By: Essence Buckman, Senior Writer
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Wofford College is known to represent the needs of Black students, other students of color, students and allies of the LGBTQ community, students of religious difference and many others. Throughout the years, this office has experienced many changes in structure, including the position of director. A few weeks before classes started on campus, Roberta Bigger, dean of students, announced a new person to spearhead the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The position was formerly named “Director of Diversity and Inclusion,” but the title has been changed to an assistant dean position. Demario Watts, former associate director of residence life on Wofford’s campus, has been given this new position and has been questioned on various concerns relating to improvement, goals and sustainability for this office:
Q: How were you offered the job?
A: When Ron Norman made the decision to leave, I actually went to Dean Bigger about it. I’ve been working in Residence Life for about seven years, so I felt it was time to pursue a new career path. I also wanted to keep the work of previous directors Jennifer Gutierrez-Caldwell and Ron alive.
Q: How are you feeling about taking on this new position?
A: I feel good in the fact that I have student leaders under this office, because I see the passion in them. If there were no passion, it would be really hard to do work like this. I am a little nervous because this is a new position, and because diversity is really important, especially with what is going on in society right now. I want to continue to be a voice for students.
Q: What experiences in schooling and the workplace do you have that you believe is relevant to your new position?
A: My sociology background helps because that gave me a lot of foundational things to think about, which helps in the mindset of diversity and all the issues that could come up. My human resources background helps me think about how to strategically create a diverse staff that will be able to meet the needs of all of our students. The higher education part of my background is learning about student development and how they can be more diverse in the things they do.
Q: Do you think that this leadership position requires a team to get things done effectively or can they be handled by an individual?
A: I definitely don’t think it should be up to one person. There are too many needs on our campus, to the point that it would be nice to have someone to spearhead ideas individually, but diversity and inclusion here needs a campus wide effort. The diversity committee is a great start because they are taking on the task of looking at the needs of our campus in regards to diversity. There is an opportunity that will be available on the faculty and staff side for diversity. For example, the Office of Admissions has promoted Arsenio Parks to admissions counselor and director of diversity and inclusion within admissions. My goal is for us to work as a team to figure out what’s best to help students.
Q: Do you see yourself making a career out of this new opportunity or is it a stepping stone for the future?
A: That’s interesting because I thought I was going to be in Residence Life for the majority of my higher education career. I don’t know what the future holds… but if I’m able to stay here, where I can work to get the resources needed to make things happen, I want to do that.
Q: If you were to be offered a different position down the line, how would you focus on sustainability for this office considering the fact that it has experienced vacancies and frequently rotating appointments?
A: My goal is to be here as long as I need to be. I know that this is a position you can’t leave empty for too long because of how important it is. It’s good to have someone in this position for a good bit of time, until they feel like their time is up. When you feel ready to move on that’s because you know you’ve done all you can and that it’s time for someone else to come in with new and fresh ideas to be able to continue to move the office forward. Sustainability is key and I hope to provide that during my time within this position, however long it may be. I do hope to be here for a while though.
Q: Many students of color, religious difference, and other groups that don’t fit into social norms struggle to have a voice on this campus–how do you think you’ll be able to use your position to ease their worries?
A: One way to keep progressing forward is to have dialogues on controversial issues because they are things that need to be discussed. These dialogues give people the opportunity to get feedback and to have a conversation about something that is hitting hard here on campus. To start, the needs and feedback from presidents and leaders of these organizations and other students need to be heard and addressed. Then, I can get an idea of what the next step is in order to improve their experience and find the right people to talk with. By doing so, students can feel like they have a voice and know that things are moving because they have had the opportunity to speak.
Watts has plenty of things in store for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion this year, including discussions and other social events. He encourages anyone who is interested in working with him or in getting to know more about his plans to contact him by email at [email protected] or by phone: 864-597-4066.
