The Board of Trustees has approved a request to add $34,000 to next year’s Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity (OIDE) budget to be allocated to the Minority Coalition (MinCo), according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester. This funding request had been a part of the demands published in an open letter to the Board of Trustees by the Coalition Against Racist Education Now (CARE Now) on April 12. 

This letter asked the Board of Trustees to “approve the request for $34,000 additional funding to the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity in full for the purpose of supporting student-led Heritage Month events, as well as the increase of $15,000 additional funding for incoming Minority Coalition groups.”

Tyler Tsay ’19, MinCo co-chair, said he supported the Board’s decision to grant the funding but emphasized his hope for continued increases in OIDE’s budget. “We’re relieved that the Board of Trustees voted to grant the $34,000 to the Minority Coalition Supplemental Fund for next year,” he said. “My hope is that this will correspond to a reoccurring increase in the budget for the OIDE, and therefore the Davis Center and Minority Coalition, rather than a one-off budget expansion. Heritage months and weeks are growing each year in scale and in the number of clubs that want to host Heritage events. The continuation of this institutional funding after next year and for years to come will be critical for the annual support of an enriched campus environment.”