History

Our history

The CommUNITY Education Program has been recognized by several offices and committees at Indiana University for its excellence. It has also been recognized as a model program by the American College Personnel Association. Several of the program's initiatives have also won recognition both locally and nationally, including the Conversations on Race and the IU Day of Silence programs.

Piloting a new program – 1989

In fall 1989, the Department of Residence Life (now Residence Life within the Office of Student Life) initiated a pilot program to address diversity-related issues in Read Residence Hall. It involved hiring six undergraduate students who would serve in a Diversity Advocate (DAs) position. These DAs met on a weekly basis with a graduate supervisor and planned some educational programs related to topics of diversity, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and ability. They also looked for ways to engage students in day-to-day conversations on the importance of celebrating differences and creating residence hall communities that were more welcoming to all. The creation of the Diversity Advocate position was meant to supplement the commitment of Resident Assistants (RA) inaddressing diversity issues and raising awareness.

Expansion – 1990

Despitea limited budget for this program, the six pioneer Diversity Advocates (DAs) met with enough success during the 1989-90 academic year in Read that the program was expanded into Forest, McNutt, and Briscoe Residence Halls for the 1990-91 academic year. This created a total of 24 DAs, six in each of the four centers. Again, the program met with enough success that, for 1991-92, Collins Residence Hall was added. It was about this time that IU received a grant from the Lilly Foundation that allowed the program, in part,to expand toall ten undergraduate centers (Eigenmann Residence Hall was all graduate students at the time and was not included).Beginning in the fall of 1992 and running through the spring of 1996, there were a total of 58 Diversity Advocates, six in each undergraduate center except for Collins (a smaller Living Learning Center/Residence Hall), which had four.

Restructuring – 1996

With the pending expiration of the Lilly Grant, the program was significantly re-evaluated and eventually restructured for the 1996-97 academic year. Many factors resulted in the decision to restructure. The central issue was finances, which impacted the program in two ways. First, while the major funding source was being eliminated, there was also a need to drastically increasethe pay for the Diversity Advocates. Because the pay was considerably less than that of the RAs, the CUE position was viewed by many as a stepping-stone to being an RA. CUEs leaving the program to be RAs and moving out of the halls made staff retention very difficult. Second, because the financial incentive was not there to retain students, the Diversity Advocate candidate pool consisted of mostly first- and second-year students, which make up the majority of the resident population. Many of the students were passionate about diversity issues but were not yet at a developmental level where they felt comfortable providing the appropriate level of challenge that other students needed to support their growth process. 
 
When Willkie Residence Hall was closed for renovation in 1997, a CUE was placed in Eigenmann which then shifted from a majority graduate student population to an undergraduate population. During 2000-01 school year, an eleventh CUE was added to serve Willkie.