Our Mission

It is the mission of the Diversity Center and Office of Multicultural Programs and Services to provide leadership for positive and equitable change that creates a welcoming and supportive environment for racially underrepresented students, staff, and faculty and to design activities that infuse into college life an acceptance and appreciation for difference that is morally and socially just.

We co-create a learning environment that seeks to improve relationships with the campus community and collaborate with faculty and campus departments to offer cultural, educational, and mentoring programs to students. We also partner with faculty and staff to effectively support the academic, cultural, and social adjustment of students from various racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

What is Diversity?

Diversity encompasses “everything that we are and that we are not.” Members of the Gustavus community come from diverse backgrounds in terms of age, mental or physical capabilities, national origin, political beliefs, economic status, sexual orientation, race, gender, religious affiliation, and spiritual affinity.

Our individual values, perspectives, beliefs systems, and views of the world around us are shaped by different social constructs. The pursuit of true diversity includes the investigation and identification of the origins of these constructs and the ways that they breed social hierarchies and means through which we can understand and accept one another.  Diversity, for us, is not just about understanding our differences; it is also about embracing and celebrating our uniqueness.