Campuswide Action Items

The University is creating a task force to develop a clear, collective understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by LGBTQIA2S+ students, staff, faculty and alumni. This builds upon foundational work by the LSA Working Group report on Supporting LSA’s LGBTQIA2S+ Community and Spectrum Center’s Council for the Advancement of Standards Report.

In addition to increasing its capacity for training and consulting, Organizational Learning (OL) made significant progress through targeted programs focused on topics such as preventing workplace retaliation, disrupting bias, engaging in anti-racism dialogue, and building psychological safety in the workplace.

In Fall 2023, oversight responsibility for the Office of Campus Sustainability (OCS) shifted from Facilities and Operations to the Associate Vice President for Campus Sustainability, and a new Vice Provost for Campus Sustainability and Climate Action was selected, opening the way for more collaborative, high-impact projects that promote sustainability and environmental justice.

By establishing an ever-growing network of project leaders (Liaisons), supported by project sponsors, the new Digital Accessibility Liaison (DAL) Network is empowering individuals to effectively lead digital accessibility efforts within their units and to serve as the first point of contact, with access available as needed from central support staff for complex issues.

Since the formation of its working group—which includes both a core team and a larger group of cross-campus subject matter experts and stakeholders— the Enhancing Physical Accessibility Working Group issued a request to perform a comprehensive ADA Transition Plan Survey for all university-owned buildings and grounds on the Ann Arbor campuses and has already launched several promising programs designed to assess current accessibility gaps and needs, leading ultimately to a transition plan.

Year 1 centered on hiring a full-time SSR&I Lead within the Division of Student Life, hosting retreats for stakeholders guided by findings from the 2022 INSPIRES Campus Climate Index Report, and making preparations for the development of a cross-campus committee to be launched in the Fall of 2024.

Procurement Services devised supplier engagement strategies to grow the MConnect database, which enables U-M units to locate small and/or diverse businesses, and will launch newly developed Socially Responsible Procurement Guidelines that will be distributed throughout campus in Fall 2024; while the Treasurer’s Office partnered with ten banks to develop and refine a series of impactful and nationally replicable subprograms focused on housing affordability, neighborhood revitalization and a financial literacy program that leverages expertise of the Ross School of Business and the Marsal Family School of Education.

With the goal of ensuring equitable access to affordable housing for those who need it, the university is currently exploring strategies to significantly increase on-campus options for both undergraduate and graduate students and is also giving serious consideration to the longer-term goal of adding workforce housing on or near campus.

In the near future, a DEI 2.0 working group will be launched to continue the efforts of a university-wide committee established in 2022 and focused on the dual goal of expanding options for child and family care and increasing access to flexible and affordable childcare on campus.

Compensation and Classification collaborated with the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to define the parameters of the project, key objectives, potential stakeholders, methodology, and scope options.