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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Inclusivity Statement

Land Acknowledgement: “This public acknowledgment serves to honor and respect Indigenous peoples and their land on which our campus resides. UC San Diego was built upon the territory of the Kumeyaay Nation. From time immemorial, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. Today, the Kumeyaay people continue to maintain their political sovereignty and cultural traditions as vital members of the San Diego community.”

Student Life is dedicated to empowering leaders for a just and humane world by cultivating a community that is anti-racist, and supports people and their intersecting cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, religious, socioeconomic status, age, (dis)ability, and currently unnamed identities. In addressing systemic injustices, we continue our commitment to addressing historically pervasive anti-blackness within our spheres of influence. We acknowledge diversity is an intersectional, active process to create understanding across differences, and not an end result. We encourage both staff and students to increase their awareness and engagement with diversity by creating an environment that promotes both inclusion and advocacy. We create such opportunities through a variety of programs, services, and resources focused on an intentional and critical recognition of historically marginalized experiences, dynamics of power and privilege, and social justice. As part of our commitment to recognizing diversity as an active process and not an end result, we will annually review our diversity-related policies and programs to determine their impact and adjust them as necessary, in order to continue to live out our dedication to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Glossary of Terms

The following are the terms and definitions that will be guiding the work of Student Life on the path to seeking equity, diversity, and inclusion:

  • Advocacy: Uplifting voices and perspectives for those who are not given the same opportunity to do so due to disadvantage and unequal access.

    • Source: What is Social Advocacy? (n.d.). Retrieved from Do Gooder.

  • Anti-Black Racism: It is a two-part formation that both voids Blackness of value, while systematically marginalizing Black people and their issues. The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism. Beneath this anti-Black racism is the covert structural and systemic racism which categorically predetermines the socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The structure is held in place by anti-Black policies, institutions, and ideologies.

  • Anti-Racism: Anti-racism is the practice of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism at all levels. Anti racism begins with understanding the institutional nature of racial matters and accepting that all actors in a racialized society are affected materially (receive benefits or disadvantages) and ideologically by the racial structure.

    • Source: Anti-Racism Defined. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2020, from Alberta Civil Liberties Research Center.

    • Source: Bonilla‐Silva, E. 2003. Racism without racists: color‐blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States, Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

  • Equity: The fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all -- while at the same time identifying and removing barriers that have prevented the full participation of specific groups of people.

    • Source: Kapila, M., Hines, E., & Searby, M. (2016, October 06). Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter. Retrieved August 04, 2020, from Independent Sector.

  • Diversity: The wide range of national, ethnic, racial and other backgrounds of U.S. residents and immigrants as social groupings, co-existing in American culture. The term is often used to include aspects of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class and much more.

    • Source: Institute for Democratic Renewal and Project Change Anti-Racism Initiative. A Community Builder's Tool Kit.

  • Inclusion: Inclusion authentically brings traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities and decision/policy making.

    • Source: Crossroads Charlotte Individual Initiative Scorecard for Organizations Scorecard Overview, revised 3/12/07.

  • Intersectionality: The study of intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. The ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.

    • Source: Adapted from: Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 1241-1299.

  • Privilege: Privilege refers to power and advantages benefiting a group, which have been derived from the historical oppression and exploitation of other groups. It also includes the unearned access to resources only readily available to some people, as a result of their group membership.

    • Source: Parvis, L. (2013). Understanding Cultural Diversity in Today's Complex World (5th ed., p. 169). Embrace Publications; Adams, M., Bell, L., & Griffin, P. (1997). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

  • Social Justice: Both a process and a goal. The goal of social justice is equal and full participation of all groups in society, shaped to meet their needs. In a socially just society, members can self-determinate and be interdependent at the same time. It includes both a recognition of self-agency, and a recognition of social responsibility toward others, their society, and the world at large.

    • Source: Bell, L. A. (2007). Theoretical Foundation for Social Justice Education. In Adams, M.A., Bell. L.A., & Griffin, P. (Eds). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (2nd Ed.), NY: Routledge).