Vermont State University has a new chief diversity officer.
Paul Yoon previously spent years as the senior adviser for inclusive excellence at the University of Vermont. He was also vice principal at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington.
And he starts work at a time when many institutions are shutting down or significantly curtailing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging work.
Yoon recently joined Vermont Public's Jenn Jarecki in-studio to discuss his approach to DEIB efforts. This piece was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Jenn Jarecki: Well, let's start with grounding these terms. What do we mean when we say diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging?
Paul Yoon: One of the most succinct ways that we can think about that is diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice, equity is a practice and belonging is an outcome. What we're trying to do with the work that we do in this space is to help make sure that our students, our faculty, our staff, and of course, the community at large, all are able to have really rich experiences interacting with the university, and of course, that they're able to thrive, as well.
Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice, equity is a practice and belonging is an outcome.Paul Yoon
Jenn Jarecki: Paul, what drew you to this work, and how long have you been doing it?

Paul Yoon: This work has been something that I actually came to a little reluctantly, Jenn. I was studying philosophy as an undergraduate student, and I actually was training to be an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I grew up in Manhattan, and I was an undergraduate on Sept. 11, 2001, and that's kind of what took me in that path.
During the first semester of my second year in college, I had the opportunity to take a course titled "The History and Development of Racism in the United States of America," taught by two white men, Horace Seldon and Paul Marcus. And by that time, Horace had been teaching that class for 22 consecutive years. And what both Horace and Paul were able to help me understand through that course was a view and a perspective on the United States' history that I really had no idea of up until that point, and they inspired me to think about how I might be able to play an active role in helping make our country really live up to its ideals.
Jenn Jarecki: So Paul, I know you haven't been in this new role for a ton of time, but I'm curious, what are some of your top priorities for fostering inclusion across the Vermont State University system?
Paul Yoon: What I've been trying to do over the course of this past 30 days has been really prioritizing engaging in dialogue with as many of our students, our faculty and staff as possible. I really want to get to know what their experience has been like, the things that drew them to the university, the things that keep them at the university.
What I've also tried to do is to try to get an in-depth understanding of how the university has operated, what types of practices it's had in the past, how things get done, so that I can, of course, try to make sure that, as I go into this upcoming spring semester, really start to accelerate the initiatives that I might be able to work with others on, but again, more importantly, who are the people that I'll be able to collaborate with all across the system to be able to do the work that I think needs to happen at the university.
Jenn Jarecki: Lately, we've been seeing universities reduce or fully shutter DEIB efforts. Can you share your thoughts on that trend, particularly after it looked like there was really a lot of momentum for this work after the 2020 racial justice protests?
Paul Yoon: What's known as the anti-DEI movement has absolutely picked up steam, if you will, since 2023. There are many institutions, both within higher education and outside of higher education, that are trying to figure out how to frame this work and how to do this work. Vermont State University is committed to this work, and I think that no matter what it ends up being called, it is going to be similar work. That's kind of what our priority is, is really trying to make sure that the work continues in a way that helps us make sure that we are allowing our students and our employees to have, again, the richest experience that they could have as a member of our community.
The history and development of racism in the United States of America has occurred and taken place literally over centuries. Over the course of my lifetime, this work will not be done. ... What I have come to understand is that what I can do, what I can dedicate my life to, is to help to move this country forward in a way that gets it closer to that ideal.Paul Yoon
Jenn Jarecki: Pressing on that a little, Paul. President-elect Trump has vowed to take away funding from universities that prioritize DEIB efforts, and he took some action in his first term reflecting that stance. Is that a concern for you and VTSU?
Paul Yoon: At the moment, no. I think that there is lots of concern from colleagues that I have all across the country about that promise and that rhetoric. Here in the state of Vermont, we are, I think, in a unique place, with Chancellor [Elizabeth] Mauch's, with President [David] Bergh's explicit support of both the work and of me as an individual within this role, I personally don't feel particularly worried about that.
However, I'm also mindful of how it is that what is going on at the federal level may impact our kind of specific situation at Vermont State University. Even during my interview process, I've already started to engage people at the university, particularly my colleagues on the executive leadership team, about how it is that we might respond to some of those national trends.
Jenn Jarecki: Paul, what keeps you going in your work, despite the complexities and challenges that exist now and may be present in the future?
Paul Yoon: The history and development of racism in the United States of America has occurred and taken place literally over centuries. Over the course of my lifetime, this work will not be done. And earlier in my life, I was very frustrated and angry with that proposition because I wanted to think that by the end of my life, that I would be in a country that was living up to its ideals, where all people were, in fact, right, treated as equal.
What I have come to understand is that what I can do, what I can dedicate my life to, is to help to move this country forward in a way that gets it closer to that ideal, and very likely that it's not going to be done by the time I close my eyes for the last time, and it likely won't be done in my children's lives either. And I have come to peace with that because I understand that the literal generations that have been working on these issues before us to help us to get our country here, had that hope and that faith that there would be people like me and many, many others, who would continue to help our country, really again, live up to its ideals.
And then the other piece of it, I'll just add, is the importance of making sure that I inspire, that I coach, that I mentor other humans who are going to be working tirelessly towards this goal as well, so that they, in turn, will be able to help inspire and coach and mentor others.
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