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Diversity Initiatives Committee

+ Meet the Chairs: Ananita Varughese and Edna Turay
Edna Turay is a native of Richmond, Virginia and a second year in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has her eyes set on double majoring in Foreign Affairs and English and she would eventually like to go on to law school. In addition to participating in Student Council as the Diversity Initiatives co-chair, Edna is also an Honor Educator and a member of the International Relations Organization. In her spare time, she likes to hang out with friends, listen to Bob Marley, research the John F. Kennedy assassination, and sleep. (Her interests are quite varied!) As D.I co-chair, Edna hopes to expand the scope of diversity to include not only racial groups, but individuals from contrasting economic, social, regional and linguistic backgrounds.

Ananita Varughese is a 4th year student from Geneva, Switzerland. Although her family is originally from India, she has lived in Switzerland for the past 10 years and considers it to be her home. She is a fourth year Foreign Affairs major and is minoring in Global Culture & Commerce. In addition to her position as co-chair of Diversity Initiatives, she is a member of ReMiX, Hip-Hop & R&B a Cappella, of which she is President this year. In her spare time she likes to sing, read, travel and experiment with exotic cuisine. She recognizes the richness of diversity present at the University but is alarmed by the limited interaction between these diverse populations. As a co-chair of the committee, she is committed to bringing these pockets of diversity together with the hope of enabling a better understanding of others and of one self.

The Diversity Initiatives Committee is responsible for promoting initiatives to improve the diversity of the University, and bringing issues pertaining to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion to the attention of the University.

Recent News & Updates:


Upcoming Events: There are no events.

Past Committee initiatives include:

  • Non-Discrimination: The committee would like to see the non-discrimination policy changed to reaffirm protections for “sexual orientation” and expand the policy to include “gender identity.” The committee helped research policies of the top 50 ranked schools. The committee also has endorsed Resolution SR 10-02 which was unanimously approved by Student Council.

    •   SR 10-02 Resolution Concerning Non-Discrimination, Seth Kaye (64.4 KiB, 275 hits)

  • Handicap-Housing: The committee has secured a $2,000 joint donation from the Office of the Dean of Students, Wade Apartments, Woodard Properties, and Grandmarc at the Corner for a fund from which students with disabilities may draw to make necessary modifications to their off-grounds apartments. The committee has also created a print database of off-grounds handicap-accessible apartments and is finalizing an online version.

  • The Memorial for Enslaved Laborers: The committee has successfully passed a resolution through student council articulating support for the construction of a new, more appropriate and prominent Memorial for Enslaved Laborers. The committee completed a survey of nearly 1,000 students which indicated the need for more education about the history of slavery at UVA. A very moving and well attended forum was held on April 5th that shared expert historical research by University professors.


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