What is Equity?
What is equity?
"...equity is meant as equal access. We strive to be an association that offers equal access to its resources — be they human, monetary, intellectual or symbolic — without regard to anything other than Association Membership. Where we identify failings, we strive to dismantle barriers to true equity." AALL Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Awareness Committee Membership Survey 2021
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Read: Books & Articles
Is Everyone Really Equal? by Call Number: Available OnlineISBN: 0807758612Publication Date: 2017-07-28This is the new edition of the award-winning guide to social justice education. Based on the authors' extensive experience in a range of settings in the United States and Canada, the book addresses the most common stumbling blocks to understanding social justice. This comprehensive resource includes new features such as a chapter on intersectionality and classism; discussion of contemporary activism (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, and Idle No More); material on White Settler societies and colonialism; pedagogical supports related to "common social patterns" and "vocabulary to practice using"; and extensive updates throughout. Accessible to students from high school through graduate school, Is Everyone Really Equal? is a detailed and engaging textbook and professional development resource presenting the key concepts in social justice education. The text includes many user-friendly features, examples, and vignettes to not just define but illustrate the concepts. Book Features: Definition Boxes that define key terms. Stop Boxes to remind readers of previously explained ideas. Perspective Check Boxes to draw attention to alternative standpoints. Discussion Questions and Extension Activities for using the book in a class, workshop, or study group. A Glossary of terms and guide to language use.
The Enduring Legacy by ISBN: 9780472054688Publication Date: 2020-09-02Enduring Legacy describes a multifaceted paradox--a constant struggle between those who espouse a message of hope and inclusion and others who systematically plan for exclusion. Structured inequality in the nation's schools is deeply connected to social stratification within American society. This paradox began in the eighteenth century and has proved an enduring legacy. Mark Ryan provides historical, political, and pedagogical contexts for teacher candidates--not only to comprehend the nature of racial segregation but, as future educators, to understand their own professional responsibilities, both in the community and in the school, to strive for an integrated classroom where all children have a chance to succeed. The goal of providing every child a world-class education is an ethical imperative, an inherent necessity for a functioning pluralistic democracy. The challenge is both great and growing, for teachers today will face an evermore segregated American classroom.
Intellectual Empathy: Critical Thinking for Social Justice by ISBN: 9780472121045Publication Date: 2014Intellectual Empathy provides a step-by-step method for facilitating discussions of socially divisive issues. Maureen Linker, a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, developed Intellectual Empathy after more than a decade of teaching critical thinking in metropolitan Detroit, one of the most racially and economically divided urban areas, at the crossroads of one of the Midwest’s largest Muslim communities. The skills acquired through Intellectual Empathy have proven to be significant for students who pursue careers in education, social work, law, business, and medicine.
Now, Linker shows educators, activists, business managers, community leaders—anyone working toward fruitful dialogues about social differences—how potentially transformative conversations break down and how they can be repaired. Starting from Socrates’s injunction know thyself, Linker explains why interrogating our own beliefs is essential. In contrast to traditional approaches in logic that devalue emotion, Linker acknowledges the affective aspects of reasoning and how emotion is embedded in our understanding of self and other. Using examples from classroom dialogues, online comment forums, news media, and diversity training workshops, readers learn to recognize logical fallacies and critically, yet empathically, assess their own social biases, as well as the structural inequalities that perpetuate social injustice and divide us from each other.
- Research Library Issues, no. 301 (2020): Diversity, Equity, and InclusionWith a heightened awareness of too-long-existing systemic societal inequities and a renewed commitment to enduring social justice, particularly as it relates to racism and systems of oppression, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) reviewed and deepened its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all it does. This new issue of Research Libraries Issues (RLI) reflects that commitment, offering a range of perspectives on how libraries and archives can create and sustain organizational change in support of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Watch: Webinars & Trainings
- Courageous Conversations: Making the Bad Apples Good and the Good Apples BetterAARP Tennessee knows we’re all trying to do our best to embrace our differences. To help with this journey, we’ve partnered with Cultural and Career Strategist Derek Young and the National Museum for African-American Music for a two-part series to talk about the part we all play in creating and cultivating equitable relationships and how music can help bring us together.
