Best Practices for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education
Introduction
In an era marked by rapidly evolving demographics and a heightened awareness of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become critical imperatives for institutions of higher education. The establishment of dedicated DEI offices on campuses across the nation signals a growing commitment to fostering more inclusive and equitable learning environments. However, the mere presence of such offices is insufficient to guarantee meaningful and lasting change. This article explores best practices for ensuring that DEI efforts are authentic, sustainable, effective, and impactful, ultimately driving student success and institutional excellence.
Defining Meaningful and Sustainable DEI
What does meaningful, sustainable diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging look like? It involves a fundamental shift in campus culture where DEI is not viewed as an add-on but as core to the mission of excellence. It's about maximizing the potential of everyone in the community, ensuring that all members feel valued, respected, and empowered to succeed.
Key Principles for Effective DEI Initiatives
Several key principles underpin successful DEI initiatives in higher education:
DEI as a Shared Responsibility: DEI should not be confined to the diversity office but embraced as a shared responsibility across all levels of the institution, from the top administration and Board of Trustees to faculty, staff, and students. A shared sense of accountability is crucial for driving collective action and fostering a culture of inclusivity.
Institutional Commitment: Make an individual and institutional commitment to becoming more knowledgeable about DEI practices. Seek out learning opportunities such as the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education and the White Privilege Conference to name a few. All HERC members can participate in complimentary regional HERC conferences and on-demand and live webinars - many with a focus on DEI.
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Data-Driven Decision Making: The first step to solving a problem is to name it, understand the extent, and determine who it affects. Conducting regular organizational assessments to measure DEI on campus will help guide institutional planning and resource allocation.
Transparency and Accountability: Even the best-laid plans can go awry. It won’t be possible to get everyone on campus playing from the same DEI playbook, but individuals at institutions can practice accountability for decisions made, actions taken, and the outcomes of those decisions and actions. When any outcomes are unfavorable to DEI on campus it is imperative to be transparent, take swift and meaningful responsibility, and have a plan to get back on track.
Collaboration and Partnerships: So much can be gained from working collaboratively within your institution. It isn’t enough to have a well written DEI statement or plan - everyone must know about it, be invested in it, and understand their role in DEI. To truly influence the institutional changes needed to establish diverse, equitable, and inclusive working and learning environments, there must be opportunities for collaboration across the entire institution.
Practical Strategies for Advancing DEI
Institutions can implement a range of practical strategies to advance DEI on their campuses:
Cultivating Inclusive Classrooms: An inclusive learning environment helps all students feel equally valued and respected. When a child steps into the classroom and doesn't see representations of their family, language, or culture in their storybooks, that's how exclusivity can begin.
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- Use Inclusive Language: Using inclusive language shows appreciation for the diversity everyone brings to the classroom. Remember that how you solicit discussion in the classroom is a form of communication, too.
- Set Expectations of Respect: Begin each course with explicit statements about the expectation of respect and consideration for all perspectives and experiences, and set the expectation of collaboration.
- Inclusivity Statement in the Course Syllabus: Articulate why being inclusive matters to you and how it pertains to your desired classroom climate.
- Provide Relevant Examples of Multicultural Perspectives: Providing multicultural examples in your coursework and discussion exposes students to perspectives they may not have considered before.
- Be a Role Model of Inclusive Behavior: It’s vital that faculty model inclusive, equitable behavior.
- Develop a Space That Is Culturally Sustainable: Curriculum instruction should be culturally sustainable for marginalized and underrepresented groups in higher education.
- Connect to Home and Community: Understanding and connecting coursework to the homes and communities of students becomes increasingly important as the discussion about inclusivity in higher education continues.
Supporting Students with Disabilities: Disability-diversity on college campuses is no longer optional-it is an expectation. Students entering college today have grown up with the ADA and they have witnessed inclusion and mainstreaming of students with disabilities their entire lives. Becoming an inclusive community takes work at all levels-from the top administration and Board of Trustees, to faculty and staff, to students. This new guide outlines specific actions that all institutions can take to create an inclusive environment for students whether in-person or online. This comprehensive tool for colleges, universities, and other institutes of higher education provides a framework for ensuring full inclusion in classrooms and on campus.
