Rob Young ‘14, the director of intercultural development, will depart the college on Monday after five years in the position and nearly a decade of service to the college.
Young will assume the role of executive director of development at the Peggy Browning Fund, a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization with the mission to “educate and inspire the next generation of advocates for workplace justice,” according to its website.
“It’s super exciting that I feel like this role transitions very well into my next one, and then aligns with my passions for DEI and social justice, with the component of fundraising, to make sure that folks have the support as law students to then go into the labor space,” Young said.
Young began his post-graduation work at Lafayette in the development office in 2014, where he worked until 2020 with a 15-month stint at Connecticut College. He transitioned to the Office of Intercultural Development, commonly known as OID, in 2020.
“I can confidently say that I’m leaving the community better than I found it when I arrived to Lafayette College,” Young said. “What I’m most proud of is the relationships that I’ve been able to develop and nurture.”
As Young looked back on his work at the college, he was proudest of the connections that he made and the change that he spearheaded.
“Showing up was something that I prided myself off doing because of that civic engagement that I think our community needs more of, so I was proud to be a part of that change that I wanted to see for this community,” Young said.
“There wasn’t a problem too big or too small that I wasn’t willing to walk with somebody to figure out and it’s because I would hope that somebody would do that for me,” he added.
Cri Castillo ’26, the director of administrative affairs for NIA, a campus organization for women of color, referred to Young as a “force to be reckoned with.”
“He was really just the one person that we knew had our back … because he had no problem challenging Lafayette as a whole and to make what we needed happen to make sure that we were in a more comfortable space,” Castillo said. “If you want to get something done, you go to Rob and Rob would get it done. Rob was always just that pillar of hope.”
Young’s position as an alum has shaped the way he performed his job.
“Everyday I walked on campus, I saw myself, so it was impossible to come into this role thinking of [people] as an L number or just as a student because I believed your four years here could be transformative,” Young said.
“I think definitely Rob has done most, if not all of Lafayette’s work to make this place a more diverse and inclusive place,” said Marcus Alston ‘24, who worked with Young during his time as a resident of Portlock Black Cultural Center. “Not only does he run the diversity programming on campus to Greek life, to sports, to all of these clubs, he also is actively building relationships with students and helping them navigate this [predominately white institution] in a way that I just think goes way beyond just his director title.”
“I went above and beyond because again, I just want to embody the community that I wanted to see — showing up not to be seen, but showing up to serve,” he continued.
The college first announced Young’s departure in yesterday’s edition of the Lafayette Today.
“Rob served this institution well from the moment he began working as a staff member the day after graduation,” vice president for student life Sarah Moschenross wrote in an accompanying message. “A tireless advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion work on this campus, Rob leaves Lafayette a better community.”
Young’s departure comes six months after that of Tommy Lee, the former assistant director of intercultural development for gender and sexuality programs, who departed for a position at Dickinson College.
This leaves OID with two full-time employees in addition to an office coordinator after starting the year with four. According to Young, the team is “closing the final rounds” of interviews to hire someone to fill Lee’s position and plans to have a new person in the role by the end of the semester.
Moschenross wrote that “student life leadership is working to establish next steps to support the good work of OID professionals and to ensure continuity of the important programs and services for students for which the office is responsible.”
“This OID team has been the most diverse, the most engaging and the most impactful team I’ve ever been a part of during my time at Lafayette,” Young said. “The community is in good hands because there’s still good people wanting to do the work.”
