What is Diversity?
"In North America, the word “diversity” is strongly associated with racial diversity. However, that is just one dimension of the human reality. We also differ in gender, language, manners and culture, social roles, sexual orientation, education, skills, income, and countless other domains." -Greater Good Science Center, Berkeley
What is diversity?
"...diversity is understood as a desirable and expansive concept. Diversity as used by governments or even associations to mean “minority communities” or “the historically underrepresented” or “historically oppressed” is far too narrow here. We understand diversity to mean diversity of opinion, diversity of thought, diversity of gender and of gender expression and the lack thereof. This expansive diversity is valued here because we believe that the greater the pool of experiences, values, ways of knowing, beliefs, abilities and more, that we embrace, the better our outcomes, our decisions, and our impact." AALL Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Awareness Committee Membership Survey 2021.
Read: Books & Articles
- The Inclusion HabitBy Amanda J Felkey, PhD, Profiles in Diversity Journal, January 17, 2020
This evidence-based solution transfers inclusion work to the individual, and focuses on changing behaviors and habits. The program is designed to help individuals be proactive in making their behavior more inclusive through six habit-building phases—embracing that inclusion matters, understanding biases and their sources, dispersing the negativity associated with unconscious biases, practicing thinking more deliberately, reprogramming incorrect intuitions about others, and becoming more empathetic. It uses small daily activities designed to mitigate biases and microaggressions, while creating new habits of understanding, empathy, and inclusion.
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.
What Does It Mean to Be White? by Call Number: Peabody, Stacks HT1575 .D53 2016ISBN: 9781433131103Publication Date: 2016-06-15What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is deeply divided by race? In the face of pervasive racial inequality and segregation, most white people cannot answer that question. In the second edition of this seminal text, Robin DiAngelo reveals the factors that make this question so difficult: mis-education about what racism is; ideologies such as individualism and colorblindness; segregation; and the belief that to be complicit in racism is to be an immoral person. These factors contribute to what she terms white racial illiteracy. Speaking as a white person to other white people, DiAngelo clearly and compellingly takes readers through an analysis of white socialization. Weaving research, analysis, stories, images, and familiar examples, she provides the framework needed to develop white racial literacy. She describes how race shapes the lives of white people, explains what makes racism so hard to see, identifies common white racial patterns, and speaks back to popular narratives that work to deny racism. Written as an accessible overview on white identity from an anti-racist framework, What Does It Mean to Be White? is an invaluable resource for members of diversity and anti-racism programs and study groups, and students of sociology, psychology, education, and other disciplines. This revised edition features two new chapters, including one on DiAngelo's influential concept of white fragility. Written to be accessible both within and without academia, this revised edition also features discussion questions, an index, and a glossary.
- A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States (Howard University)This guide offers a history of various movements by citizens in the United States to gain political and social freedom and equality. It highlights resources available through HUSL Library and HU Libraries, as well as a selection freely accessible Internet resources with a focus on authoritative content from civil rights organizations and government entities.
Watch: Webinars & Trainings
Engage
- 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. - Toward Inclusive Excellence (TIE)Toward Inclusive Excellence explores issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, particularly, though not exclusively, as they affect the academic library community. This new content strand will incorporate weekly blog posts as well as occasional podcasts and webinars, in which contributors will explore the intricacies of racial identity as they relate to implicit bias, systemic racism, and ableism, among other pertinent topics. Among the goals of this channel is the development of a pool of knowledge and actionable resources for information professionals, undergraduates, and faculty seeking to understand racism from new perspectives and promote racial justice on their campuses.
Vanderbilt Resources
- Equal Opportunity and AccessFor faculty & staff
- Equity, Diversity and InclusionVanderbilt office for entire community
- Mapping Access Mapping Access engages users as experts in the design process to generate surveys, collect data, create new mapping methods, and build a commitment toward broad accessibility. Typical approaches to accessibility focus on issues of code compliance and checklists of standards. Instead, this project draws upon the analytic frameworks of intersectionality and disability justice, as well as Universal Design methodology, to craft alternative standards for meaningful access.
- Rooted in Learning - Employee Learning & Engagement E-Newsletter This 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.
