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It was a big moment for Salt Lake Community College when Dr. Lea Lani Kinikini stepped into the institution’s first-ever chief diversity officer role. Now two years in, Kinikini says she works for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at the college and in her community nearly every day.
“My office is an incubator for inclusion,” she said. “We’re constantly piloting, learning, and building as we go.”
Kinikini joined SLCC in August 2019. She has since co-launched or co-founded the Utah Reintegration Project, the Office for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Social Transformation (JEDI4ST), and is directing the Juvenile Justice Nest Pilot program.
Kinikini received her bachelor’s from the University of Utah and came to SLCC after working overseas, where she completed her doctorate from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She received her master’s degree from the University of Hawaii.
Her role as chief diversity officer is to increase inclusivity throughout the college and to encourage new ways of thinking.
“Its purpose is to collaborate with the president and the cabinet to introduce new ways of thinking, helping to identify what our strengths and weaknesses are, and where we need to put our resources and where we need to change in order to rebuild the system to be more inclusive and equitable,” Kinikini said.
SLCC President Deneece Huftalin says what Kinikini brings to the college is unique.
“Dr. Kinikini brings a wealth of experience in the academic world and in qualitative and action research methodologies,” she said. “She brings her experience with community building to this position. She brings an innovative eye to our outreach efforts and has already begun strengthening the transition to college efforts and outcomes.”
In March 2020, Kinikini founded the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Community Transformation Center, followed by the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Social Transformation, or “JEDI hub,” in the fall of 2020.
As co-founder of the Utah Reintegration Project, Kinikini helps previously incarcerated people reintegrate into mainstream society. The program was founded in December 2019 with Dr. Anthony Nocella, assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology.
“[Kinkini] is a powerful intellectual and creator of social transformation,” Norcella said. “She understands that reflection, accountability and dialogue are critical in creating change. Her job is extremely difficult as she must on one hand promote and provide a space for marginalized voices, and on the other hand address injustices and inequities throughout the campus.”
The Utah Reintegration Project, incubated by Kinikini and Nocella, also has a justice internship program with several paid, student leader positions.
“I have a great team that supports all this work,” Kinikini said. “In fact, many of them – the JEDI4ST team – brought the projects. I just give them a home, incubate it and see if it can fit somewhere in the college or the community.”
Kinikini said she hopes the project can act as a transitional tool for incarcerated individuals who have taken part in the prison education program at SLCC.
“There are many employees that have various convictions from misdemeanors to felonies, but the United States is a society that is founded on second chances, so the community college is really building that out,” she said.
The prison education program at SLCC has become one of the largest in-person prison education programs in the country, serving more than 600 students since its inception in 2017.
This past summer, 100 laptops arrived at the Draper prison which will allow students to study from their cells, type papers, access educational resources and contact their professors, said Dr. David Bokovoy, director of prison education.
Nocella, who is co-chair of the Utah Reintegration Project, noted that it’s important to give fair treatment to students at SLCC who took place in the prison education program.
“We must treat them as students, while acknowledging their story, but not letting their story define them,” he said. “We as staff, administrators and faculty must listen and learn from those students. One might be surprised to find out how many SLCC students have been … incarcerated as we begin to destigmatize that experience.”
The Utah Reintegration Project is working to create a class for previously incarcerated students.
“It would have workshops that could be stackable into a one-credit course that would help students navigate college and life skills,” Kinikini said.
She also hopes the college will support the creation of a transition coordinator role in next year’s budget. The person would work with students who took part in the SLCC prison education program so they may transition from prison to college.
Andrew Christiansen wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
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We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text :This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and [Your Media Organization's Name] to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through emerging journalism. Andrew Christiansen wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
Dispersed throughout the Peace and Justice Garden stand various relics designed to represent and foster tranquility at Salt Lake Community College.
As water flows through a cement channel in the garden, located on the college’s South City Campus at 1535 S. Edison St. in Salt Lake City, the SLCC community can discover a haven that features five four-sided peace posts with a hopeful message, six statues of prominent women in history, a mural and a large volumetric metal work.
The statues took a year to complete and were installed in June, thanks to an anonymous donor. The statues were made by Stan Watts and Tami Brooks of Atlas Bronze Casting.
