The University of Evansville celebrated Martin Luther King Junior Day by officially opening its Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. WNIN’s John Gibson was there:
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke praised the center and a new multicultural commons area in UE’s Ridgeway Center:
"Your presence here today sends a great signal to me that you're here, your hearts are in this, and you know that we are all in this together. and we need each other to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion."
Non-traditional student Shane Ranschaert, who is gay, said hate has no place at UE:
"This center and this area, these commons, make a statement that the university is a place for any person regardless of their race, their religion, their gender identity, or this sexual orientation."
Assistant Manager Abigail Catania told WNIN the diversity center helps many students:
"We host programming and we collaborate, we consult, we host training. We really help students whichever way possible. We oversee the fellow scholar program, which is a full tuition cohort based program for Black and Latin X students. And we do everything that's asked of us (laughs)."
UE President Christopher Pietruszkiewicz said the center and commons area fulfills a promise of what the university wants to be.