Grand Rapids Community College hosted its first of three forms in search of a Vice President for People, Culture and Equity on Thursday, May 2. The first speaker Marsha Lindsay spoke about how she would champion Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity (DEI) efforts on campus if hired into the position.
The Vice President of People, Culture and Equity is a new position created by the college after the reworking of GRCC’s DEI office. The new vice president would oversee the human resources department and work closely with the administration.
Lindsay has over 15 years of experience and emphasized that DEI work is not only important to her, but is an integral part of who she is.
“I’m excited because I love what I do,” Lindsay said. “I love what I do. DEI is not what I do, It’s who I am. But I love what I do because I get to be my authentic self.”
When asked by an HR representative how she would make faculty, staff and students feel as if they’re all in a place of equity, inclusion, and belonging Lindsay said she would lead by example.
“If I’m talking about diversity and inclusion, and I’m only meeting with the same people all the time, that’s not creating diversity or inclusion,” Lindsay said.
In addition to her pre-written questions from the search committee, Lindsay asked the audience questions, including “what is diversity?” This question was met with answers such as “multiple perspectives” and “the multitude of experiences, affiliations (and) identities.”
To help explore real-world diversity and intersectionality, three volunteers from the audience then joined Lindsay on stage.
“Just because we may look alike, we may have very, very different backgrounds, experiences, and areas of tension and discomfort.” Lindsay explained.
Lindsay told The Collegiate that she is student-centered and she hopes to be able to empower students if she is selected for the position.
“I love working with students, I want to be in a visible location so that students will also have access,” Lindsay said. “One of my goals is to make sure that we have a diversity organization where students can participate. I want to have members that are participating in the conversations that we’re having, engage, and understand that we are here for them.
And so I want to be present, I want to be engaged, and I want to make sure that students recognize that there’s nothing that they can have as far as an area of tension or concern that will not be addressed … I want to ensure that they know that there are going to be resources to support every area of their success both professionally and academically.”
Lindsay, who is not currently based in Grand Rapids, said that during her job search she had 15 must-haves in mind, and GRCC checked 14 of those 15 boxes.
“The only one that I can’t attest to, and maybe it’ll be the 15 once I’m here, I can’t speak to how much I’m going to be able to amplify culture because I’m not here yet,” Lindsay said. “But what was important to me was having a leadership that was present and engaged with the individuals.”
She then went on to share an experience she had while passing time talking with a man at the airport before leaving for Michigan. When she shared with him that she was going to an interview at GRCC the man told her that he used to be an upward bound student. The man then continued to tell her about a friend of his who had lunch with the colleges’ president and he said that the president made him feel important.
GRCC hosted two other finalists for the position, Nygil Likely and Brain Davis on May 3 and May 6.
Faculty, staff and students, who have questions they were unable to ask are encouraged to email them to Chief of Staff Misty McClure at mmcclure@grcc.edu.
