An effective DEI statement must be honest and transparent, even if this requires some self-criticism. Admitting that your organization may not be perfect and providing links to any public diversity reporting can show interested readers your progress in terms of diversity inclusion.
Positive language that conveys purposeful messages is key in any statement. Consider including words such as “welcoming,” “celebrate,” innovation and equity to convey an inclusive atmosphere.
Address commonly accepted understandings of diversity and equity.
Diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, yet there is an important distinction between them. Diversity encompasses all aspects of people’s differences while inclusion involves making every one feel included. Diversity must precede inclusion; without it there would be no welcoming environment for all groups of people. Creating a diversity equity and inclusion statement is an effective way of making sure your institution doesn’t just focus on recruitment but strives to maintain an environment in which diverse talent thrives together as part of one united workforce that fosters belongingness.
Diversity can be defined in many ways; some of the more popular definitions include race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability status, national origin, religion/spirituality, sex sexual orientation and socioeconomic background. All these aspects play an integral role in human experience but it’s important to make the distinction between diversity and equality – equality means all receive equal treatment and access to resources while equity involves rectifying inequities that have historically favored some groups over others.
To ensure the efficacy of your diversity equity and inclusion statement, begin by clearly outlining each concept involved. Next, highlight areas where your institution has made progress and discuss how these efforts have had an impactful effect. Furthermore, use this opportunity to address any barriers that have prevented previous efforts and how you plan to address them moving forward.
As part of your statement, it’s advisable to include specific data like the number of women and minorities in leadership roles or any gaps within your organization, which will give readers an immediate sense of your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education. Once complete, this statement should be added to every institution website along with job postings and emails sent out to prospective applicants; additionally it could be shared among employees as an aid when discussing personal experiences as well as diversity issues at work.
Describe specific things you have done to help students from underrepresented backgrounds succeed.
Diversity statements provide you with a powerful opportunity to reflect upon the work that you’ve done or are currently doing to foster inclusive academic communities, and discuss future plans for increasing inclusivity in research, teaching and service activities at your institution of choice.
Your DEI statement should provide examples of the ways in which you foster inclusive and equitable learning environments in your classrooms and workplace. For instance, you could detail strategies you employ to ensure all students have equal chances to excel or how you encourage students to challenge disciplinary norms by drawing upon their personal experiences and perspectives.
Your statement should also highlight any programs or initiatives that you have created or participated in to foster student success, especially ones that address underrepresented issues such as race, gender, social class and sexual orientation. In particular, highlight how these initiatives have supported first-generation or other students from underrepresented groups or fostered community among marginalized students on campus.
Finally, your DEI statement should provide insight into how you understand and apply your values when working with underrepresented students. For instance, it might discuss your commitment to challenging stereotypes and bias, or how actively seek out and listen to underrepresented voices during teaching and research.
DEI statements should be specific and personal, tailored specifically to the institution to which you’re applying. Enlisting trusted people as readers for your statement and soliciting their input can ensure it remains genuine and captivating. Consideration of personal experiences related to diversity, equity, and inclusion will give you a deeper understanding of what impact your DEI statement could have. If you have had experience with racial or cultural oppression in your home country or region, be sure to highlight it in your DEI statement. Likewise, any time spent working with marginalized groups within your local community should also be mentioned here.
Highlight any programs for underrepresented students you’ve participated in.
An important element of job applications, diversity statements provide an important window into how candidates approach teaching and mentoring students as well as their values, beliefs, and commitment to diversity and inclusion in academia.
Your DEI statement should include specific examples of work you have accomplished and provide a vision for how this kind of work should progress in the future. For instance, this might include listing ways that you have tried to make classrooms and scholarly communities more inclusive thus far (e.g. incorporating antiracist pedagogy into teaching), or provide details about programs you have worked on that support underrepresented students (e.g. McNair Scholars Program).
Plan how you would contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion in your future career. This could include discussing your plans to continue supporting underrepresented students through various initiatives or how you’d help preexisting student initiatives on campus such as helping with curriculum changes in your department or mentoring students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Some institutions require employers to submit a short paragraph outlining what steps have been taken to foster equality and inclusion within their workplaces. Veterans United Home Loans offers an example of such an effort on its Diversity Commitment page by listing respect as one of its core values as well as relevant statistics like women in leadership positions and number of diverse suppliers with which it works.
No matter the prompt used to guide your diversity statement, it’s vital that you clearly outline how you plan to advance diversity and equity as an academic. An attempt at doing this in one sentence would likely make the statement seem vague and insubstantiated; to ensure an effective response it’s best to provide examples of ways in which diversity and equity have already been promoted in classrooms, scholarly activities, university services or beyond.
Describe your commitment to working toward achieving equity and enhancing diversity.
Your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement should outline how your values and experiences advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. This will allow reviewers to gain an understanding of why this work is important to you and why reviewers are interested.
As an example, if you identify as a person of color, describe how this racial identity has driven your efforts to promote equity and inclusion within the classroom, department, discipline or wider academic community. Conversely, if you have an impairment such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), describe how your experience has helped you become an even more effective mentor to students with ASDs.
Your goal should be to demonstrate your genuine dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion by including future plans rather than simply listing past activities. Reviewers will be more impressed if your plan demonstrates how diversity concepts will become integral parts of research, teaching and service efforts over time.
As a senior leader, be sure to incorporate senior-level sponsorship of DEI initiatives and include diversity and equity assessments as part of performance reviews. This will make employees feel like their company cares about diversity and inclusion and encourage participation in training events or training courses.
Establish clear and widely communicated goals, and track any progress made toward them. Also, engage employees in the planning process so you get their input and commitment for your initiatives.
People often make the mistake of mistaking “diversity” and “inclusiveness” as opposite concepts, when in reality these terms should go hand-in-hand. Diversity refers to an array of characteristics while inclusivity refers to creating an atmosphere in which all members can feel welcome. Companies which prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion tend to attract diverse candidates more easily while meeting client needs effectively and meeting needs from various customer groups more readily – as noted by McKinsey there is a direct correlation between company performance and levels of diversity equity inclusion – those with the highest levels performing better within their industry than competitors who do not prioritise this area of business strategy.