By Nina McCambridge
Carnegie Mellon has created its own definition of the word “civility.” As written on the new Civility Initiatives website, “Civility is the foundation of interpersonal interactions and experiences at CMU. It is the ability to engage others with respect and dignity even in the face of differences or disagreement. To do civility well, we must be community-centered and historically conscious, engage in cultural humility, and be in constant pursuit of knowledge and healing.”
Carnegie Mellon hired a new assistant dean of student affairs for civility initiatives, Candace Okello, who started in November. Okello previously served as associate dean of student affairs at Westminster College, where she also oversaw the Black Student Union.
“Coming into this work, I was really excited about it because I think a lot about, ‘What doesitmeanforustoliveina community? What does it look like to serve one another?’” Okello said during “A Conversation on Civility,” a recent event hosted at the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion.
Okello said that when she began the role, Carnegie Mellon’s definition of civility consisted of the first two sentences of its current form; she added the third sentence. Okello hoped to “nudge folks to be able to open up in particular ways to be able to do this work… [in a way that’s] actually meaningful, that actually gets to some type of collective action.”
The “Conversation on Civility” event asked the students to reflect and offer feedback. Those in attendance generally supported the framework she described. One student pointed out that the group consisted largely of the same students who show up to other Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion events. Okello told the students in attendance that she would be starting a “civility advisory committee” and was looking for students to join the committee.
According to Dr. Holly Hippensteel, the associate vice president for community standards and diversity initiatives, one early mention of civility at Carnegie Mellon was a pro-civility communique from then-president Subra Suresh on the occasion of the 2016 presidential election. This period of time saw politically-charged messages from Suresh, including two letters in early 2017 denouncing Trump’s immigration policy.
Okello said that the initiative was “created out of a climate survey” that concluded that emphasis on civility was necessary. This climate survey occurred around 2018. In 2021, Carnegie Mellon hired Okello’s predecessor in the role, Veella Grooms, whose work consisted of “meeting with students and stakeholders around campus hearing people’s thoughts about civility.” Grooms ended up moving to the University of Pittsburgh.
Okello launched the new Civility Initiatives website on Wednesday, March 13. Besides working on the website, her first order of business is to “get in front of folks, to hear how this definition resonates, to begin to provide the shared language around civility.”
Next, she will be “figuring out different spaces to go into to do the workshops, to give the presentations, to get into the classrooms, to think about then, how do we embed these frameworks into every aspect?”
On Wednesday, March 20 in the Danforth Conference Center, the Civility Initiatives will discuss the question, “What Is Safety and Who Defines It?”
Leave a Reply