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Action and Accountability: Addressing Race and Equity Across the UW

鈥淚t is not 鈥 and could never be 鈥 the sole responsibility of one person, one office or one initiative to solve these systemic and complex issues. It will take an ongoing and sustained effort from all of us.鈥 鈥 President Ana Mari Cauce

Since the launch of the in 2015, we have taken action and made progress 鈥 efforts featured in a .

  • Last autumn, we enrolled the UW鈥檚 most diverse class of first-year students ever.
  • We launched a Diversity Blueprint that outlines 91探花goals, actions and accountability measures.
  • We鈥檙e holding ourselves accountable with new oversight boards for the 91探花Police Department and a regents committee dedicated to progress on equity and inclusion.
  • And we鈥檝e exceeded our goals around partnering with minority- and women-owned businesses to provide goods and services to the UW, reaching 39 percent of our annual procurement budget.

While it鈥檚 important to note progress 鈥 and especially the hard work of many of you across our three campuses 鈥 it鈥檚 equally important to avoid complacency. We have a long way to go, further than any one initiative or one leader can take us.
91探花colleagues, like those featured in this report (/), are leading the way in areas from recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty to transforming the curriculum to address bias to creating new tools for accountability around equity.
The president, Race & Equity Initiative co-chairs Ed Taylor and Rickey Hall, and I hope you will join us in this work 鈥 recognizing the progress made in the last few years while keeping our eyes on the horizon, taking action and holding ourselves accountable to continue working toward a more equitable and just university community.


Gerald J. Baldasty
Provost & Executive Vice President
Professor, Communication
Adjunct Professor, American Ethnic Studies; Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

 

This publication is part of a about transformative trends and issues in higher education. These reports aim to highlight examples of people or programs working on important topics and engage the wider 91探花community in the discussion. We welcome you to join the conversation by emailing us your comments to edtrends@uw.edu. Many thanks to those who have shared your ideas in response to previous reports.

Race & Equity Initiative Newsletter spring 2017

Updates

For Students, By Students

Undergraduate and graduate students on all three campuses have a new opportunity to secure funding for Race and Equity Initiative聽events they create that align with the initiative鈥檚 goals. Applications are reviewed by their peers 鈥 student leaders on the R&EI Steering Committee. The first student-supported and produced event was last October鈥檚 91探花Racial Justice Organizing and Caucus (pictured). .

President Blog Posts

91探花President Ana Mari Cauce often remarks on equity efforts and issues using her blog. Here are some of the blog posts that speak directly to the equity work that is taking place on campus.





Speech and Counter-Speech at the UW

What does the First Amendment mean in the context of a public university? Nadine Strossen (New York Law School), Michele Storms (ACLU-Washington) and Ron Collins ( 91探花School of Law) examined this question and other issues at the Speech and Counter-Speech: Rights & Responsibilities event in January. of their discussion.

Schools and Colleges Spotlight

Steps to Excellence: School of Dentistry Focuses on Diversity and Inclusion

Equity and excellence go hand-in-hand at the School of Dentistry. about its diversity committee and how the school is planning for a better tomorrow with leadership trainings, curriculum changes, recruitment and inclusion.

New Course Shines Light on Environmental (In)Justice

A new course in the College of the Environment offers students a chance to dive deep into issues of environmental injustice. “Decolonizing the Environmental Discourse” encourages students to explore the perspectives of the people and communities most affected by environmental practices, policies and hazards. .

Trainings for Staff

More than 450 91探花community members participated in last spring鈥檚 pilot series of racial equity trainings. Based on demand, the series has been relaunched through spring 2017聽for sessions across all three campuses with expert trainers Rosetta Lee, Scott Winn, Maketa Wilborn and Robin DeAngelo. .

