CU Boulder to hire chief diversity officer

The University of Colorado Boulder will hire a chief diversity officer to support underrepresented groups on campus, Chancellor Phil DiStefano wrote in a letter to campus last week.

Campus leaders will conduct a national search for the new administrative position, which will report directly to DiStefano.

CU Boulder students, faculty and staff have called on the university to address institutional racism, and DiStefano in June pledged to do so by listening to the campus community, implementing a diversity and inclusion plan and requiring mandatory bystander training.

He echoed that commitment Wednesday.

“We will not ignore your calls for diversity, equity and inclusion,” DiStefano wrote. “This commitment to new leadership and our increased financial investments are part of a holistic change. We will take decisive, immediate, long- overdue action, and we will do it together.”

The chief diversity officer will take into consideration input from underrepresented campus groups to advise DiStefano and other campus leaders on how to make CU Boulder more diverse, equitable and inclusive, according to DiStefano’s letter.

But hiring an administrator was not among the calls for change from students, faculty and staff in recent months.

Graduate student Juan Pablo Ramirez pointed to the demands made by the Divest 2 Invest collective, which is calling on university leaders to divest from campus and Boulder police and invest in programs that support Black, Indigenous and people of color on campus. Specific demands include increasing funding for mental health services, implementing antiracism training and education, and creating a police hiring accountability board.