm celebrating Ramadan, and I have to do a number of things to prepare for it’ and ‘I'm not really at the same place that I would be at to take an exam if I wasn't fasting,’ or ‘if I wasn't focusing on doing some some things for my religion.’”

Future initiatives planned by the division include an upcoming service trip. 

The division and the CIE will be setting their sights on New Orleans for the upcoming spring recess with a service trip led by Burke. 

He said there will be 10 attendees, including 7 students. 

The project, in partnership with Hands On New Orleans, will focus on cultural immersion with students working to perform beautification and community assistance projects, all while enjoying the rich history and culture of the city. 

Burke said the trip is designed to give back to students.

“Having this experience, they then think of FSU as an institution that cares about them, like, ‘I'm a junior. Hey, I have this experience. I'm staying here. This institution has invested in me. … You can think about this as something that you're sharing with your family,” Burke said. 

As two leaders of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Burke and Coleman work closely with each other to plan events and work toward promoting community engagement. 

Coleman said he is “always amazed by the creativity that comes out of the CIE. I think Jerome has done just a wonderful job of bringing out-of-the-box thinking in the way we do not just diversity programming, but just student programming.” 

He added when attending events at the CIE, he sees students engaging and gets a “sense of appreciation” from their attendance. Events mean “a whole lot to the students. It energizes me because I'm like, ‘This is why we’re doing this work.’” 

Burke said he appreciates Coleman's detail-oriented approach to the goals of the division. 

He added Coleman is also talented at planning ahead. 

“Sometimes, it does take a lot with students. It's always moving. … At the start of the semester, we can give a full list of things that we intend to do."

President Nancy Niemi said she is encouraged by the work undertaken by the division and the initiatives put forth by Burke and Coleman. 

“I really love it that the CIE seems to be becoming a place where students who are underrepresented in any way they feel that they define that find a home, a bit of a physical home, but really a sense of belonging within programming and the work that the CIE has created,” she said.

She added the work of Burke and Coleman is starting to shape the identity of the University. “Our identity, our living to the truth, our identity as being really anchored in social equity and justice. It is hard to do, because those are great concepts, but how do you put them into practice?”

Niemi said she admires Burke and Coleman’s “understanding that equity work is part of human work. That's their being. That's how they live. So that's manifested in all the work that they create. So I really admire that about them. They're wonderful human beings, and that's one of the reasons why they are so successful at their positions. I think, too, they're also just always willing to work together.”

She added, “They understand that they're not islands unto themselves. So they are very good at continuously reaching out as part of the University community, both internally as well as externally, and making those connections.”

Senior Taimoor Khan, a diversity peer influencer in the CIE, said working at the Center has been “one of the highlights of my campus experience here.

“I think Jerome really embodies the idea of, if you have an idea and you want to make it happen, he is that person that you will go to to get support from. Especially when I transferred here, I was looking to kind of create a space on campus for myself, and I came into this job by chance. I found it through Handshake, and I didn't know that getting to work with Jerome was going to be such a great experience.”

Khan is also a member of the Muslim Student Association, and Burke has worked with them to create a prayer space on campus for individuals of all faiths. 

He added heritage months are a great way to unify the student body. “I feel like getting to experience a different heritage is important for all students, and the CIE works really hard to bring events and programming to campus so that students can experience different heritages, different cultures, and different religions.”

Junior Yair Rachmany, a diversity peer influencer, said working with Burke in the CIE “is really inspiring. One of my favorite things about working for Jerome is getting to see behind the scenes of all the events that we create, and seeing it all come to life, and helping brainstorm ideas on how we can make the campus more inclusive.”

Senior Izayah Morgan, a diversity peer influencer at the CIE, said, “Jerome is one of the best bosses I've had. He's very understanding, very accommodating, and just a great guy. Dr. Coleman is also a great guy. He makes an effort to show up for every single event we do, and you can definitely feel his presence, which is always appreciated.”