New Course Shines Light on Environmental (In)Justice

By Glenn Hare

The Flint water crisis, the Dakota Access Pipeline protest and the BP Oil Spill were just a few of the environmental topics studied in a new course in the 91探花鈥檚 College of the Environment. 鈥淒ecolonizing the Environmental Discourse鈥 examined environmental injustice from the point of view of decolonization. Jessica Hernandez and Isabel Carrera, two masters level students in the college, developed the class that explored the perspectives of the people and communities most affected by environmental practices, policies and hazards.

Offered for the first time during the winter quarter, the class featured numerous guest speakers from diverse academic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. They presented case studies and shared their personal experiences with food insecurity, health and education disparities as well as civil and environmental conflicts and other relevant topics. 鈥淚 wanted the students to experience these situations from authentic firsthand accounts, from people聽who lived them,鈥 says Hernandez who taught the class.

jessica1
Jessica Hernandez. Graduate Student, in the College of the Environment

With an emphasis on indigenous frameworks and social science research methods, the class critically linked social justice and the natural sciences. But getting the new course approved wasn鈥檛 easy.聽 鈥淲e faced lots of college politics and bureaucratic red tape,鈥 Hernandez says.

However, she received moral and financial backing from Kristiina Vogt, a professor ecosystem management in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and Gino Aisenberg, an associate dean in the Graduate School. With their encouragement at aid, the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences offered, promoted and provided additional support to make the course successful.

鈥淥ne of the reason, I supported the pursuit of this class was that I saw Jessica鈥檚 abilities to be a leader in this area. She will have an impact in changing our approach to environmental injustice,鈥 says Vogt.

 

Learning about environmental justice in predominantly Black communities was particularly interesting for me. As a student of color, being given a space to talk about how privilege, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, nationality, and identity can impact access to resources was empowering.鈥

Vanessa Sanchez
Student, College of the Environment

After the spill

Hernandez has experienced environmental injustice in her lifetime as well. A native of Southern California, she grew up in South Central Los Angeles and suffered from asthma for most of her childhood. 鈥淥ur neighborhood was surrounded by oil and gas refineries. Air pollutions was a constant hazard,鈥 she says.

After completing a degree in Ocean Engineering and Oceanography from the University of California at Berkeley, she worked as a research assistant in a federally funded laboratory on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. 鈥淭his was not long after the BP/Deep Water Horizon oil spill,鈥 she explains. While analyzing the damage caused by the 200 million gallons crude oil spill, Hernandez witnessed the inequities faced by the United Houma Nation, the state鈥檚 largest Native American tribe. 鈥淭hey received absolutely no compensation. While large-scale fishing, tourism, and other commercial interests received huge settlements for their damages, the Houma鈥攚ho rely on local fishing and shrimping as a way of life鈥攔eceived nothing,鈥 says Hernandez, whose own indigenous heritage is Ch鈥檕rti鈥, Zapotec and Yucateco. She decided there that researching the environment was enough.

She wanted to change it. But how?

Hernandez then moved Arkansas and taught remedial science and math. Here again, she saw unequal treatment. This time in the form of underfunded schools and low performing students living in economically depressed areas. 鈥淲ith little education and few job prospects most students were trapped in poverty or wound up in prison,鈥 Hernandez explains.

Still searching, she eventually made her way to the UW, where she鈥檚 a dual master鈥檚 candidate in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. She will pursue a doctoral degree starting in the fall quarter. While her plans about the future are still a work in progress, Hernandez long-term goal is to establish an organization that works for the people and environmental justice. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to establish an organization that brings individuals from affected communities to share their stories and find solutions for their communities. It would work from the bottom-up grassroots, rather than top-down,鈥 she says.

Shared experiences

Interest in the 鈥淒ecolonizing the Environmental Discourse鈥 didn鈥檛 take long to spread around college and the campus. Undergraduate and graduate students registered. 鈥淚 took the class because I felt it was important to study environmental justice from a societal lens. I felt I needed a class like this to balance my coursework,鈥 says Sanchez, an Environmental Science and Resource Management major.

