A primary function of the Office of Inclusive Community is to promote the use of equity-mindedness throughout all facets of higher education and workplace policies, practices, procedures, curriculum, norms, etc. We want all of our faculty and staff to view their work through an equity-mindset in order to advance diversity and inclusion. So what is equity-mindedness? Well, first you need to understand what equity is. The Center for Urban Education provides a great series of illustrations to define equity. The graphics explain equity and inequity based on the student experience, but you can generalize their explanation to the faculty and staff experience as well.

Most of us like to think we live in a world where if we treat all people equally, they will have the opportunity to succeed. If we all just work hard, we will have everything we need to succeed.

But the world isn’t equal, because individuals are born into varying sets of circumstances with varying privileges. Person 1 may be born into a family that is middle class, while Person 2 is born into a family that is lower socioeconomic class. Through no doing of their own, Person 1 has built-in privileges that Person 2 does not.

On top of the varying circumstances and privileges people are born into, this world comes with hierarchy, inherent bias, and systemic oppression. Say Person 2, who was born into a lower socioeconomic class, is also born into a marginalized community… now Person 2 faces additional barriers to success and upward social mobility on top of the difficulties associated with low income.

As we work to increase diversity in our institutions, we cannot forget to implement equity and inclusion. Our institutions have been built in such a way as to work best for white male populations.  Afterall, that is who originally built the institutions and who the institutions were built for.

An equitable institution will examine resource distribution to ensure those resources are allocated to the communities who have the greatest need. They will provide extra support to those communities have been served least well by existing systems.

Watch the following video to gain an even better understanding of how inequity is built into systems and institutions.

Now that we have a better understanding of equity, let’s go over equity-mindedness. Equity-minded individuals examine unequal outcomes… unequal outcomes in student persistence, student grades, graduation rates, faculty and staff retention, faculty and staff advancement, etc. Equity-minded individuals look at these unequal outcomes to identify patterns based on race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, citizenship status, and other facets of self-identity. For example, an equity-minded person will notice if faculty belonging to a minoritized race/ethnicity are being promoted at a much lower rate than their white colleagues. They will not place blame on the faculty belonging to the minoritized race/ethnicity by attributing their lack of advancement to stereotypical and often false assumptions such as lack of drive or talent. Instead, the equity-minded person will look at the institution’s policies and procedures for faculty promotion to identify specific language or practices that may be causing barriers to the advancement of those faculty members.

 Estela Mara Bensimon, Alicia C. Dowd and Keith Witham explain equity-mindedness best in their article, Five Principles for Enacting Equity by Design.

“Equity-minded individuals are aware of the sociohistorical context of exclusionary practices and racism in higher education and the impact of power asymmetries on opportunities and outcomes, particularly for African Americans and Latinas/os. Equity-minded individuals are:

• Color-conscious (as opposed to color-blind) in a critical sense. Being color-conscious means noticing and questioning patterns of educational outcomes that reveal unexplainable differences in outcomes for minoritized students (Gillborn 2005); it means viewing inequalities in the context of a history of exclusion, discrimination, and educational apartheid. 
• Aware that beliefs, expectations, and practices assumed to be neutral can have outcomes that are racially disadvantageous. Racial disadvantage is created when unequal outcomes are attributed to students’ cultural predispositions or when practices are based on stereotypical assumptions about the capacity, aspirations, or motives of minoritized populations (Bensimon 2012). 
• Willing to assume responsibility for the elimination of inequality. Rather than viewing inequalities as a natural catastrophe (Coates 2015), equity-minded individuals allow for the possibility that inequalities might be created or exacerbated by taken-for-granted practices and policies, inadequate knowledge, a lack of cultural know-how, or the absence of institutional support—all of which can be changed. 
• Aware that while racism is not always overt, racialized patterns nevertheless permeate policies and practices in higher education institutions. When policies have a disproportionate impact on students of color, they have the effect of maintaining racial hierarchies.”

I challenge us all at the University of Central Oklahoma to really Understand Equity-Mindedness and become equity practitioners. Let’s systematically review our policies, procedures, and curriculum for potential barriers and exclusionary practices that hinder the success of those students, faculty, and staff who belong to minoritized or marginalized communities. Let’s use Equity Tools to remove those barriers and advance inclusive excellence. Let’s constantly examine our assumptions and identify our blind spots. Let’s be lifelong learners who study the social histories of those minoritized and marginalized communities in an effort to increase our understanding and empathy.

Are you with me?

Cristi Moore
Inclusion & Diversity Strategist
Office of Inclusive Community