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Theta Chi DEI Newsletter

February 21, 2023

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New Position - DEI Chair

        The Theta Chi Epsilon chapter proudly announces the newly installed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chairman position. This position entails updating the brotherhood on current DEI events and opportunities outside the house, coordinating events with multicultural clubs and underrepresented communities, overseeing elected DEI representatives from each class year, and helping maintain a healthy relationship with the ODIME and other DEI chairs.

        The newly elected DEI Chairman is Jai Jariwala ‘25 who’s excited to keep progressing the house toward a more inclusive environment. As a member of many diverse clubs on campus including Hindu YUVA, Jai has a good idea of what steps the brotherhood needs to take to reach its DEI goals. Alongside Jai, the DEI Committee is focused on creating a more welcoming, inclusive environment.

        The DEI chair is responsible for a weekly DEI report which includes but is not limited to: informing all current members of worldly cultural events, report of events/GBMs from clubs of underrepresented communities around campus, supplying free DEI resources/websites to brothers, and sending out videos or infographics pertaining to DEI and sends them out to all members.

New Committee - DEI committee

        Alongside the DEI Chair, a DEI Committee has been formed. Consisting of the DEI Chair and at least 1 elected chapter member from each academic class. The committee members were carefully elected by all the brothers and remain on the committee for the entire academic year. This committee’s main objectives are to assist the DEI Chair in creating events and presentations with multicultural organizations, to promote a safe and inclusive culture around the house, and to be a resource for their respective class for all diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns. 

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Intent vs Impact presentation

Presenter/Facilitator: 

Benjamin Smola (Vice President of Health and Safety) 

Jai Jariwala (DEI Chair)

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Day/Time (start and end time): January 31st, 2023

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Number of Attendees: 53

Intended Outcomes: 

  1. To showcase the importance of DEI within the House and on the Hill

  2. Talk about the Anti-Hazing incident and highlight the communities that the word cloud affects

  3. Encourage brothers to highlight incidents they have encountered within and outside the house regarding DEI

  4. Highlighting the distinction between intent and impact

  5. Encouraging individuals to focus on the impact of their actions and words

 

Actual Outcomes: 

  1. A better understanding of the ways words and actions can affect others

  2. Improved communication to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts

  3. Recognition and avoidance of discriminatory behavior

  4. Increased accountability for words and actions

  5. Development of greater self-awareness, leading to personal growth

Active effort in changing the house environment

In order to create a lasting change we have fostered a more accountable environment by promoting bystander intervention in instances of offensive language or actions. This is achieved by encouraging individual efforts among various brothers to share personal experiences and the experiences of others to foster a greater understanding of the unintentional/misunderstood impact of language/actions used. We have had conversations driven by members that tell a story or discuss a particular DEI issue within the house, these more personal and anecdotal conversations reflect how certain microaggressions or offensive statements affect people within the same community. We have thereby created a culture in which people will be called out if they are offensive, thereby making a habitual change within the chapter.

Short Term Goals

Long Term Goals

  1. Increase brother attendance to on-campus DEI/cultural events

    1. Discuss with brothers how they can get involved/volunteer with DEI/cultural events on campus

    2. Have DEI Chair keep attendance (1 event per semester)

    3. Encourage members to partake in events, even if they are not part of the club’s niche group. Learning about other groups and communities is vital to combat negative stereotypes.

  2. Highlighting the achievements and involvements of Alumni or current members that come from marginalized or underrepresented communities

    1. Make a social media campaign or a section on our website for these individuals

    2. This will help accentuate that our fraternity is inclusive and will continue to be 

  3. Do a deep dive into the history of the chapter to identify instances or bylaws that may have been racially inclined

    1. To improve the trajectory of our chapter by checking the privilege that fraternities have held in the past

    2. Highlighting the wrongs to encourage members to right the wrongs in their time in the house

  1. Increased focus on the rush process, specifically  interviewing/1 on 1 discussion with PNMs to gain a better understanding and knowledge of their views, and areas for improvement, and generally garnering whether or not they are a good fit for Theta Chi from specifically a DEI standpoint. 

  2. Include DEI conversations and presentations in the New member program

  3. Presentations include information on microaggressions and the effect of social media and the significance of a digital footprint

  4. Teach concepts like intent vs impact and bystander intervention.

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