“I love reading biographies. There are so many women in our history,” said Brooks, who developed her talents in oil painting and drawing before switching to sculpture. “When you get an inspiration, you have to be passionate about it.”
The women depicted are: Abolitionist Harriet Tubman, aviator Amelia Earhart, journalist and activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, educator Helen Keller, civil-rights activist Rosa Parks, and Sacagawea, who accompanied the Lewis & Clark expedition through the West.
Several of the women depicted persevered against all odds to develop their capabilities and skills. While discussing the inspiration behind these women, Brooks explained how their stories possess a mythological feel.
“There are these women — in spite of everything going against them, with no privilege — everything was pushing them away from developing their gifts or talents. If I had to come up with a logo, it would be the phoenix,” Brooks said. “Everything was against them, burned down to the ground, and they come back and make themselves. It’s so inspirational …
“Today, we think, ‘Oh, we’re having such a hard day’ and it’s nothing compared to a hard day for a Black woman between the time period of the Civil War into civil rights. These women created and did amazing things. They had so much grit,” Brooks continued.
Using textbooks to get accurate measurements and proportions for body parts, Watts and Brooks created drafts freehand and shared ideas based on what each other sees in the photos they have printed.
“We print off a ton of pictures of every angle we can get. We zoom in. It’s drawing in 3D. We measure a lot. We have a book, ‘Human Proportions for Artists’ by Avard Fairbanks. He did all the measuring of human anatomy,” Brooks said.
Brooks made an analogy of a photo to a painting when describing the difference between a photo and a statue.
“If [a subject] is computer-generated or a mold, you put on a wax figure. There is something uncanny about it. It just feels weird. It feels more like a doll,” Brooks said. “I’ve seen sculptures in parks, and you can tell they just put a wax figure in an outfit and poured a mold over it. And the fabric looks kind of wet. It doesn’t have that feeling of art like an impressionist painting versus a photo. They are different media.”
Watts, who has been making bronze monuments and statues for almost half a century, serves as the chronicler and is a perfectionist for ensuring they get the history correct.
“I’m a stickler for that. You’re not really doing just the statue, you’re also recording history in terms of a period of time and what they are wearing,” he said.
James Walton, the college’s gallery and art collection specialist, said SLCC hopes to have plaques describing the statues fabricated and installed.
Yamileth Rivera, a freshman videography student, said she visits the garden to study. The area, she said, provides a pleasant retreat where she can unwind and relax.
“I just like being out here. It’s really peaceful,” Rivera said. “I like hearing the water and having all the trees around here. It’s a nature moment. Just to get away. I think it is really nice to be out here and take a breather.”
A plaque located in the garden summarizes the goal of the Peace and Justice Garden: “A peaceful space for art, justice, civil dialogue and community healing.”
Teresa Chaikowsky wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
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NOTE TO MEDIA PARTNERS PUBLISHING WORKWe also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text :This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and [Your Media Organization's Name] to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through emerging journalism. Teresa Chaikowsky wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
The Prison Education Program (PEP) at Salt Lake Community College recently produced its first class of graduates.
The 23 graduates — 16 with associate degrees, seven with certificates of completion — were honored in a ceremony at the Utah State Correctional Facility on July 10.
“We are honoring the accomplishments of 23 remarkable individuals,” said program director David Bokovoy, “who stepped forward in the face of challenges, in the face of darkness, depression and other mental health challenges, and [were] determined not to surrender but instead [to] take steps forward and pursue education, knowledge, and the opportunity to grow and transform into the most powerful person and individual they can be.”
The PEP program had more than 220 students enrolled last school year, with more expected to join in the fall. The program offers 20 classes over fall and spring semesters, and enrollees can sign up for any one of six associate degrees: Anthropology, business, criminal justice, general studies, history, and paralegal studies.
The graduate said, “there were many years [in which] I was engaged in ignorance, following the leader and not knowing any better, but education opened my eyes to the reality of my condition. … And it became important to me to take charge of my life to secure my future and try to enlighten those around me.”
Christopher Bradbury, the program coordinator, said he has seen firsthand that PEP students experience lasting change for themselves and their families.
