Diversity is an active and intentional commitment to support and embrace difference and multiplicity for the sake of expanding knowledge, educating capable citizens, developing the whole person, and serving our local and global communities. Equity in action being the intentional assessment to promote and ensure fairness within access, resources & opportunity while seeking to eliminate barriers that hinder the success of students, faculty, and staff. Inclusion being the intentional engaging of persons and groups while seeking to understand and support the entire ULV community.
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) offers trainings and professional development opportunities for all members of the campus community, including but not limited to, Safe Zone, Cultivating Inclusion in classrooms and service areas, and Building Inclusive Communities. If you would like to schedule a customized guest lecture or workshop, please contact us at diversity@laverne.edu.
Each January and June, the ODEI holds a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workshop Series that highlight diverse perspectives, efforts, strategies, and processes that support more equitable and inclusive classrooms and areas of service. Some of the topics include, Implicit Bias, Anti-Racism, and Disability Equity, Culturally Responsive Classrooms, and more… with specific consideration to the diversity our community is comprised of. For more information, or to access recordings internally, please contact us at diversity@laverne.edu. We have also included helpful resources to assist in your growth and development around these topics that you can access at any time via our Resources page.
If you would like to collaborate with the ODEI on a specific program or initiative, or would like consultation concerning a policy or practice, please contact us at diversity@laverne.edu.
Anti-Racism Initiative Teach-In Sessions
June 16, 2023 Anti-Racism Teach-In
Serving Communities Across Race, Ethnicities, and Languages in Higher Education with Dr. Cristóbal Rodríguez
Dr. Rodríguez is the Associate Provost for Equity Centered Initiatives for Western Michigan University, and Commissioner for President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
With special guest Alex Shevrin Venet
Alex is the author of Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, and amazing work and guiding tool! She focuses her work not only on trauma-informed teaching, learning, and systems, but also centers efforts around building and sustaining communities, social/emotional learning, restorative practices and educational equity.
“Systems change is just as important as our individual actions, and only through systems change can we truly create equity for all.”
– Alex Shevrin Venet
June 11, 2021 Anti-Racism Teach-In
View the event here. Readings and resources referenced during the 2021 Anti-Racism Teach In:
- Resources to support Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Communities
- Solidarity Stories
- Black + Asian Solidarity
- Black Gaze Podcast: Black + Asian American Solidarity
- The history of tensions and solidarity between Black and Asian American communities explained
- John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight: segment on Asian Americans
June 15, 2020 Anti-Racism Teach-In
View the event here. Readings and resources referenced during the 2020 Anti-Racism Teach In:
- LaVerne Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Resources
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism
- Ibram Kendi on ‘How to be an Antiracist’+ How to be an Antiracist (book)
- Dog Whistle Politics: How coded racial appeals have reinvented racism & wrecked the middle class
- A Riot is the Language of the Unheard – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- How do we change America by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor in the New Yorker
- America, this is your chance Michelle Alexander
- Take the Harvard Implicit Association Test
- Andrew M. Ibrahim – Anti-racist, fear zone, learning zone, growth zone
- White people 4 Black lives