I thought this class would not only be extremely relevant to my studies but also contribute to widening my perspective of what it means to teach about our relationship with the environment,鈥 adds Shelby Cramer, whose goal is to be an environmental educator in underserve communities or urban settings.鈥

Shelby Cramer, Student in College of the Environment whose goal is to be an environmental educator in underserved communities or urban settings.

At the end of the quarter, a two-day public symposium took place that extended the conversation beyond the classroom. Students presented case studies ranging from plutonium production near Native American reservations to pesticide exposure on Nicaraguan banana farms to industrial pollution in East St. Louis to illegal logging and land acquisition in the Brazilian rainforest to the use of prisoners to clean oil spills.

鈥淯nderstanding these situations for what they really are鈥攅nvironmental racism鈥攈as led me to critically view other environmental disasters in new ways,鈥 says Jessica Bolano, a graduate student in environmental education. 鈥淚f you think about the history of colonization, it is deep and permeates systems. Undoing it is not an easy task.鈥

This spring, Hernandez will teach 鈥淒ecolonizing the Environmental Discourse.鈥 And, again she鈥檒l offer students a new lens to investigate the environmental justice, inspiring a shift in the environmental conversation. 鈥淚 left this course more aware than I was before. I discovered how important it is to be an accomplice and not just an ally,鈥 adds Cramer.

 

Steps to Excellence: School of Dentistry Focuses on Diversity and Inclusion

By Glenn Hare

Not long after the 91探花 launched the Race and Equity Initiative Joel Berg, the dean of the School of Dentistry, knew his colleagues needed to address diversity, inclusion and institutional bias head on. His concerns sharpened at the school鈥檚 annual Partners in Diversity event. 鈥淚 knew then that we were preaching to the choir. The same people always attended. The awareness never went beyond the same group, and we needed to do more.鈥

Dean Joel Berg, DDS, MS Professor and Dean, 91探花School of Dentistry

That began some 鈥渟oul searching鈥 among the leadership, faculty, staff and student body. After several poignant conversations and intense workshops, a diversity roadmap was developed. Partly modeled after The University鈥檚 , the School of Dentistry鈥檚 plan comprises six focus areas. Among them are a commitment to creating a welcoming climate; a drive towards a more diverse and inclusive body of students, faculty, and staff; a reduction of oral health disparities and a pledge to rich learning experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.

Once approved, the newly formed Diversity Committee established goals and began shepherding the plan throughout the School.

鈥淔rom the beginning, our intent was to create a living document, not something to be filed away,鈥 says Douglass Jackson, a clinical professor of dentistry who is helping lead the effort.

Among the early successes was the incorporation of a race and equity component to dental education. As a part of the school鈥檚 new curricular threads, the care of diverse populations is integrated throughout a student鈥檚 training, and the care for patients from underserved communities, senior citizens and the disabled is paramount.

Douglas Jackson, DMD, MS, Ph.D Clinical Professor, Pediatric Dentistry, 91探花School of Dentistry

Through numerous service-learning experiences, which take place in clinics, senior care facilities, the University鈥檚 Tent City, as well as across Washington State to places like Spokane and Skagit counties, students learn to value human difference and diversity. 鈥淭hey embrace community engagement,鈥 adds Berg. 鈥淭his generation comes to service easily.鈥

Berg is also proud of the way the staff has been involved. 鈥淭he staff were early supporters,鈥 he says.

The work continues as members of the Diversity Committee develop metrics for the faculty. This is a much harder challenge, explains Jackson. 鈥淲e鈥檙e having conversations that most of our senior faculty have never had. We鈥檙e addressing core beliefs and biases 鈥 in what we hope are safe environments 鈥 to build trust and understanding.鈥

Jackson envisions a school where faculty teaching, research, and service happens through frameworks that include aspects of racial equity. The meetings, retreats and mentoring are ongoing, with discussions taking place at all levels. It is his job to illustrate how diversity, race and equity are assets to their work. He demonstrates success and helps facilitate collaboration between colleagues. 鈥淲hat we are experiencing is an evolution,鈥 continues Jackson. 鈥滲ringing these concerns to the forefront of someone鈥檚 work is a slow cultural shift.鈥

We believe this training is as important as the clinical training students receive. Future dentists must know how to care for people from all social, economic and cultural backgrounds,鈥 says Berg. 鈥淲e stress this from day one.鈥

Both Jackson and Berg know the shift is worth the effort and valuable.

