In reflecting on the last eight months as DePaul’s new vice president for diversity, inclusion and belonging Dania Matos said she is grateful for the university’s commitment to its Vincentian values and mission.

“Being a part of this community, recognizing the immense responsibility and privilege that I have to help guide us through these times,” Matos said. “I know that being at a place as special as DePaul, with its commitment in those values and in that mission, is exactly where I need to be and want to be.”

During an interview with La DePaulia on Friday, Oct. 3, Matos talked about the importance of community and belonging. 

The Trump administration has recently taken aim at higher learning institutions. With national debate surrounding free speech and continuing immigration raids by federal officers, Matos recognizes that students are navigating uncertain times.

“When I think about my years of expertise or my years on this earth, never have I seen such a concerted attack on what we have worked for,” Matos said.

She credits her mother and grandmother for teaching her the importance of using her voice even when things seemed bleak. Now, she is encouraging DePaul students to do the same.

“They were incredible women who always told me, ‘the world’s going to be really good at telling you everything you’re not. I need you to be good at knowing everything that you are and who you are,’” Matos said. 

She noticed, historically, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity (OIDE) had only served faculty and staff. She is trying to configure a student component.

“Ensuring that we’re empowering students to be their voice, I always say, ‘I don’t speak for others. I create room for others to speak for themselves,’ and that is so critically important with our students, with our faculty, with our staff and everyone,” Matos said.

She wants students to know she is willing to talk and connect with them. 

“I want the students to know that we are here for them, right, even though historically, it hadn’t been, and right now, I’m working on what the structure looks like (and) that it does include students and their success,” she added.

When the search for a new vice president began in February 2024, the role was still listed as vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion. Before Matos was hired, the title changed to replace equity with belonging.

Belonging is rooted in giving people agency and having themselves be represented, she said. 

“One of the reasons you’ll hear me shift away a little bit from the inclusion framework is because inclusion is on the premise that you’re inviting people to something that already exists. And as you know, not all structures, not all policies, not all institutions were built for everyone,” Matos said.

A university wide email regarding Matos’ Thriving Framework initiative, one of her first projects at DePaul, was sent on Sept. 18. It is a new approach to fostering student, staff and faculty success through structural transformation, community care and inclusive engagement, according to the announcement.

It has undergone two drafts, with a third expected in mid-October, which will incorporate feedback received on the framework so far.

“The Thriving Framework is an attempt to develop that shared language around our community so that we could also make the progress together, and also create the accountability metrics to do that,” Matos said.  

One of the priorities of the project is to review the general education curriculum to ensure that it is inclusive and representative of learning. Matos believes in “highlighting the areas where thriving is already happening in the curriculum,” such as the work of DePaul astrophysics professor Jesús Pando. 

“(Pando) shared some really great teaching and curriculum practices that they’re doing there. And so I said, ‘I want to learn more. Can we bring that to kind of other areas and what does that look like?’” Matos said. 

Other priorities include integrating disability inclusion, universal design and climate surveys and furthering DePaul’s commitment to making education accessible to all by enrolling, retaining and graduating students who may otherwise face challenges obtaining a higher education, like first-generation or low-income students.

The email also outlined the formation of the DePaul Belonging Collective and the development of the Language Access Committee, created as part of putting the framework into action. 

Matos held summer strategy sessions with the Black Equity Initiative, the Hispanic Serving Institution Initiative, the Asian American and Native Pacific Islander Serving Initiative, Student Affairs and the Division of Mission and Ministry to discuss the implementation of Thriving Frameworks. Their input is reflected in the current version of the framework.

Matos also announced the formation of DePaul’s Human Dignity and Bias Response Team (HDBRT) through a university wide email on Sept. 24. 

The HDBRT is a centralized university resource that will serve as the first point of contact for bias-related incidents. The team will also provide pathways to ensure that reports are met with care. Matos will chair the HDBRT with coordinators from OIDE and will work in collaboration with the Dean of Students Office, Office of Gender Equity and Human Resources.

The HDBRT will not give sanctions and is not investigative — rather, it is intended to help people feel seen, Matos said.

“What we found is that oftentimes harm happened in the community, and it might not necessarily have risen to a policy violation. … We did not have a structure or a centralized place to be able to provide community care or resources for the folks throughout the long process,” Matos said.

Having the HDBRT will also allow Matos and her team to view overarching trends, which would let them know where they can provide education or support.

When Matos worked at the University of California-Berkeley and UC Merced, she partnered with students on local, state and national policies and advocacy, according to Newsline. That work resulted in access to paid fellowships for undocumented students and the development of programs for disabled students.

She thinks partnering with DePaul students to implement similar programs that create pathways, considering state and local factors, is critical. 

As for undocumented student assistance at OIDE, she said the team is making sure people stay well-informed and have access to the appropriate resources.

“At any given point in time, different members of our community are going to be impacted differently, and right now, we recognize our undocumented or mixed status families are particularly impacted,” Matos said.

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