The AOS and Office of Diversity and Inclusion had their open house on Thursday, Sept. 26. Trustee Clarence Hightower was the guest speaker and was met with a warm welcome by all those present.

Hightower, an SMSU alumnus, first started attending SMSU back in 1973 when he moved from Illinois at the start of his freshman year. He graduated with his Physical and Health Education degree.

After graduating from SMSU he started working for the YMCA where, in his 15 years with the organization, he became the head of an entire chapter in the Twin Cities. He also has an honorary Doctorate in Divinity  and gives sermon, according to him “7 out of 10 times.” Not only does he work with MnSCU but also for the last five years he has been working at a youth center in the Twin Cities. That is only of a small portion of the work he has done. Simply put, Hightower is a man of many hats and wears them well.

Hightower remarked that if it wasn’t for the friendliness and inclusion he received at SMSU, he probably would never have graduated and been so successful. So for a man who has seen firsthand the direct benefits of programs like AOS and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion he easily said, “Our frame work has three tenants and only one of those tenants deals with diversity and [inclusion] and broadening how it is we engage [in it] and when I found out what it was that we were doing here, I knew I had to speak.”

He knew immediately that the opportunity that was given to the AOS and Office of Diversity and Inclusion was a major one. And he continues to urge the support of organizations with such an important mission statement. “It doesn’t matter who you are, that’s the nature of inclusion—and that is who our students are,” Hightower noted, “With the new office and more centralized location of both offices together near where students live, that mission will be made that much easier.”