鈥淭his is our responsibility,鈥 Berg says. 鈥淔uture dentists must be highly skilled and deeply compassionate.鈥

Move over, Jackson knows these steps are milestones towards improvement. 鈥淚n the School of Dentistry, we pride ourselves on excellence 鈥 whether as practitioners, researchers and teachers,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hese are our steps towards being excellent citizens, and you can鈥檛 be excellent without diversity and inclusion.鈥

iSchool鈥檚 diversity initiatives are all-inclusive

iSchool Diversity Summit

Sunny Kim worked in nonprofits for 10 years before returning to school for a Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree. Despite a personal passion for diversity, Kim hadn鈥檛 anticipated putting a lot of energy into shaping the culture of the iSchool, because change at an institution its size could take years.

Kim was pleasantly surprised. Now an (iDA), Kim is part of a group of volunteer undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students who act as contacts for prospective students.

鈥淲hat I鈥檝e noticed about the iSchool is that they both value our feedback and incorporate it and then try to continue to check in as things develop as much as possible,鈥 Kim says. 鈥淎nd that is really impressive to me. The iSchool backs up words with actions.鈥

Kim, along with other students, staff and faculty have volunteered for the , which stands for iSchool diversity, equity and access. It is part of the UW鈥檚 Race and Equity Initiative, launched in spring 2015 by President Ana Mari Cauce.

Cynthia del Rosario鈥淭he challenge from the president was to address racial bias among units, as well as having people address their own bias. How we do that was left open, so we could be as innovative and creative as possible,鈥 says Cynthia del Rosario (pictured), the iSchool鈥檚 diversity programs advisor for the past 10 years.

鈥淭he first step was to put a call out to our faculty, staff and students to submit ideas for integrating diversity events, workshops, courses that would be equitable for everyone,鈥 says del Rosario. 鈥淲e put a comprehensive plan together and submitted it for funding.鈥

The university offered an incentive in the form of matching grants to fund ideas across all units and campuses. The $15,000 awarded to the iSchool in 2016 is now going to fund a variety of workshops, seminars, and outreach efforts.

Impacting the Student Experience

One such effort was a workshop to help student group leaders examine race, bias and equity issues coming from their own 91探花student colleagues and learn how to recognize and react appropriately. Participants in these sessions went on to share their knowledge and skills through Bafa Bafa, a simulation exercise aimed to improve cross鈥恈ultural competence by understanding the impact of culture on the behavior of people and organizations.

Brittney HoyBrittney Hoy (pictured), president of Winfo (Women in Informatics) felt an immediate impact. In particular, her session explored the concept of privilege and helped her think about it in a new way.

鈥淚鈥檝e always known privilege and racism existed, but through these events I鈥檓 learning what it means and how to be more sensitive to people. Just because it isn鈥檛 happening to me doesn鈥檛 mean it isn鈥檛 happening to them.鈥

Many students feel this topic is particularly important at the iSchool because the knowledge they gain about bias and privilege is useful in their careers when serving the broader community. iSchool graduates work in a variety of organizational settings including libraries, nonprofits and the tech industry. Their diversity work will shape interactions with people and the products and services they build.

鈥淚 have that ability to create change and it feels really good to potentially change someone鈥檚 life,鈥 says Royce Le, Informatics student and Director of Diversity Efforts for the Informatics student group (IUGA).

Le, who grew up in Federal Way, Washington, says his community did not have the resources for student clubs and technology. His long-term goal is to build a community center with the latest technologies and best teachers to show people how to use those technologies effectively.

