Profile: Nick Caraballo Fights for DEI with AU Student Group

I profiled a student leader championing DEI on campus, exploring his advocacy, community building, and vision for equity.

Leta Lattin

Washington, D.C.

Nick Caraballo started to paint a flower with blue, purple and red acrylic paints while talking to friends and colleagues about the Latin American community at American University and other Washington colleges.

On March 8, about 10 students gathered for a Paint Your Culture night hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens at AU. They painted various scenes, like sunsets and galaxies, on canvases while Latino music played in the background.

Somewhere along the way, Caraballo’s painting stopped looking like a flower as he added more colors. He said he wasn’t sure what it was meant to be.

“I’m going with abstract,” Caraballo said.

Caraballo is the president of the Latino student group, which he said helps engage the Latin American community at AU and build relationships between students.

Caraballo is a senior majoring in CLEG, which stands for communication, legal institutions, economics, and government, and is beginning a master’s degree in public administration. He said the Latino student group has helped him gain perspective on topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion, which he said is what he wants his career to focus on.

DEI is a framework for creating policies and programs with a view toward preventing discrimination and providing opportunity. There has been a recent backlash against DEI work, especially from those on the right.

For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing to restrict DEI programs in schools and colleges. DeSantis and other conservatives often argue that such initiatives are “racially divisive and discriminatory,” according to the Associated Press.

Caraballo was first introduced to DEI in high school. His mother worked in human resources under the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the company. He said this introduction to DEI allowed him the opportunity to become more knowledgeable when he started at AU.

Caraballo got involved with the Latino student group during his first year at AU, when he was a freshman liaison to the e-board. He said he joined the club to build community, since he started college during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve gained a lot of perspective,” Caraballo said of his time with the club. “I think differently, and I just see the world in a different way.”

Caraballo, who identifies as Latino, said his love of that community has helped him learn about and engage with DEI initiatives.

Caraballo also works at Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at AU, where he is helping to create evidence-based toolkits for Hispanic-serving institutions, which Caraballo defined as universities designed by the federal government as serving a majority Hispanic or Latino population. He said he values his job because it gives him the opportunity to listen to survivors and create resources to support the community.

While he is open to pursuing DEI in other spaces, Caraballo said he would like to focus his career on education equity. He said this is a “natural fit” for him since this issue is very important for the Latino community.

Dany Olivares, a junior and the vice president of the Latino student group, said that Nick does a really good job of taking what he learns at his job and applying it in real life and with the student group.

“He has a drive within him to want to make change and help people,” Olivares said.

Josiah Carolina, a 20-year-old history major and Caraballo’s roommate, described Caraballo as a “very intellectual person” and passionate about education.

Carolina said that when he and Caraballo first became roommates during their sophomore year, he felt awkward in the days before classes started. Once the two began discussing their shared interest in education, Carolina said they became close friends.

“It got so deep,” Carolina said of that initial conversation. “We were talking about schools and our visions for education and our passions and how they miraculously aligned.”

Carolina said he and Caraballo have spent many nights talking about their passions until past 4 a.m. One of Carolina’s favorite moments with his roommate was a time they were having such a conversation and Caraballo told him, “We need teachers like you.”

During their freshman year, Carolina and Caraballo co-founded a campus organization: Students for the Advancement of Antiracist and Anti-Bias Education at AU.

According to Carolina, the goal of the organization was “to talk about DEI in a more comprehensive way.” Carolina said they focused on creating dialogues and events around issues such as critical race theory and mental health.

“That was definitely one of the first spots where I saw his passion for DEI really explode and where our passions for it kind of flourished and grew together,” Carolina said of Caraballo.

One dialogue the organization hosted last spring focused on whether critical race theory was being taught in schools. According to Carolina, this was the only event where more than 20 people came together. He said it was “a very profound meeting” where a lot of people contributed their perspectives to the dialogue.

Critical race theory is one DEI framework that has been very hotly contested in many school districts. Recently, the North Carolina House voted to approve a bill that limits what can be taught about race and sex in schools, according to the AP. An Education Week analysis further shows that 18 states have imposed similar bans.

The debate over critical race theory is representative of larger actions being taken to limit DEI more generally. In Florida, Gov. DeSantis has voiced support for a bill that would eliminate funding from all DEI programs in public colleges.

Former middle school teacher and teacher educator Asia Thomas Uzomba, who is currently a postgraduate teaching fellow at AU, said there has always been politics involved in decisions about what to teach children, “whether you knew it or not.”

Uzomba said that for centuries the conversation around education has been about how to mold the next generation. The recent developments have been more about being seen than about teaching students to think critically, according to Uzomba.

“I would hope that each side really wants to mold students in a positive way,” Uzomba said. “But we need to really get back to that empowering students part and giving students voice.”

Caraballo said the backlash to DEI is “really disappointing,” but he believes the younger generations are different and that they “do not tolerate inequity.” He said he thinks this belief will help improve and bolster DEI initiatives in the workplace despite criticisms that come primarily from the right.

“I think what the future is going to be is that there are going to be equity leaders in every organization,” Caraballo said. “That is going to be required. You need to have those voices at the table.”

Photos by Leta Lattin