Just under 11 months after stepping on campus, IDEAS Center Director Lisa Nicole Smith has left the college. The quiet departure is the second such in three years for the IDEAS Center, though the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion leadership are confident in their plans moving forward.
Smith’s Sept. 1 departure was not announced to the campus community and came the day after she participated in the Involvement Fair. Members of the Culture, Identity, and Leadership Coalition, a federation of clubs for historically-underrepresented groups, were informed in a meeting the following week. Emails sent to Smith after her departure received automated replies directing them to Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Heather Moore Roberson.
In an interview with The Campus last week, Roberson declined to comment on specifics.
“I can’t speak about the nature of her departure but what I can say is that, at the college, we wish her the best in all of her future professional endeavors,” Roberson said.
Roberson highlighted Smith’s work in developing the William C. Jason Diversity Lounge and the AYA Rite of Passage ceremony for first-generation and historically under-represented students.
“Those are definitely things that are notable, that hopefully will last long beyond everyone’s tenure at the college,” Roberson said.
Roberson also said that Smith’s departure was not related to a February closed session of the Allegheny Student Government.
“As the college’s senior diversity officer, I take very seriously the perspectives of students and the perspective of our employees,” Roberson said. “I know that that was a tough moment for the campus, just broadly speaking. But I can’t say that there was a direct tie to that, even though it was quite highly publicized.”
During the closed session, a student alleged that Smith made transphobic comments, and ASG consolidated power over CILC organizations in response to the allegations, according to the meeting’s minutes and later open sessions.
However, the allegations against Smith were never discussed or corroborated publicly, and ASG later convened a Judicial Review Board to discipline members that had allegedly discussed the closed session with non-ASG students.
Smith did not respond to a request for comment.
Roberson did say that a campus-wide email about the changes within the DEI office would be forthcoming, an email that would “acknowledge” Smith’s departure and a pair of new hires within DEI staff.
New hires
Currently, the IDEAS Center is being led by Interim Director Natalie Brown, who was hired in June to be assistant director under Smith. Brown highlighted her own experience as a self-identifying queer Black woman as playing an “intentional” role in her IDEAS Center programming.
“I want to make sure that I give intentionality to the queer community here, that’s big for me,” Brown said. “That was big before this transition happened and it’s still big with me now. I came out late, and in my college years, I wish I was able to have a safe and brave space to be able to grow in my sexuality and who I am — because college is just that place.”
Brown’s comments came on Friday, Sept. 15 — the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month — and she pointed to a Hispanic heritage shirt she was wearing as part of steps to proactively support CILC organizations.
“We’re ready, we’re standing behind them,” Brown said. “We are making sure that they are recognized, that they have our full support and I’m there, ready, to make sure to back and promote and guide.”
It’s part of Brown’s overall plan for the center: focusing on empowering student leadership and providing students with the tools to develop and grow.
“You have the space here to figure it out,” Brown said. “There’s no one that’s going to come and intrude, or try to tell you who you are. You have the space, the resources here.”
In addition to Brown, the college has hired Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dom Turner, who arrived on campus around the time most students did in mid-August. Working out of an office in the Title IX suite in Schultz Hall, Turner’s role is to assist students from historically underrepresented backgrounds when they need help.
“The college realizes that students need support,” Turner said. “There are a number of support mechanisms already in place, but there was an understanding that some students have the potential to go unseen or heard.”
A rocky past
Smith’s departure is the third in as many years from the top position within the IDEAS Center — an acronym of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Social Justice. She was preceded in her role by Darnell Tucker during the 2021-2022 school year and Angelica Perez-Johnston from 2018 until 2021.
Speaking broadly, Roberson cited a number of reasons for the turnover rate — professional choices, a desire to get additional academic degrees, or wanting to be closer to family, to name a few.
“Those are realities that we can’t control,” Roberson said. “From my end, what I have been thinking about — especially over the past couple of weeks — is how can Allegheny, but also ODEI, construct a structure for this position to ensure permanence … to think about constructing a leadership model within the IDEAS Center that will encourage people to stay.”
That solution, she said, has to include space for professional development and a sense of belonging on campus.
For their part, both Brown and Turner see themselves as staying on campus long-term.
“I wanted to really grow here and learn as much as I can, and that don’t happen by just staying a year and bumping,” Brown said. “I wanted to continue, every day, to show up. That don’t look like showing up for a year and leaving. Don’t look like two years. Don’t look like three years. It’s really building up this office.”
Turner feels confident that, together, he and Brown will be able to identify the ways in which the campus community can grow to better support students from minority groups.
“I’m here,” Turner said. “I can’t speak about what has happened in the past, but I have a lot of hope for how we are going to proceed to make this campus more welcoming.”
The next generation
Allegheny has not yet begun the process of looking for Smith’s replacement, pending a discussion on how and when to go about the process, Roberson said. In the meantime, she said Brown has her full support and confidence.
“I have to make certain that Natalie has the support that she means in order to thrive,” Roberson said. “It’s not about survival. It’s about thriving and supporting our students.”
Turner cited his own experience as the reason for his faith in Allegheny’s future.
“I’ve worked with people from all different types of backgrounds — active-duty military students, students from low-income backgrounds — I went to HBCUs myself as a student, for my undergraduate, master’s and my Ph.D.,” Turner said. “What I can say is that there’s great promise in who we have on the team and the direction that we have under Dean Roberson and under President (Ron) Cole. I can really say that there is a commitment to increasing diversity and to retain students from diverse backgrounds.”
In the long term, Roberson sees her work as extending across campus as part of a goal of “inclusive excellence.”
“It’s not just the IDEAS Center, it’s not just the Jason Diversity Lounge, it’s not just ODEI and Dean Roberson, it is in every major department and area on this campus,” Roberson said. “That’s been some of the work that I’ve been doing, to ensure that the campus is committed to inclusive excellence and really acting on our Statement of Community.”