In the meantime, he would like to bring his passion for diversity to the workplace. He plans to work as a designer in the tech industry. 鈥淢y goal is to be cognizant of these things so when I build applications, I can incorporate it into their design and words 鈥 introduce concepts, but also actions.鈥

The iSchool Ph.D. program is sponsoring three workshops that lend practical skills to teaching and job searches. Topics include: how to be a teacher鈥檚 assistant in a diverse classroom; how to write a diversity statement that meaningfully articulates their personal experiences; and a research lightning round to help them handle constructive feedback from peers and faculty.

鈥淧art of the touchy subject about race in America is just talking about it. So we wanted to create an atmosphere to help people understand how to do that,鈥 says Ver贸nica Guajardo, a Ph.D. candidate.

鈥淔or us to feel like this is a place where we can succeed, this is a place where we belong, integrating diversity at the iSchool will help with doctoral student retention, help us be happier, and will bring diverse ideas to the program,鈥 says Guajardo.

Ph.D. students will also benefit from the writing retreats offered for faculty and doctoral students doing research in diversity. During the six-day retreats at the Whitely Center in Friday Harbor, mornings are aside for writing and afternoons for connecting, community鈥恇uilding and mentoring.

鈥淥ne of the things that is challenging for faculty and aspiring faculty is finding time to write. This will allow our Ph.D. students in particular to do more writing so that their CV is as good as it can be,鈥 says Joseph Tennis, associate dean for faculty affairs.

Diversity in the Curriculum

Del Rosario is leading the effort in the iSchool to integrate . This can take the form of a specific course, but the long-term goal is to have a diversity-related element in every course students take.

The strategy is to start by reviewing syllabi of faculty who are teaching core courses or highly enrolled electives in order to suggest ways to integrate diversity into course content, assignments and the structure of the classrooms. Faculty participate, along with invited alumni, 91探花colleagues and community professionals who have knowledge of the information field and expertise in diversity.

For the MLIS program, this resulted in additional courses.

Jin Ha Lee鈥淚n a lot of MLIS courses, diversity is the backbone,鈥 says Jin Ha Lee (pictured), MLIS chair. 鈥淥ne of the things we鈥檝e added next year is a new social justice course, and we will be adding a 1-credit seminar on cultural competency this summer.鈥

It also makes practical sense. 鈥淢any of our students go to public institutions where they serve a very diverse group of people and we need to be careful and respectful about our interactions,鈥 she said.

The iSchool also plans to create courses on diversity that could go beyond the iSchool to other 91探花employees.

iDiversity University, to debut this summer, will offer an online course, 鈥淚ntro to iSchool Diversity鈥 or 鈥渋Diversity 101,鈥 designed to help people navigate the diversity conversations at the iSchool. 聽Faculty, with a team of iSchool students, will develop several videos, supplemented with articles, websites, and other resources.

Building Skills for Staff and Faculty

Every year for the past six years, the iSchool has held a Diversity Summit (pictured at top). The event attracts 90鈥100 students, faculty and staff, with themes that vary depending on current affairs.

Greg Taylor, founder of Community Connections Consulting and former 91探花vice provost, will facilitate the 2017 summit on the theme of Race, Bias and Dissonance. Taylor facilitated the student leadership workshop, a student services staff workshop, and faculty conversations about how to have hard but critical conversations about race, bias and true equity in the curriculum and classrooms.

An added program this year provided an opportunity for all staff and faculty to attend a retreat about tribal sovereignty. The iSchool was the first unit at the 91探花to do so. Mystique Hurtado, executive assistant in the Governor鈥檚 Office of Indian Affairs, led the session with support from iSchool alumnus Ross Braine, 91探花w菨色菨b蕯altx史 (Intellectual House) Director and 91探花OMAD鈥檚 tribal liaison.

