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About Inclusion and Diversity Education

Meet Dean Dantley

Belinda Dantley

Belinda J. Dantley, the Assistant Dean of Inclusion and Diversity Education, is the chief diversity officer at Saint Louis University School of Law. As a SLU LAW alumna she knows exactly what it feels like to be supported by staff and faculty, to be given the tools to stay focused and determined on personal goals, in an accepting space. Just as she was supported, it has become her life’s purpose to help others become the best version of themselves and live out their dreams in real life. The Director is responsible for supporting efforts to nurture a psychologically safe spaces and inclusive environments; for building pipeline programs to increase access to the legal academy, particularly among youths from underrepresented backgrounds; increasing SLU LAW’s capacity to recruit diverse members to the SLU LAW faculty; to represent SLU LAW’s diversity interests within Saint Louis University and the St. Louis community more broadly, and to build SLU LAW’s statewide and national position as an innovator of successful efforts to ensure more equitable access to the legal academy and the profession of law.

Learn more about Belinda

Meet MariaJose Ortiz

MJ Ortiz

Mariajose “MJ” Ortiz is a first-generation Latine professional whose intersectional identities shape their approach to law. They take pride in guiding others toward their goals through collaboration. MJ was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 2023 after earning her Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University School of Law with an International and Comparative Law Concentration. Since graduating, MJ has worked to support foreign attorneys on their journey in the American legal tradition, as well as advocated to increase diversity of perspectives in the legal system through efforts with the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at SLU Law and at The Missouri Bar.

As Assistant Director of Diversity Initiatives and International Students, she is dedicated to developing and implementing programs that foster diversity, inclusion, cross-cultural awareness, and social justice. With a particular focus on student-centered initiatives, she is passionate about developing impactful pipelines and partnerships to enhance opportunities for underrepresented communities in the legal field.

Student Initiatives

The Office of Inclusion and Diversity Education works with the School of Law student body to promote diversity and inclusion in a variety of ways.

Student Bar Association Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion
The VP of Diversity & Inclusion was created within SBA in order to have a position dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion within the law school and the St. Louis community. The VP of Diversity and inclusion serves as the liaison between the Affinity Council, the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and SBA. This position serves to promote events that foster diversity with the law school and ensure that the best interests of all diverse members are met.
Affinity Counsel
  • Asian American Law Student Association
  • Black Law Student Association
  • First Chair Society
  • Hispanic And Latinx Law Student Association
  • OUTLaws
  • Women Law Student Association 

The Affinity Council is composed of the presidents of the Asian American Law Students Association; Black Law Students Association; First Chair Society; Hispanic and Latinx Law Students Association; and Women Law Students Association. The Affinity Council was founded on the premise of promoting the advancement of organizations that represent under-represented groups of people in the legal field. One of the missions of the Affinity Counsel is to provide support for each of the affinity organizations. The purpose of the Affinity Counsel is to provide support and avenues of open communication among the affinity organizations who often do not have the same resources or membership as other organizations within the law school. Specifically they are concerned for organizations that are smaller and that perhaps in future years might not have the ability to continue to function as individual organizations. The Counsel would provide support so that these organizations do not cease to exist all together.

Faculty Initiatives

The Office of Inclusion and Diversity Education works with School of Law faculty to weave inclusion and diversity initiatives into the curriculum and every day life at SLU LAW.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Faculty Committee

The academic, educational, social and cultural needs and interests of all students should be considered and supported by the entire law school community. The needs and interests of students of historically underrepresented groups are distinctive, and the institutional response should likewise be distinctive. Considering the foregoing, this committee is charged with ensuring the law school has policies and protocols in place to provide an inclusive and equitable learning environment, work with the Admissions Committee to ensure that all appropriate strategies to diversify the student body have been considered and employed and work with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations to identify possible strategies for sustaining pipeline programming.

Plan prepared in February 2019 that identified specific strategies to meaningfully enhance the diversity of the student body.