The Diversity Leadership Council at Gustavus is a collection of student organizations that come together to support on-campus diversity initiatives publicly. Recently, the DLC has begun making big changes to their by-laws, the rules made to control the actions of its members. The by-laws specifically define the responsibilities of the DLC executive board, representatives, and committee members.

“As an organization, we attempt to reevaluate our current structures and realize where change may be most suitable and constructive going forward,” Sophomore Co-Chair Claire Dirnberger said.

The DLC is moving in a new direction with their updated constitution.

“We recognize that the campus climate is dynamic and we want to be able to fit our constitution to the needs of the campus, so we have created an Ethics Chair position for the executive board,” Dirnberger said. “This new member will act as the risk manager for our organization and also hear ethical concerns brought forward by our members and campus community. The new addition to the executive board will act as an overarching evaluator of constitutional practices. Additionally, we have added language to our constitution to hold each member accountable for upholding DLC’s purpose of preserving, protecting, and promoting on campus diversity.”

The Diversity Leadership Council provided a statement regarding the updating of its constitution.

“We have developed a new role that will be added to our executive board called, Ethics Chair. The Ethics Chair’s responsibilities include being well educated in Title IX, acting as a risk manager for DLC, hearing proposals for termination of DLC members, and listening to concerns regarding abiding our constitution. We are also in the process of updating the expectations of DLC representatives, executive board members, and members of the appropriations committee. By defining the expectations of our members and installing an Ethics Chair, we hope to continue our progress as an organization.”

By recognizing that the campus climate is dynamic and making changes to their by-laws, the DLC also reflected on their goals as an organization.

“As an organization, our goals going forward are to be more transparent, have better engagement with the community, and be stronger advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Dirnberger.

The Gustavian Weekly was unable to contact other Diversity Leadership Council members for further comment.