Colorado State University has an extensive history with diversity, equity and inclusion. From the college’s founding in 1870 until today, CSU has had a variety of students walk the grounds of its campus.
The first graduating class of the Colorado Agricultural College was in 1884 and comprised only three students: Leonidas Loomis, George Glover and Elizabeth “Libbie” Coy. Coy was not only one of the first students to attend CSU, but she was also the first woman in Colorado to earn a degree from a higher education institution. Coy would later become an instructor at the college and a co-founder of the alumni association. For her entire life, Coy was an advocate for education. In 2020, she was posthumously given a Founders Day Medal.
Only a handful of years after Coy graduated, another first was made at CSU by Grafton St. Clair Norman, the first Black student to attend CSU. He enrolled in 1892 and graduated in 1896. He was incredibly active in student organizations, including the College Choir and the Science Club, and he was also a manager of The Rocky Mountain Collegian. After graduating, he joined the army at the time of the Spanish-American War. He would later go on to be an instructor at Blue Grass Normal and Industrial School in Kentucky and eventually at Alabama A&M University.
The first Cultural Resource Center to open on CSU’s campus was Project GO, which eventually evolved into separate resource centers. Project GO’s mission was to support and encourage students from low-income households with specialized programs, especially those that enabled Black and Hispanic students to pursue higher education.
Though Project GO was established in 1968, the majority of the services an projects formed following a list of demands presented to university administration by the Black Student Alliance and the Mexican-American Committee for Equality in 1969. Members of the organizations organized daily sit-in demonstrations in the Administration Building and outside the home of then CSU President William Morgan to ensure that the university take the demands seriously.
Project GO would last from 1968 to July 1976, when the Office of Student Affairs split the program into two distinct cultural offices. This division created the Black Student Services Program and the Chicano Student Services Program, the programs later evolving into the Black/African American Cultural Center and El Centro. Both centers opened during the 1976-77 school year.
Shortly after Project GO’s installation, CSU began to enforce affirmative action policies in 1971. CSU’s plans were regarded favorably but received some backlash for lacking clear timelines and goals.
In 1970, the Office of the Student Relations was created through the consolidation of the Dean of Women and Dean of Men positions into one office. The Office of Women’s Relations within the Office of Student Relations evolved to become the Office of Women’s Programs, which housed both academic and student affairs programs.
The academic program was eventually moved, and the Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research was established within CSU’s ethnic studies department in 2010. The student services offered by the Office of Women’s Programs became the full focus, and the office was renamed as the Women and Gender Advocacy Center and operated within student diversity programs and the Services Division of Student Affairs.
“We often say that our office has existed in some iteration on campus for 50 years, with our Victim Assistance Team hotline being founded in 1975,” said Charlotte Durkin, the office manager of the Survivor Advocacy and Feminist Education Center.
After many changes to both their services and title, the office became the SAFE Center in 2024.
In 1977, the Office of Student Relations established the Office of Resources for Disabled Students as part of their efforts to bring CSU into compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which made it illegal for schools funded by the U.S. Department of Education to discriminate against students with disabilities. Student relations had to implement aids and remove physical barriers. The office evolved over the years and was renamed as the Student Disability Center in 2018.
Originally based in Project GO, the Native American Cultural Center opened its doors in 1979 and was formed by 54 Native American students. The Vice President of Student Affairs approved the creation of the NACC, originally called the Native American Office, with the goal of supporting their current students and increasing the number of Native American students.
“(The NACC has) definitely made me socialize a lot more, learn more about myself and my culture and just be able to make new friends,” CSU student Jared Hodison said.
The next cultural center to open was in 1984. The Asian Pacific American Cultural Center originally started as Services for Asian American Students and was directed by a graduate student.
APACC hosted a lū’au in April 2024 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the office’s founding.
In 1998, the newest resource center opened: the Pride Resource Center. The Associated Students of CSU and the Student Organization for Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals proposed a university department to support LGBTQIA+ students. With the support of donors and the Office of the Vice President Division of Student Affairs, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Services opened in August 1998.
In June 2023, affirmative action was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. CSU remained steadfast in its acceptance policies and stated: “Enrolling students with a broad range of experiences, skills, perspectives and identities helps fulfill our mission to make a college education accessible and enriches the educational experience.”
Reach Audrey Weishaar at news@collegian.com or on social media @CSUCollegian.