The tribal sovereignty retreat supports one of the strategic areas at the iSchool, Native North American Indigenous Knowledge. The 91探花iSchool is the first information school to honor the treaties of indigenous populations by having an information science program that studies and celebrates the intersection of information, technology, and Native communities.

Beyond the Classroom

Inclusivity means educating the broader community about the iSchool鈥檚 work. Two efforts are underway to reach out to immigrant parents and bring the school鈥檚 work to children in fun and innovative summer programs.

One of the challenges in the Informatics program is helping the families of students, many of them first-generation scholars, to understand the information field in ways that connect culturally to the community, describe career options, and highlight employers and the salary range of recent iSchool alumni.

To solve this problem, students decided to create one-page information brochures for parents whose first language is not English. The first set of brochures, translated by iSchool students, are in Vietnamese, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Korean and Somali.

The impact and effectiveness of the program will be monitored and more languages will be added as needed.

A summer camp, called , aims to improve attitudes about reading among children and their parents from underrepresented communities and to eliminate illiteracy altogether. Michelle Martin, Beverly Cleary Professor in Children鈥檚 and Youth Services, in partnership with Compass Housing Alliance and Gethsemane Lutheran Church, is leading the summer program, which utilizes children鈥檚 and young adult books as the springboard for program activities to teach kids to love books through fun, themed literacy immersion experiences.

Del Rosario summed up her approach in the iDEA project in this way: 鈥淲e look for small wins 鈥 building diversity into your everyday behavior. Everybody wants immediate change 鈥 we want to increase diversity by 25 percent in one year 鈥 but that isn鈥檛 likely. When we change our culture by making authentic changes in individuals, we will see results over time.鈥

Video Now Available! Speech and Counter Speech: Rights & Responsibilities on Jan 10, 2017

Michele Storms, 聽 former assistant dean for public service & executive director W.H. Gates Public Service Law Program
collins
Ron Collins, Harold S. Shefelman Scholar at 91探花School of Law
Nadine_Strossen-235x225-235x224
Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law at New York Law School Immediate Past President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)

On January 10, 2017 the Race & 聽Equity Initiative hosted three renowned educators and lawyers for a discussion about First Amendment rights and the meaning of free speech in the context of higher education. UWTV captured the discussion on video. Please feel free to use and distribute for educational purposes.

 

https://youtu.be/UfGs7slIxUA

Standing Together

Ana Mari Cauce

The work of a university like ours 鈥 preserving, advancing and creating knowledge, as well as serving our public mission 鈥 聽is especially critical in these times of uncertainty and rapid change. A healthy democracy, founded on inalienable freedoms and a commitment to the common good, doesn鈥檛 simply materialize. It is the product of critical thinking, evidence-based argument, reasoned dialogue and the free and open exchange of ideas. These tenets and values are central to our University鈥檚 fundamental purpose, ones we must model and teach. Sixty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that 鈥渢he function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically,鈥 but to that assertion he added the caveat that, 鈥淚ntelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character 鈥 that is the goal of true education.

The 91探花must create and nurture the conditions for learning and character to develop and bloom. This happens best in an environment that is free of xenophobia, bigotry and harassment. It happens when all members of our community feel included, knowing they can make a contribution regardless of their area of study or scholarship, or their social, political or religious views. Put simply:
No matter who you are, where you鈥檙e from, whom you love, where or whether you worship, or any other aspect of your identity, we welcome your contributions to helping the 91探花 maintain its commitment to access and excellence, to building a better and more equitable future, and creating a world of good.

I am deeply aware of 鈥 and share 鈥 the concerns that recent events have raised for our community about the safety, security and freedom of many, especially, but not exclusively, our international students, whether on visas or green cards; undocumented students; immigrants; Muslims; and LGBTQ people. We are committed to and working on providing support to those individuals who are directly affected by any changes in national policy as well as to our broader community. You are not alone and we value the richness of perspectives and the expertise you bring. In the sidebar, you will find links to a wide array of University resources and support networks where you can find information as well as help and guidance.

