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Exercise or Activity for the Classroom
Module 1: Making the Case for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)*
From Ways to Incorporate DEI into Your Courses By David Luke, Chief Diversity Officer, University of Michigan, Flint
Exercise or Activity for the Classroom
Making the case for DEI is important, and getting students involved could be a way to achieve collective buy-in. Documenting some of the rationale for the decisions and ways that DEI have been infused in the course through the course syllabus is a good idea, but an activity during the first class could help. Consider asking students why DEI are important in this particular course. Students likely have ideas already, but if they struggle with this, you can help prompt them. Think about these questions as you prepare for this activity:
- Who is cited?
- Who is centered in research?
- Whose stories are told?
- Who benefits from the research?
- What scholars are looked at as the founders and the most influential in the field (and are they mostly cisgender, heterosexual, white men)?
- Whose scholarship is overlooked and neglected and what might the consequences of that be?
I think about the older white men who dominate the U.S. political system, and if we treat them as “normal,” we’re assuming that population is somehow best equipped to run the country. But we know older white men don’t have a monopoly on leadership traits, talent, vision, etc., so it’s safe to say this isn’t the best we could do in terms of our elected representation.
Obviously, some of the questions you’d pose to your students would vary based on your discipline, but getting students to arrive at why this is important themselves rather than you simply telling them will help generate buy-in. As a side bonus, they might come up with reasons you haven’t thought of yourself.
*Published 07/22. © 2022 Sage Publishing. All rights reserved. All other brand and product names are the property of their respective owners.