In honor of NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Week, the Middlebury Athletics' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee has announced its M+ programming plans for the 2021-22 academic year.
Programming
The overarching theme for this year is
Embracing Difference, and there will be four focused workshops throughout the year. Student-athletes, coaches, and staff will attend each workshop, with teams participating in a guided follow-up activity focused on inclusivity.
The four themes this year are:
- Embracing Difference (intersectionality and identity)
- NCAA Diversity & Inclusion Week
- Gender and Sexuality
- Accessibility (financial, mental and physical)
As part of Middlebury's ongoing commitment to actively engage in antiracist work, and because race is at the intersection of all identities, we will continue to foreground race in every workshop and follow-up activity.
All coaches will be provided with a guide to conduct activities with their team. The goal is to empower and support coaches to lead their teams. Additionally, the DEI Committee has created a supplemental guide with seven activities that teams can complete throughout the year.
Student-Athlete Cohort
Last year, the athletics department formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cohort for coaches and staff to share, collaborate and support each other in this work. With the successes of this effort, and a request from students to have more supporting structures, we formed a student-athlete cohort for the upcoming year. All teams will have a minimum of two representatives.