We are also working together with other universities and professional associations including , and the , of which we鈥檙e members, to call for sound and reasonable policies that enable international students and scholars to continue to contribute to our country鈥檚 and the world鈥檚 intellectual, cultural and economic vitality.

In just the last few days, I observed breakthrough scientific work with life-saving potential carried out by a Muslim immigrant from Syria; received medical treatment from one of our doctors who immigrated here from India; worked side by side on developing strategies for student support with staff members who were African American, lesbian and gay; and worked with both Republicans and Democrats in Olympia on important issues affecting higher education. This is what inclusion and pluralism look like, and these and countless other interactions inform my work and make our University better.

This is a dynamic and tumultuous time, with new policies, potential policies and rumors about policies coming at us on an almost daily basis. I do not anticipate sending out a University-wide email responding to every change in policy, or every unsettling event, but you can聽find updates here on my blog and on the . 聽also remains an outstanding source of information on the range of teaching, research and service that takes place every day at our University.

And don鈥檛 forget to make the time to enjoy each other and the many energizing events and activities throughout all our campuses. It is the life-affirming moments that we spend together that will help us better deal with the stresses and strains that are part of our daily life, but that are magnified with uncertainty and change.

The principles at the heart of our 91探花community are enduring and we will uphold them steadfastly. I invite and encourage you to stay engaged, to stand together as a University and honor the values that make the 91探花 great.

OMA&D Releases Diversity Blueprint for 2017-2021

The 91探花鈥檚 Diversity Blueprint articulates the tri-campus community鈥檚 aspirations for becoming a truly inclusive and equitable environment for learning, research, service, and outreach.

The Diversity Blueprint begins with the 91探花鈥檚 , a body composed of faculty, staff, and students from across all academic and administrative units, which is charged with advising the on campus diversity issues. In 2010, the Diversity Council responded to the campus community鈥檚 calls for the creation of a comprehensive plan that would guide the 91探花 toward achieving its for diversity and inclusion. In the spirit of those calls, a Diversity Blueprint was developed to challenge the University to live up to its mission of valuing diverse perspectives, creating a welcoming learning environment for all students, and promoting broad access and equal opportunity.

 

Video Now Available! Speech and Counter Speech: Rights & Responsibilities on Jan 10, 2017

Michele Storms, 聽 former assistant dean for public service & executive director W.H. Gates Public Service Law Program
collins
Ron Collins, Harold S. Shefelman Scholar at 91探花School of Law
Nadine_Strossen-235x225-235x224
Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law at New York Law School Immediate Past President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)

On January 10, 2017 the Race & 聽Equity Initiative hosted three renowned educators and lawyers for a discussion about First Amendment rights and the meaning of free speech in the context of higher education. UWTV captured the discussion on video. Please feel free to use and distribute for educational purposes.

https://youtu.be/UfGs7slIxUA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Message From Ana Mari Cauce: Our Shared Ideals

In the aftermath of this very close and highly contentious election, I want to take this moment to reaffirm our University鈥檚 commitment to our mission of education, discovery, healing and public service. I also聽want to reaffirm our ongoing and unwavering support toward creating and nurturing an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community. It is central to our commitment to equity, access and excellence, and it is essential to building a better future for us all. Here at the 91探花, we hold sacred our responsibility to serve the public good, and that will never waver.

As an immigrant, Latina, lesbian, I can understand why some in our community may be feeling marginalized, threatened or afraid. It has been a very difficult election season for us all. Now is the time to look for and find the best in each other, reach out across our differences and come together as a community. It will take hard work, intellectual honesty, kindness, respect, generosity and compassion to heal this divided country and world. I know that some of you are already gathering in small groups to do that. Today, perhaps more than any other in recent history, these values must be held up as the ideals we share. We can, and must, create a more perfect union.

For those who wish to spend time with community tonight, the will hold a gathering at 6聽p.m. in the ECC Unity Room.

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