diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Mason Lighting the Way: Deion Maith

Colleen Rich — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 19:46:58 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Deion Maith Colleen Rich Wed, 01/12/2022 - 14:46

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 130 faculty, staff and students are working on George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, which is taking a hard look at the current state of diversity and inclusivity efforts at the university and making recommendations for the future.

These individuals come from across our campuses and bring their different skill sets and expertise to this work. In this series, we will spotlight members of the task force and find out what drives them.

Mason graduate student Deion Maith. Photo provided

Deion Maith

Graduate student, Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Social Justice and Human Rights

Committee: Student Voice

George Mason University graduate student Deion Maith said he will never forget July 13, 2013, when he heard on the radio that George Zimmerman had been acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin.

“That sparked my fire,” said Maith, a native of Heathsville (in Virginia’s Northern Neck), “knowing that Trayvon could have been me or my younger brother.”

He began researching scholars like James Baldwin, Jane Elliott, and others who have contributed so much to the academic body of work on social justice and human rights.

When he had the opportunity to meet Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, at the 2018 Sojourner Truth Lecture at Mason, Maith recounted his reaction to her son’s murder. She shook his hand firmly and told him: “Don’t ever lose that fire. You are our future and don’t let anyone ever tell you different.”

Maith joined Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force because he thinks it’s important to share lived experiences with other students and faculty/staff.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to voice the concerns of students who look like me,” he said. “I’ve always been eager to have a seat at the table where conversation turns into action, and I’m hopeful that the task force can accomplish just that.”

Maith, who graduated from Mason with a bachelor’s in integrative studies in 2020, is former president and student advisor of Collegiate Black Men; former undersecretary for Contemporary Student Services, Student Government; and former secretary and student advisor for Mason’s Chapter of NAACP. He’s also been involved with the Black Student Alliance, the Black Male Success Initiative, and the School of Integrative Studies Peer Ambassadors.

“The main goal of the Student Voice Committee is to make sure we’re effectively receiving feedback from students and figuring out the best way to reach them,” said Maith. Committee members are meeting with registered student organizations and their members, and working with student-focused offices.

Maith said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the feedback the task force has received from the university community. “Although there has been some backlash, I believe there has been more positivity than anything,” Maith said.

Maith’s work with the task force motivated him to pursue a graduate assistant position in Mason’s Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (formally ODIME), where T. Garey Davis, assistant director of coalition building and diversity education, has served as a mentor.

Maith said Davis is passionate about optimizing the student experience for everyone, but especially students who belong to historically marginalized groups, and together they have built a team to improve Black male success at Mason.

“Promoting social justice and human rights doesn’t exclude anyone,” he said. “It includes everyone no matter your race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. But we must self-reflect and take accountability for the ways in which we benefit and contribute to systematic and institutional racism to move forward.”

Maith has accepted a role at Cooley LLP in Washington, D.C., a Fortune 500 global law firm. After he graduates this fall, he plans to pursue a law degree at Howard University.

Topics

Students

Alumni

President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

School of Integrative Studies

Center for Culture Equity and Empowerment

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Getting real about racism, diversity and inclusion

Melanie Balog — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:20:08 +0000

Getting real about racism, diversity and inclusion Melanie Balog Tue, 11/17/2020 - 16:20

Mason President Gregory Washington (left) and College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Ann Ardis (right) in the GMU-TV studio with panelists appearing remotely for the "Racial Justice, Anti-Racism, and Inclusion" Freedom and Learning Forum. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Understanding what anti-racism, diversity and inclusion mean for George Mason University was just one of the goals of Monday’s Freedom and Learning forum hosted by President Gregory Washington.

Ensuring a common definition of the terms helps create meaningful dialogue, and helps the Mason community understand the work of the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. The group was formed by Washington in response to both the high-profile death of George Floyd at the hands of police and the nationwide racial justice movement.

“We shouldn’t – we cannot – run away from these discussions,” Washington said. “We have to have engagement on these topics.”

Washington asked the task force to look deeper into Mason’s environment, policies and practices to see what changes are needed to ensure the university can remain a national model for diversity and inclusion.

Monday’s hour-long open dialogue, which can be viewed here, touched on many of those key issues.

Washington was joined in the GMU-TV studio by moderator Ann Ardis, the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Panelists included Wendi Manuel Scott and Shernita Parker, the co-chairs of the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force; Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Ginsberg; Creston Lynch, the associate dean for University Life; and Milagros “Millie” Rivera, Mason’s director of Diversity, Inclusion and Well-Being.

Manuel-Scott, a professor of history in the School of Integrative Studies within CHSS and the former director of the African and African-American Studies Program, said the aim of the task force was to create an anti-racist institution that fully supports the entire Mason community.

“Race matters,” she said. “Race, historically speaking, has always mattered in the United States of America. … Race mattered in George Mason’s revolutionary era, to the civil rights, to the Obama era, to the age of COVID that we are all existing in right now. Race matters, and therefore we must engage in strategies and policies that help to disrupt those structures so that we can create a more inclusive institution.”

Eradicating the practices, structures and traditions of racial bias at Mason won’t happen overnight, but Washington and the other panelists expressed confidence that the Mason community can serve as a national exemplar of anti-racism, reconciliation and healing.

Interpretations can differ, so Washington made a point of clearly defining all the terms at the outset, most notably characterizing anti-racism as “a verb, in that it’s a form of action against racism and also the systematic racism of marginalized groups.” In other words, he explained, it’s not enough to believe that racism is wrong; an anti-racist has to consciously take action against racism in all its forms.

“Diversity encompasses race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, as well as cultural, religious or other affiliations,” he said, while “inclusion is the intentional and ongoing acceptance and engagement of diversity as it relates to diverse groups.”

Parker said that the work of the task force and its many committees shows how the Mason community is living the university’s values.

“To thrive together we have to recognize our interdependence, our connection to each other and that as a community, it is critical that we make sure all voices are heard,” Parker said. “…we will not and cannot thrive individually and as a community if we are not conscious of the challenges that we face as it relates to diversity and inclusive excellence, and that we work actively to address and overcome those challenges.”

Mason is the state’s largest, most diverse public research university with more than 38,000 students, a majority of whom are students of color. But those numbers are not reflected in a faculty comprised of just four percent African-Americans. Improving those numbers will require a multi-pronged approach, but will be a high priority, Rivera said. Studies have shown that a more diverse staff leads to stronger student success outcomes, particularly among underrepresented groups and first-generation students.

Efforts to make the university more inclusive should be of paramount concern to all students, not just those of color or marginalized groups, Ginsberg said.

“If you care about our university, then you have to care about this agenda,” he said. “The successful future of our university is, in large part, dependent upon us caring about this agenda.”

Washington said that he welcomes respectful dissenting voices to the conversation as part of free speech.

Manuel-Scott said she looked forward to the day when all minds and bodies can experience the complete support of the university community and be their ancestors’ “wildest dreams.”

“It’s an ongoing process,” she said, “but it’s righteous and good. Together, we are creating a better institution.”

The Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD) Office and the Office of the President have been co-sponsoring the Freedom and Learning Forums since 2014.

The task force will continue to take questions; submit questions here.