UMD’s president rarely meets with his permanent diversity commissions. But the groups want more support.

Members of four president’s commissions, which specialize in women’s issues, LGBT issues, disability issues and ethnic minority issues, said they rarely meet with university President Wallace Loh.

Instead, the commission chairs regularly interact with Chief Diversity Officer Kumea Shorter-Gooden and Loh’s chief of staff or another member of the administration.

“If I never attend their meetings, I don’t know what they do, why do we still have [them]?” Loh said. “The answer is, they’ve been around for [many] years, and people would be very upset.”

These are the only permanent president commissions, while councils serve temporary purposes. The President’s Student Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion — which formed after a university Kappa Sigma fraternity member’s racist, sexist email surfaced on Twitter in March 2015— disbanded after just four meetings.

Continue reading here.