Allie Martinez was appointed the new Director of Community and Belonging mid-August after serving as loan coordinator since April 2020.
Martinez said she strives to ensure every student and staff member feels safe and represented at Simpson College. She is also in charge of workshops, trainings and student advocacy.
“My job is to make sure that every faculty, staff and student feels seen, valued and heard,” Martinez said. “I want them to feel safe on our campus, whether that be in the classroom, during their sport, in the theatre, in the dorm or whatever that looks like.”
Martinez expressed her fondness for student-facing work in higher education. She was inspired to pursue this role because of her passion for advocacy and representation.
“As a woman of color who is from the LGBTQ+ community, there’s been a lot of attacks on those communities and marginalized and underrepresented voices in general, so I think that pushed me there,” Martinez said. “In my first career before Simpson, I worked at the Boys and Girls Club at the Midlands, and the majority of students that I worked with came from underrepresented groups, and I think just working through them and hearing their stories and their struggles pushed me to want to do something like this.”
Interfaith intern for the Religious Life Community at Smith Chapel, Em Irlmeier, works closely with Martinez. In August, Irlmeier and Martinez attended the Interfaith America Leadership Summit in Chicago.
“It was a really wonderful experience, and I think Allie was so instrumental in making that happen,” Irlmeier said. “To see a staff member who doesn’t come from a religion major or a seminary background who was so invested in interfaith work was really refreshing.”
Irlmeier emphasized the importance of maintaining a community-centered role in a predominantly white institution (PWI) while creating a safe environment for all students.
“I feel like because we are a PWI and we have a Christian majority, it’s really important to me that we create spaces for people who don’t identify with those labels to feel accepted and welcomed, to know that they belong,” Irlmeier said. “I think Office of Community and Belonging is such a fitting title, because I know that Allie’s goal is to make every single student feel like they have a voice that matters and a place where they can feel safe and comfortable.”
Martinez’s main goal is to maintain intersectionality between groups on campus to avoid separation and isolation.
“I think right now we are a little bit more secular – we have athletes, Greek life, theatre and regular students who maybe are just working,” Martinez said. “I think there’s a little bit of a disconnect there, so my goal is to bring all of those groups together and intertwine them for the Simpson community. I think the more intertwined we are, the better our population is being served.”
The implementation of the Office of Community and Belonging came as a result of many diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the nation being dissolved. Martinez, however, said discussing differing beliefs, having hard conversations and being educated will result in a safer and more inclusive campus community.
She also believes that Simpson having the director of community and belonging position shows the institution’s commitment to working on equitable policies and inclusion in the campus community.
“There is the thumb of the government and Iowa legislation that is on us, but that does not stop the work, it just puts the work in a different direction,” Martinez said. “We need to keep pushing forward, whether there is scrutiny coming down from the federal government or the state of Iowa or not, this is important work.”
