Ameerah McBride started her first day May 23 as the new Chief Diversity Officer, Director of Equity and Access and Title XI Coordinator.
McBride is in charge of leading the Task Force promoting diversity and inclusion on campus. The CDO oversees Title IX compliance and coordinates sexual misconduct prevention. McBride will prompt solutions and establish a reporting process for all sexual misconduct allegations.
A press release posted May 9 by the Media Relations Office welcomed McBride to the Bobcat family. The release presented McBride as former director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Prior to that, she was an investigator and deputy Title XI Coordinator at Kansas State University. Additionally, McBride worked as an investigator in Atlanta, Georgia, with Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services.
McBride is getting to know the campus and its culture to better understand her plan moving forward.
“I’ve met with students during my interview process and it was very clear to me there was sort of an adversarial ‘us versus them’ relationship between the students and the administration,” McBride said. “I want to unpack that and understand why that exists.”
McBride said she wants to have conversations with students, faculty and staff to develop plans addressing any of their concerns.
Margarita Arellano, Dean of Students, will meet with McBride in a couple of weeks. They will work closely, and Arellano is looking forward to be collaborating with her.
“I know this is an important position and I’m sure she’s very competent,” Arellano said. “I’m very excited to be working very closely with her.”
Brooklyn Boreing, student government president, has high expectations for the new CDO.
“I hope to see a coordinator who is transparent, open, honest, fair and empathetic,” Boreing said. “I hope the coordinator looks at each instance in-depth and they choose not to blame the culture or alcohol for the occurrences, but individuals themselves.”