Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
AAUP @ GVSU, along with AAUP itself, and the GVSU community, values and seeks to constructively advocate for equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion in higher education.
Universities, disciplines, and the mindsets of all members of campus communities have inevitably been shaped by long histories and current realities of bias, exclusion, and marginalization based on race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability as well as by the ongoing struggles of marginalized individuals and groups to resist their exclusion. We acknowledge, affirm, and advocate for the urgency of recognizing, understanding, and addressing practices of marginalization and exclusion within our university.
Ideally understood, the intellectual and educational values that animate a university, especially a university with liberal education at its core, make respect for persons, equity, inclusion, and diversity central values. Thus, the project of understanding and correcting failures on this front is an especially urgent task in the context of higher education.
We believe that efforts to understand and address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion should be transparent and should draw on faculty expertise, as well as the experiences, concerns, and knowledge of all members of the campus community. Such efforts must also be meaningfully funded, supported, and adequately recognized.
Contemporary higher education suffers not only from inequities deriving from histories of discrimination or prejudice against marginalized groups, but also from dramatic inequities of pay, support, and access for faculty and students alike due to the widespread use of contingent labor (adjuncts, visiting professors, affiliates) and to the very high cost of education. For a university, and ultimately a society, to truly work towards meaningful equity, diversity, and inclusion, these issues must be acknowledged and addressed as well.
The national AAUP website includes discussions, analysis, advocacy and reports on many of these issues, including:
With questions or to request to be added to the listserv hosted by AAUP@GVSU, write to: aaup.gvsu@gmail.com