NCMPR stands in solidarity with community colleges across the nation to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion – a commitment rooted in the belief that we must celebrate our differences and embrace diverse perspectives and cultures.
Diversity, equity and inclusion is one of NCMPR's four strategic priorities. It is overseen by a director-at-large who chairs a committee of members from each of NCMPR's seven districts.
By Lindsay Sandoval, the DEI Committee's District 4 rep
As a lover of language, I’m constantly thinking about the phrases we use to get our point across. Like me, you probably heard that basic words like “sad” or “mad” equated to “bad” writing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thumbed through a thesaurus to punch up my writing.
That strategy may have scored us A’s in college, but to succeed in the world of community college marketing and communications, we need to unlearn this writing style. SAT words like “robust” or “innovative” may impress donors but can easily alienate learners, suggesting that only certain students belong on campus. Worse, big words may trip up automatic translation services that our students rely on every day.
Working for open access colleges, we can and should make our promotional materials clear and simple to appeal to the widest audience possible. And that starts with plain language.
This Inside Higher Education article caught my attention. It cites a recent Trevor Project study that found that queer students who attend colleges with one or more anti-LGBT+ policies reported more feelings of anxiety and depression – although it’s worth noting that these negative experiences were frequent at more inclusive colleges, too.
For me, the data underscores our power in making queer students feel seen, heard and celebrated in our communications. While we can’t control everything that happens at a college, we can remind students they belong.
~ Lindsay Sandoval, District 4 rep
Saddleback College in California won the 2023 gold Paragon Award in Successful Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Marketing. Stephanie Reyna, the District 6 rep on the DEI Committee, works at Saddleback.
As a Hispanic Serving Institution (meaning at least 25% of our student population is Hispanic/Latino-identifying students), we were motivated by our sister college, Irvine Valley College, to expand our Spanish-language advertising from simply translating our English ads into Spanish into intentional, strategic and relevant ads that answered the questions of prospective students and their families.
We worked with a vendor, Gallegos, who specializes in Spanish-language advertising. After many conversations with our executive director of marketing and communications and our bilingual enrollment coaches, Gallegos was able to craft a campaign and messages that met our strategy: to get Hispanic students and adults in Orange County who are intimidated by the cost of college to see Saddleback College as a supportive friend who’s here to help by making it surprisingly easy to enroll and get financial aid.
As an Argentinian-American first-generation college student with immigrant parents, who at the time were not familiar with the world of American higher education, our biggest concerns were cost of higher ed, access and staying close to home. Twenty plus years later, the same concerns persist among Hispanic/Latino first-gen students and their families. An advantage that today’s students and families have over my generation? Ads in their native language that also code-switch, like many bilingual speakers do.
The National Council for Marketing & Public Relations welcomes members of all backgrounds, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, gender identities and sexual orientations. We believe being diverse, equitable and inclusive makes our organization better and more representative of our members and the institutions and communities we serve. NCMPR takes a resolute approach in its response to any display of insensitivity to diversity and inclusion through words, images or actions. We seek to foster an organization that is universally welcoming, respectful, educational and professional to all. We believe diversity is strength.
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