In the aftermath of the racial signage posted across campus last semester, SUNY New Paltz announced they would be hiring an Executive Director of Compliance and Campus Climate — a brand new position aimed at better coordinating compliance issues across campus.
Tanhena Pacheco-Dunn was hired to serve in this position and is now taking on issues facing our campus during her first semester at the college.
Pacheco-Dunn, who previously served as an assistant director of human resources at Vassar College for more than 10 years, will be assisting in faculty and staff job searches, regulations and laws that apply with different legislation and overseeing SUNY New Paltz’s compliance with Title IX, affirmative action and ethics compliances.
We at The New Paltz Oracle are excited to see Pacheco-Dunn tackle her first issues on our campus and hope she will have a positive impact on the future of our school.
The creation of Pacheco-Dunn’s position seems long overdue, especially considering the events of last semester.
We hope that in addition to her work on maintaining balance and control within faculty and staff services that Pacheco-Dunn will continue to raise the dialogue first brought up in last year’s “Can We Talk About It?” forums hosted by the Student Association.
It is important that these open forums are not forgotten and written off as an issue that only stemmed from feelings of last year.
Considering no suspect has been charged with the posting of the heinous signage, it is important that these conversations continue and further explore the issues brought up at that time.
With no closure, and no updates on the incident in months, it is important that we do not lose sight of what those signs did to our campus and our collective thoughts.
Pacheco-Dunn has spent most of her time in these first months of the semester becoming acclimated to the campus and understanding how our administration works.
We understand the need to become comfortable with the campus before embarking on a major project such as this, but we hope that more conversations are first and foremost not only on Pacheco-Dunn’s agenda, but the college administration’s as well.
Both President Donald Christian and Pacheco-Dunn herself have said they expect campus-wide events to be planned in the near future, which is encouraging.
Some closure to last year’s incidents is needed, and Pacheco-Dunn and her new position seem like the logical choice to attempt to bring us toward that.