Equity and Inclusion Campus Definitions

An activist produces power and policy change, not mental change. If a person has no record of power or policy change, then that person is not an activist. (Kendi pg. 209)

1. Endorses idea of racial equality.
2. Believes problems are rooted in power and policies.
3. Confronts racial inequities.

Is any idea that suggests the racial groups are equals in all their apparent differences—that there is nothing right or wrong with any racial group. Antiracist ideas argue that racist policies are the cause of racial inequities. (Kendi pg. 20)

Antiracist Policy + Antiracist Policy Makers. Must be flexible to match the flexibility of racist power… propelled only by the craving for power to shape policy in their equitable interests. (Kendi pg. 214)

Is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups. (Kendi pg. 18)

A personal and unreasoned distortion of judgment about a culture, race, ability, language, accent, gender, orientation, or person. We all have bias (Mahzarin Banaji).

The state in which one’s gender identity is the same as the gender they were assigned at birth.

The dynamic way of life shared by a group of people. The elements of culture are transmitted by a common language from one generation to the next. Cultural elements include, but are not limited to: 

• Beliefs
• Values
• Social roles 
• Family structure
• Traditions
• Holidays 
• Symbols 
• Histories
• Artifacts.

The foundation of cultural competency is to know one’s own culture and be aware how it is enacted in everyday life. It is the ability to be open to learn about the similarities and differences of cultures other than your own. It is the conscious ability to shift one’s mindset and behaviors to respond and adapt effectively across cultural differences (Cross, Intercultural Development Inventory). This is a lifelong commitment to inclusion with mindful intercultural interactions.

A compassionate and constructive response to cultural difference in the context of education. It encompasses cultural competence in service to equitable student and employee outcomes. Practitioners validate and better represent cultures different from their own in everyday interactions (Ladsen-Billings, Gay).

Organizing people for a prolonged campaign that forces racist power to change a policy…The most effective protests create an environment whereby changing the racist policy becomes in power’s self-interest (Kendi pg. 215-216).

An imbalance, inequality, or unfairness that impacts groups of people in terms of access, opportunity, representation, and student course success. Disparities may be revealed through analysis of data to identify gaps in resource allocation and distribution, achievement, success, hiring practices, and student completion rates.

Includes all the ways in which people differ, and it encompasses all the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. It is all-inclusive and involves the different ideas, perspectives, and values of individuals. 

It is a broad definition that includes but not limited to protected classes under State of Minnesota law such as:

• Race
• Culture
• Legal status
• Sexual orientation
• Disability  
• Religion 
• Gender identity 

Sometimes confused with equity. It is the state or quality of being the same or distributed evenly.

Commonly confused with equality, equity remedies personal and systemic disadvantages and removes barriers to inclusion. It is achieved through a focus on justice while removing bias and favoritism in all aspects of the academy to achieve fair outcomes and eliminate disparities.

Refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact. Gender is a Protected Status.

Is a person's gender-related appearance or behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth.

A person's identification as female, male, nonbinary, or another gender different from the person's sex assigned at birth.

The part of the mind that is inaccessible to the conscious mind but that affects behavior and emotions (Teaching Tolerance). We can’t rid our brains of implicit bias, but we need to address and manage them. When we move fast, we become vulnerable to acting on our biases (Jennifer Eberhardt).

Inclusion moves beyond tolerance. It is a climate of belonging and meaningful participation. It results from equitable and culturally responsive policies and practices that promote trust, respect, and safety.

Discriminatory treatment, unfair policies and practices, and inequitable opportunities and impacts within organizations and institutions, all based on race, that routinely produce racially inequitable outcomes for people of color and advantages for white people. Individuals within institutions take on the power of the institution when they reinforce racial inequities.

A set of privately held beliefs, prejudices and ideas about the superiority of whites and the inferiority of people of color. 

Among people of color, it manifests as internalized oppression. 

Among whites, it manifests as internalized racial superiority.

The acceptance and acting out of an inferior definition of self, rooted in the historical designation of one's race. Over many generations, this process of disempowerment and disenfranchisement is expressed in self-defeating behaviors. 

Some examples: 

• Colorism
• Isolation
• Protectionism
• Addiction
• Self-doubt
• Self-hate
• Rage
• Shame
• Anti-Blackness
• Anti-Indigeneity.

The acceptance and acting out of a superior definition of self, rooted in the historical designation of one's race. Over many generations, this process of empowerment and access is expressed as unearned privileges, access to institutional power, invisible advantages and inflated self-image based upon race. 

Some examples: 

• Individualism, 
• Paternalism, 
• Comfort, 
• Control, 
• Silence, 
• Intellectualization, 
• Cognitive dissonance, 
• Anti-Blackness, 
• Anti-Indigeneity.

The expression of racism between individuals. It occurs when individuals interact, and their private beliefs affect their interactions.

An action, comment, body language, or facial expression that subtly, unconsciously, or understatedly expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a different group. The target of microaggressions internalizes the wound and holds the trauma. Its impact affects a person’s identity.

Is a general term for people whose gender identities fall outside of the binary conception of male or female. Nonbinary people may or may not identify as transgender.

Holding unreasonable preconceived judgments about people based on bias.

A social construct that groups people together based on observable physical characteristics (e.g., skin color) and assigns meanings to the bodies so categorized. There is no scientific evidence for racial categories as supported by the Human Genome Project (Dr. Craig Venter), National Geographic, and Scientific American.

“A cumulative result of a natural race-related stress response to distressing mental and emotional conditions. These conditions emerged from constantly facing racially dismissive, demeaning, insensitive and/or hostile racial environments and individuals.” - Dr. William Smith

When two or more racial groups are standing on approximately equal footing. (Kendi pg.18)

When two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing. (Kendi pg. 18)

Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward BIPOC individuals.

Not to be confused with personal bigotry or prejudice, racism is an ever-present system of domination/subordination based on race (skin color) with the belief that one race is superior to others. Racism is prejudice + power (Pauline Katz). 

Racism is like a virus or a cancer and continues to evolve. 

Like culture, it is learned behavior transmitted from generation to generation. 

In this system, dominant institutions and people create, justify, or ignore inequitable outcomes for subordinate groups. Often the injustice of this system is hidden or erased to protect the dominant group even while we perpetuate it.

1. Endorses idea of a racial hierarchy.
2. Believes problems are rooted in groups of people.
3. Allows racial inequities to persevere.

"A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way. Racist ideas argue that the inferiorities and superiorities of racial groups explain racial inequities in society (Kendi pg. 20).”

Any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. (Kendi pg. 18)

Racist policy + racist policy makers = Racist Power (Kendi pg.19) 

“The problem of race has always been at its core the problem of power, not the problem of immorality or ignorance." (Kendi pg. 208)

The components of a person that include their anatomical sex, sexual orientation, values, and sexual practices.

A person's identity in relation to the gender or genders to which they are sexually or romantically attracted and includes but is not limited to heterosexuality, gay, lesbian, bisexuality, and queer.

A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing, ways to perpetuate racial group inequality. 

It is racial bias among institutions and across society. 

It involves the cumulative and compounding effects of societal factors including the history, culture, ideology and interactions of institutions and policies that systematically privilege white people and disadvantage people of color.

A general term that refers to a person whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. A transgender person may or may not medically transition and may identify as male, female, or nonbinary.