Understanding that every classroom is a rich soup of diverse gender, racial, cultural, religious, physical and political entities is important for collaboration and unhindered learning to occur. I expect to have (and look forward to having) such a diversity in all my classes, and in turn, I expect my students to respect and appreciate this diversity.

As a person of color, and a minority (considering my sole African roots) , I have experienced racial discrimination, and I understand how depressing and frustrating it can be to feel segregated, not accepted, have your intellectual abilities judged, or have decisions pertaining to your academics, or career, made solely based on how you look, talk, dress or behave. The sciences and indeed, academia as a whole, is no place for any form of bias or intolerance. However, I acknowledge the fact that marginalization, explicit bias, and institutionalized racism still finds its way into our institutions, offices and even classrooms. Our ideas may differ, our beliefs may vary but our core values should be the same; to let EVERY voice be heard, to give EVERY person an equal opportunity and to treat EVERY individual fairly and in the same way that we would want to be treated.

I make my expectations of tolerance, respect and inclusivity crystal clear at the beginning of every semester. I do not negotiate when it comes to the issue of diversity and I believe that every student has equal access to me, the department, the university, the society, and all the resources that exists between these entities. While there might be less opportunities to adequately address the issues of diversity and inclusivity in the natural and physical science courses like the ones that I have taught, the collaborative nature of my classes means that it is an issue that has to be dealt with early-on in the semester to avoid the erosion of the dynamics of a group, and constantly revisited, to prepare my students for life outside the university.

I abhor, and do not subscribe to intolerance.