“I had a student tell me that because they are now going to college and viewing education as important, their kids are now viewing it as important,” Bradbury said. “They are going to finish high school, whereas before they didn’t really care.”
Bradbury — who teaches physical science classes at the prison — said there has also been a “cultural shift” among the inmates itself, in how education is viewed.
“Our students come to class and they’re talking about what they’re learning, and then they’re going back and talking to their peers [who] are not in college,” Bradbury said. “And you see this cultural shift of people going, ‘Oh, well, they can do it. I can do it, too.’ And that’s infectious. Gaining an education is infectious.”
The pursuit of higher education has been shown to lower the chances of a previously incarcerated person relapsing into criminal behavior. A 2022 study from the U.S. Department of Education indicated that incarcerated people who participate in educational programs are 48% less likely to return to prison within three years, compared to those who don’t participate.
Deneece G. Huftalin, SLCC’s president, spoke at the ceremony, noting that “as these individuals are released from prison and become our neighbors, they often face a tough transition. SLCC is happy to be helping them gain the skills and education they need to find meaningful employment.”
Sean Stetson wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
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We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text :This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and [Your Media Organization's Name] to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through emerging journalism. Sean Stetson wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
Leaders at Salt Lake Community College said a recent federal court ruling, calling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program unlawful, is disappointing but not surprising.
“SLCC remains committed to the success of all our undocumented immigrant students and employees and hopes that our nation can soon secure a more permanent solution,” SLCC President Deneece Huftalin wrote in an email in early October, shortly after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas federal judge’s 2021 ruling against the DACA program.
The appellate court did send the case back to the lower court, to have U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen look at a revision of the DACA program, issued by the Biden administration in August. The ruling leaves the program’s future in doubt.
DACA, established by the Obama administration in 2012, provides work permits and deportation protection for people who migrated to the United States as children, commonly called “Dreamers.” According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there were over 611,000 active DACA recipients as of December 2021.
Since its introduction, DACA has faced ongoing legal challenges over its legality, leaving recipients and undocumented people uncertain about their futures.
“It’s exhausting not knowing,” said Alonso Reyna Rivarola, a DACA recipient and senior director of SLCC’s Office of Institutional Equity, Inclusion and Transformation. “It’s exhausting having to wait to learn more about what these decisions mean and how they’re going to unfold.”
Reyna Rivarola said he was not surprised by the Oct. 5 ruling, a sentiment shared by Brenda Santoyo, manager of SLCC’s Dream Center, who said the decision was nonetheless “very disheartening.”
“The whole picture is millions of people,” Santoyo said.
Since 2019, the SLCC Dream Center, at the college’s West Valley campus, has helped undocumented students, with or without DACA, to access resources and navigate college. It’s one of two such centers in Utah; the other one is the Dream Center at the University of Utah.
Santoyo said the SLCC Dream Center’s work will continue regardless of what happens. If DACA were ever rescinded permanently, she said, the center’s future would be dire because the problems young immigrants would face would outpace the center’s ability to help.
“When I look at it very realistically, it’s not going to be something I can help with because I can’t change … policies at the state level,” she said. “[It’d] be distressing knowing I can’t help the people I care about.”
Both Reyna Rivarola and Santoyo say they are skeptical that DACA will survive in the courts — and what appears a likely vote by the U.S. Supreme Court. They are hopeful, though, that current recipients will continue to be protected if the program is struck down.
The SLCC and U. Dream Centers recently partnered with the nonprofit organization Voices for Utah Children to cover or reimburse DACA renewal fees, which come to $495 for an applicant every two years. SLCC announced in September that it would do the same for its employees.
Santoyo said she is working with colleagues to develop an independent contractor system that would allow students without work permits to receive compensation for completed projects. The implementation of this system, however, will take time.
“There’s already processes in place at the college,” Santoyo said, “so, it’s [about] navigating those processes and finding out how to change them. We have to keep pushing for change.”
For more information about the Dream Center, resources and scholarships available to undocumented students, or to access the DACA renewal funding requests mentioned, visit slcc.edu/dreamcenter (for the SLCC’s program) or dream.utah.edu (for the U’s center).
Cristian Martinez wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a new collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
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We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text:
This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism. Jude Macher wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
