Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Glossary

Relevant terms and definitions for TU’s inaugural diversity strategic plan, A More Inclusive TU: Advancing Equity and Diversity (2020–25).

Related Concepts

Ability

The resources to perform something well

Cultural Competence

“Seeing difference and understanding the difference that difference makes” 1

Cultural Proficiency

“Seeing difference and responding effectively in a variety of environments”

Think of five essential elements of cultural proficiency (at both individual and organizational levels):

  1. assess culture: name the differences
  2. value diversity: claim the differences
  3. manage the dynamics of diversity: reframe the differences
  4. adapt to diversity: train about the differences
  5. institutionalize cultural knowledge: change for differences 2

Discrimination

The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion and other categories. 3

Diversity

The presence of difference and variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from difference of identities, cultures and circumstances.

Differences include actual or perceived ability status, age, ancestry, body size, citizenship status, economic status, educational status, employment status, ethnicity, level of food and housing security, gender, gender identity, gender expression, incarceration experience, language, marital/partnership status, military/veteran status, national origin, neurodiversity, political affiliation, pregnancy/reproductive status, race/racial identity, religious affiliation/spiritual practice, sex and sexual orientation.

Diversity, in all its forms, is at the heart of TU’s mission to foster intellectual inquiry and critical thinking that prepares graduates who will serve as effective, ethical leaders and engaged citizens. Diversity is affirmed and celebrated at TU and in the community as a necessary intellectual asset and institutional resource. TU believes it has a responsibility to serve all members of our community through a coordinated equity and inclusion strategy.

Empowerment

When target group members refuse to accept the dominant ideology and their subordinate status and take actions to redistribute social power more equitably. 4

Empowerment

Sameness, the idea that two or more people, communities or organizations are identical.

Equity vs. Equality

Equality refers to sameness, where each individual/group/community receives absolutely equal treatment and resources. This, however, does not take into account the needs or the history of each individual and therefore equal treatment does not always result in equal experience. Sameness can often be used to maintain the dominant status quo. Instead, equity refers to fairness, where everyone gets what they need based on their individual needs and history. 5

Equity

Fairness in access, treatment and opportunity, the guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for students, faculty and staff at every stage of educational and career development.

TU acknowledges there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and every effort is made to identify and eliminate barriers preventing their full participation.

Inclusion

Actively inviting the full participation and contributions of everyone.

The act of creating environments where individuals feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued.

Inclusion authentically brings traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities and decision/policy making,6 and involves “the active, intentional and ongoing engagement with diversity in people, the curriculum, the co-curriculum and communities—intellectual, social, cultural, geographical—in ways that increase one’s awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, global and intercultural fluency, cultural competence and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact with values systems and institutions. 7

Inclusive Excellence

A commitment to continually building our capacity to embed diversity, inclusion and equity into our work across the university and the belief that our ongoing success is dependent upon this commitment.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices create different outcomes for different racial groups. The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create advantages for whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as nonwhite. 8

Neurodiversity

An expansion of conventional views beyond physical and intellectual disabilities to also include neurological—further reminding us disabilities are not always visible.

Protected Classes

For the purpose of TU policies and procedures, this includes age, color, disability, gender (including pregnancy-related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, homelessness status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation and veteran status.

Privilege

A right that only some people have access or availability to because of their membership in one or more dominant social groups. 9

Because hierarchies of privilege exist, even within the same group, people who are part of the group in power often deny they have privilege even when evidence of differential benefit is obvious. 10

Racial Equity

Racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities, not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to eliminate them. 11

Social Justice

Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable, and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others and the society as a whole. 12

It is the conceptual framework for TU’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The institution recognizes its responsibility to examine traditional power structures and to address unfair treatment of any university constituent within these structures. Moreover, TU intends to educate and empower all members of the community to think critically about systems of marginalization and oppression. This includes a deeper understanding of privilege and the need for all in the community to work toward equity and fairness in the pursuit of transformation of lives, professions and societies.

Structural Racism

“The structural racism lens allows us to see that, as a society, we more or less take for granted a context of white leadership, dominance and privilege. This dominant consensus on race is the frame that shapes our attitudes and judgments about social issues. It has come about as a result of the way that historically accumulated white privilege, national values and contemporary culture have interacted so as to preserve the gaps between white Americans and Americans of color.” 13

For example, we can see structural racism in the many institutional, cultural and structural factors that contribute to lower life expectancy for African American and Native American men compared to white men. These include higher exposure to environmental toxins; dangerous jobs and unhealthy housing stock; higher exposure to and more lethal consequences for reacting to violence, stress and racism; lower rates of health care coverage; access and quality of care; and systematic refusal by the nation to fix these things. 14

Tolerance

TU’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity requires us to move beyond tolerance as an appropriate goal. The conventional usage of the word often implies putting up with something that one may find objectionable and/or unpleasant.

Underrepresented

Populations that are disproportionately represented. Historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) continue to have limited participation at TU.

Underrepresented minorities (URM)

As defined by state guidelines, this group includes students who are U.S. citizens and identify as Hispanic/Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander or multiple races. Students are not counted as racial/ethnic minorities if they are nonresident aliens, if they identify as white only, or if their race/ethnicity is unknown. Race/ethnicity categories are reported per specifications from the National Center for Education Statistics. 15

Underserved

Those who do not have access to equitable resources.

References

  1. Adapted from Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell. Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders. New York: Corwin.
  2. Adapted from Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell. Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders. New York: Corwin.
  3. Institute for Democratic Renewal and Project Change Anti-Racism Initiative. A Community Builder’s Tool Kit.
  4. Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, and Pat Griffin, editors. Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
  5. Adapted from multiple sources by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
  6. Crossroads Charlotte Individual Initiative Scorecard for Organizations Scorecard Overview, revised 3/12/07
  7. Adapted from AAC&U
  8. Maggie Potapchuk, Sally Leiderman, Donna Bivens and Barbara Major. Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building
  9. National Conference for Community and Justice – St. Louis Region. Unpublished handout used in the Dismantling Racism Institute program
  10. Institute for Democratic Renewal and Project Change Anti-Racism Initiative. A Community Builder’s Tool Kit
  11. Center for Assessment and Policy Development

  12. Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, and Pat Griffin, editors. Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge

  13. Karen Fulbright- Anderson, Keith Lawrence, Stacey Sutton, Gretchen Susi and Anne Kubisch, Structural Racism and Community Building. New York: The Aspen Institute

  14. Maggie Potapchuk, Sally Leiderman, Donna Bivens and Barbara Major. Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building

  15. National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data/race-ethnicity-collecting-data-for-reporting-purposes