University of Michigan\u2019s Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum is committed to diversity \u2013 but not simply the diversity of the plants and animals that call the facility home.<\/p>\n
It also employs a DEI manager and actively works to combat racism within its 700 acres of gardens and natural preserves to make up for its \u201cparticipation in systemic injustices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Efforts have included unconscious bias trainings, live-streamed DEI events, food justice and seed rematriation programs, and DEI workshops covering topics like \u201cconfronting racism, cross-cultural difference, and bystander intervention,\u201d according to university memos from 2020<\/a> and 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September 2021 the Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum hired a full-time DEI manager, Ivana Lopez Espinosa, for close to $60,000 per year<\/a>, thus adding to the University of Michigan\u2019s expansive<\/a> DEI bureaucracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum, or MBGNA, boasts extensive grounds, walking trails and a gift shop, as well as a variety of programming for children and adults. It employs<\/a> about 40 people as well as volunteers.<\/p>\n It recommitted itself to diversity, equity and inclusion by developing a strategic plan in the wake of COVID and George Floyd\u2019s death, gardens and arboretum Director Tony Kolenic stated<\/a> in a letter posted online.<\/p>\n \u201cMBGNA is committed to catalyzing equity and justice, and will continue to reckon with itself and the history of living collections to do so,\u201d Kolenic stated. \u201cThis strategic plan is our road map for how that commitment is turned into action; how MBGNA will continue to thoroughly examine and combat its participation in systemic injustices, and how we will co-create new ways forward with historically excluded communities through the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n The efforts toward DEI in the gardens dates back to at least 2016, however, as revealed by the pair of documents from 2020<\/a> and 2022<\/a>. According to the 2022 document, a DEI plan was launched in 2016 to facilitate \u201cefforts for internal learning, reflection, and action,\u201d as well as outreach and the development of new relationships and community-based projects.<\/p>\n Some of the DEI goals listed in the 2020 document include increased employee participation in DEI activities, increased staff feelings of psychological safety, and a reduction in complaints regarding bias and other related matters.<\/p>\n These DEI efforts also include several changes in how personnel are recruited, hired, and retained such as attempting to recruit from more diverse communities, deprioritizing graduate degrees when hiring staff, and offering higher wages.<\/p>\n As for the relatively new DEI manager, Lopez Espinosa\u2019s online bio page<\/a> states she likes \u201ctending plants\u201d and lists the \u201ccola del burro (Sedum morganianum<\/em>)\u201d as her favorite. She holds a master\u2019s in education from the University of Michigan with concentrations on diversity and social justice.<\/p>\n She also previously worked as the equity audit co-lead for the Edward Ginsberg Center at the University of Michigan, where she \u201cdeveloped a justice-centered evaluation framework\u201d for how the center furthers \u201cequitable partnerships between communities and the University of Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n Lopez Espinosa also served as a consultant for the Presidents\u2019 Alliance for Higher Education and Immigration, advocating for legislation \u201cto increase access to higher education for undocumented, DACA, refugee, and TPS [temporary protected status] students.\u201d<\/p>\n The effectiveness of eight years of DEI in the gardens, however, are questionable, as, according to 2017 and 2021 surveys cited in the 2022 document, the MBGNA staff, despite largely \u201cperceiv[ing] the organization to be non-racist and non-homophobic,\u201d also, to some degree, \u201cfind the [MBGNA] climate to be individualistic and competitive, homogenous, sexist, and ageist.\u201d<\/p>\n The College Fix<\/em> reached out to both Lopez Espinosa and Kolenic this month to ask how the gardens and arboretum are sexist, racist and ageist. The Fix<\/em> also asked Lopez Espinosa what she has done since taking on her position as DEI manager.<\/p>\n Neither Lopez Espinosa nor Kolenic replied to these requests.<\/p>\n In a 2021 interview<\/a>, when describing what she saw as her role at the MBGNA, Lopez Espinosa said it \u201cis important that the DEI manager understands community and visitor experiences from the lens of accessibility, knowledge creation, and storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a university department,\u201d she added, \u201cit is critical to embed DEI within the infrastructure, such as policies and practices, and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are an ecosystem,\u201d stated Lopez Espinosa, \u201cand it is important that we recognize the role that everyone has in flourishing an environment that values diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n As for what she hoped to bring to MBGNA, Lopez Espinosa said, \u201cI am excited to be able to weave DEI into all of our areas, from our internal to external projects. I am looking forward to critically analyzing the organization to improve our accessibility and foster endearing, sustainable relationships with a variety of community organizations and Anishinaabeg communities.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE: University of Michigan union demands abortion fund and no cops<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n