- Applying Universal Design Principles: Applying universal design principles to all campus offerings. In an era of rapidly changing demographics, many campuses have begun diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These efforts focus on developing products and environments for all students while recognizing that those from underrepresented groups, such as students with disabilities, have additional barriers in securing an equitable education.
- Equitable use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
- Flexibility in use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
- Simple and intuitive use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
- Perceptible information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.
- Tolerance for error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
- Low physical effort: The design can be used efficiently, comfortably, and with a minimum of fatigue.
- Size and space for approach and use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of the user’s body size, posture, or mobility.
- Applying Universal Design Principles: Applying universal design principles to all campus offerings. In an era of rapidly changing demographics, many campuses have begun diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These efforts focus on developing products and environments for all students while recognizing that those from underrepresented groups, such as students with disabilities, have additional barriers in securing an equitable education.
Addressing Systemic Inequities: The American education system has, historically, marginalized groups of students. Certain student populations - specifically Black or African American students, Indigenous, or Hispanic or Latino students - have not necessarily been valued, integrated, or included in the educational landscape. This disparity can start as early as preschool and continue all the way through higher education.
Staying Informed and Sharing Best Practices: Stay informed by seeking out information about what other colleges and universities are doing to advance DEI. Share your institutional best practices on DEI. Reach out to your professional network when you need inspiration or when you need to set aspirational goals for your institution.
Resources for DEI in Higher Education
Numerous resources are available to support DEI efforts in higher education:
Professional Organizations: Consider joining a campus committee to further DEI planning and practices at your institution. Also, if you don’t belong already, join organizations like HERC and the Consortium for Faculty Diversity.
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Publications: Print and electronic publications such as Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, INSIGHT into Diversity, the Journal on Diversity in Higher Education have rich content that explores all aspects of DEI in higher education. A quarterly publication of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. Use interlibrary loan to request articles and books not owned by USC. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education is a regional organization created by the Western Regional Education Compact and adopted in the 1950s by Western states. Keeps scholars, academic leaders, and public policymakers abreast of critical issues facing higher education today. If you are involved in higher education workforce recruitment, development, advancement, and retention, you know DEI is an important topic.
Online Resources: We particularly encourage looking for online resources generated by higher education institutions, often their teaching centers, with the expectations to find well-vetted resources with direct application to teaching and learning in higher education. At times, they include glossaries of DEI terminology that may provide you with effective keywords to find and filter additional resources. Several higher education institutions have created Massive Open Online Courses MOOCs that are available via Coursera or edX, for instance. While obtaining a certificate will cost money, just participating in the MOOCs is free. Often, these MOOCs run for several weeks at a time and require some commitment to complete; sometimes they are facilitated and/or cohort-based. Many higher education libraries have created helpful guides, often called subject guides, to DEI resources. These are particularly helpful because most include guidance and suggestions for search strategies and extensive keyword or subject heading suggestions, which is helpful for finding DEI resources in any context. Some library guides include definitions or short glossaries. These library guides can even be helpful if you may not have full access to the respective institution’s library resources. They can show you what’s out there and you can work with your local libraries to obtain the materials. Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER) are a growing sector with amazing resources. OA means that the materials are available to all. OER means that anyone also has the permission to use and customize the materials. Many institutional libraries will let you apply a filter for OA to search for DEI materials. Refine the settings to prioritize resources from your own institution because you are likely to have full access to them. If you have adjusted the settings to feature your own institution’s resources, the search results will include a link at the right side of the search results with a direct link to the full text available through your institution.
The Role of Leadership in Driving DEI
Effective leadership is paramount to driving DEI initiatives forward. Leaders must champion DEI as a core value, allocate resources to support DEI efforts, and hold themselves and others accountable for progress.
Student-Led Initiatives
Especially to your student groups. The American Council on Education (ACE) released findings from a study titled, “Racial Climate on Campus: A Survey of College Presidents,” which found that 53 percent of presidents at four-year institutions and 87 percent at two-year institutions say students have organized around concerns about racial diversity. These findings prove that student-led efforts to abolish racism and increase diversity on campus are likely to confront American colleges and universities for the foreseeable future. Many insights can be gained from listening to students from traditionally underrepresented groups. They are often at the forefront of equality matters and leaders in ideas for change.
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