DEI Chair Maryam Jabbar planned the event for several months, obtaining sponsors including Plante Moran and Illinois State University’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion department. She also communicated with other professionals from the area, resulting in seven panelists judging each team’s response to a provided case study.

The morning of the case competition, each team was given their own classroom to work in for an hour and a half. The case provided by Plante Moran discussed a client at a company causing discomfort to a team member through microaggressions. For example, a case study may have mentioned “a coworker is shocked that his Asian coworkers spoke such good English and that their ‘oriental’ lunch food smells weird”. Each team was then asked to answer the following questions:

• How would you handle this situation?
• Should the team member remain on the engagement?

Each team would then prepare how they would handle the situation present the solution to all seven panelists.

Chapter President Katelyn Caldwell and her team won second place. When asked what her favorite aspect of the DEI competition was, Katelyn responded with, “The experience I was able to gain! This event allowed me to network with amazing industry leaders while learning so much about DEI and how I can help incorporate DEI into my daily life. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity because of Delta Sigma Pi and cannot wait for next year's DEI Case Competition!”