Many first-generation and low-income students struggle to overcome “deceptively small barriers” like family pressures, self-doubt and social strains. Cornell is among the list of colleges that have bolstered new initiatives to better serve this population of the student body, administrators and students said.

A new resolution that could require every student organization to submit plans detailing how they will encourage diversity and inclusion in their group will be discussed, and possibly voted on, at a Student Assembly meeting Thursday.

“We are encouraging people to take on the hard stuff,” Renee Alexander '74 said. “Some of that might not be possible without help. We’d like to help them realize the goals of whatever they’re working on.”

The Cornell Women of Color Coalition hosted its second annual Women of Color Conference — “Brave Bodies: Deconstructing Intersections of Identity” — in Statler Hall Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday, Student Assembly members and student leaders gathered in Willard Straight Hall for a preliminary meeting of the Student Assembly Committee for Inclusion and Diversity Initiatives, a committee that will focus on diversity initiatives and will include a broader spectrum of students.

Cornell is trying to recruit veterans to the University’s faculty and staff –– efforts that have greatly expanded and accelerated over the past few years.

Cornell administrators are prioritizing increasing the retention of African-American male students.

“I do think that right now, the law school definitely needs to focus on increasing diversity,” one student says.

“It could impact our numbers; it just depends on how detailed the court writes [its] decision,” one administrator said.