- Courageous Conversations: The Power of Possible SimilaritiesAARP Tennessee knows we're all trying to do our best to embrace our differences. To help with this journey, we've partnered with Cultural and Career Strategist Derek Young and the National Museum for African-American Music for a two-part series to talk about the part we all playing creating and cultivating equitable relationships and how music can bring us together.
- Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Libraries: Progress and PromiseEquity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives and practices have been at the forefront of library services for several years. However, now we need to ask ourselves, are we not only talking the talk, but walking the walk when it comes to EDI. Are the EDI initiatives and plans we developed years ago actually working? Are we seeing an impact from these efforts in our communities and among our staff?
Join Amigos Library Services on December 2, 2020 for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Libraries: Progress and Promise? We will take a closer look at EDI and explore what initiatives in your library have worked, ones that have not.
For more information about this conference, contact Jodie Borgerding, borgerding@amigos.org or (972) 340-2897. - The Inclusion HabitThe world has seen drastic changes in recent months — first a global pandemic that has changed how people engage with one another, and then weeks of protests against the injustices facing underprivileged communities. To address the diversity, equity and inclusion concerns that have been highlighted in these national conversations, higher ed leaders must address their own biases and support inclusive practices on campus.
Dr. Amanda J. Felkey will share how small daily activities can modify behavior and create new habits of understanding, empathy and inclusion. Given how individuals retain information, this habit-building solution has the potential to take us beyond the limits of traditional diversity-and-inclusion programming.
Engage
- The Inclusion Habit - ProHabitsBuilding Habits to Promote Equity for Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday.
Commit 2 minutes per day to build more inclusive habits and treat others more equitably. - AALL Antiracism, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Social Justice ResourcesMany libraries have put together LibGuides or other resources in support of diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, antiracism, etc. On this page, the RIPS-SIS of AALL (Research Instruction & Patron Services Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries) is collecting these resources to showcase our librarians and to create a repository and single place to find all of them.
Reflect
- LYRASIS 2020 DEI Survey Results ReportLYRASIS has released a report of the results on the LYRASIS 2020 DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Survey. Authored by Hannah Rosen, Strategist for Research and Scholarly Communication, and Jill Grogg, Strategist for Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, the report is based on a survey conducted in May 2020. The report can be accessed on the LYRASIS website.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as an aggregate present both opportunities and challenges for cultural heritage organizations. The goal of the survey was to map the landscape of DEI policies and initiatives in GLAM institutions across the United States. In an effort to gauge current policies and practices regarding DEI, LYRASIS surveyed its membership of more than 1,000 galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) institutions about their activities in three distinct areas: policy and infrastructure; recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse staff; and maintaining/building diverse collections.
This report provides institutions with an opportunity to see where their efforts fall amongst the activities of their peers, a potential method for categorizing DEI initiatives assess whether those initiatives are effective. The report also identifies trends across a wide range of libraries, including:
• Libraries appear to be widely and actively thinking about DEI, at least insofar as the overwhelming majority have some sort of plan that incorporates specific DEI goals and objectives.
• The majority of libraries provide training/professional development on topics such as sexual harassment, implicit bias, conflict resolution, active bystander, and discrimination, but most of it is optional rather than required.
• Access to resources such as staff time and money is a critical factor in an organization’s ability to focus on DEI efforts and leaders at all levels within an organization have tremendous influence over whether DEI initiatives are pursued.
Vanderbilt Resources
- Equal Opportunity and AccessFor faculty & staff
- Equity, Diversity and InclusionVanderbilt office for entire community
- Rooted in Learning - Employee Learning & Engagement E-NewsletterThis newsletter is distributed to members of CHRP and other selected units within the Division of Administration. We encourage sharing this content with your teams and colleagues across the institution. Anyone wishing to opt-in to this distribution list may do so by emailing ele@vanderbilt.edu.
