From: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group
March DEI Report: The Eagle staff to participate in ‘Fault Lines’ diversity training, hosts solidarity reporting discussion
All Eagle staffers participated in a diversity, equity and inclusion training Tuesday with professor Anita Varma from the University of Texas at Austin.
The conversation centered around the concept of solidarity reporting, a concept that centers the perspectives of affected individuals rather than institutions of power.
Varma discussed the importance of solidarity reporting in journalism and the impacts it has on readers and the communities being reported on. Staffers were also given the opportunity to ask questions about how The Eagle as a student paper can incorporate the ideas of solidarity reporting into its coverage, whether that be through story generation, sourcing and forming strong relationships with the communities that The Eagle covers.
The Eagle is also slated to participate in the Maynard Institute’s "Fault Lines: Newsroom Embed” program in the summer and fall. The multistep program is designed to dismantle systemic racism in the journalism industry, and has been applied to both professional newsrooms and collegiate journalism programs.
The Eagle has also been working on stories across all sections relating to DEI, including but not limited to coverage of Holocaust Remembrance Week, Ramadan, features of cultural and affinity organizations, ableism on campus and University diversity.
Some recently published stories from The Eagle include an article about the movement to reinstate The Bridge Cafe as a safe space for the BIPOC community, the Transgender Day of Visibility display in Bender Library, D.C. teachers reacting to the current wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the overlap of Ramadan and finals season.
