Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Goals and Plans
The Mission of Seattle Colleges establishes the expectations that the colleges will prepare “...each student for success in life and work, fostering a diverse, engaged, and dynamic community...” in a multicultural, diverse, and international society. The Seattle Colleges Strategic Plan sets Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Community as one of four priority goals with the development and implementation of a diversity action plan as a primary strategy.
The following documents include plans and measures for this vitally important work:
- Seattle Colleges Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Plan
- Seattle Colleges Racial Equity 2023 Charge
- Equity 2023 Short Term Action Recommendations from Associate Vice Presidents of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
Seattle Colleges serves both “traditional” students, and students who come with experiences and life circumstances that do not fit neatly into traditional educational models. In addition to minoritized students, our changing student population includes students from countries and cultures not seen in measurable numbers by U.S. educational systems until very recently.
In addition to these demographic changes, the changing economic landscape of the Seattle region, the needs of regional employers, the cost of living in the region, and practices based on entrenched and unaware racist policies* all create barriers for students who do not natively practice or have not assimilated to existing norms. These barriers act as gatekeepers and sorters to determine who can enter into and acquire an education.
Rather than asking students to assimilate to dominant norms, we have a moral responsibility as public open-access learning institutions to change to serve the existing and current reality of our students. The racial equity gap cannot be eliminated simply by improving education for ‘...all students...’, using the metaphor of a ‘rising tide that floats all boats’. Indeed, research shows the existing racial equity gap is maintained with such improvements, albeit at a higher baseline. Meaningful and effective organizational change requires a fully engaged commitment throughout the organization and adequate time to develop capacity for change. As part of the system, we as individuals and as employees of the system, must change in order for the system to change. We are not separate, and students can only have a more effective experience at our colleges when we are also willing to make changes in our teaching and the ways we serve students.
* Based on Dr. Ibram Kendi’s preferred language recommendations, we use the term “racist policies” rather than “institutionalized racism” or “systemic racism”. Dr. Kendi believes these to be redundant since racism is both systemic and institutional. Some examples of these racist policies (not limited to higher education) are: racial inequalities in financial aid and distribution of resources to students of color; racial profiling; redlining in housing; cultural biases in standardized tests; lack of services in communities of color; significantly higher rates of incarceration for people of color; and environmental policies with disproportionately negative impacts on low income communities of color.