University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

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Senate Resolution on Diversity Values Statement

EQ.13.01 Resolution on Diversity Values Statement
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Senate

November 2012

WHEREAS, The Senate and its Equal Opportunity and Inclusion Committee are mandated to promote an equitable and welcoming campus environment for members of any underrepresented, historically disadvantaged or marginalized groups, and

WHEREAS, The Chancellor has recently affirmed the importance of diversity as a central goal of her office and signaled her intention to embrace the Diversity Values statement drafted by Prof. Helen Neville in her role as Provost Fellow as part of campus policy and publicity, and

WHEREAS, The realization of the goals and values of the Diversity Values Statement can most effectively be realized through the commitment of every level and unit of the University, which the Academic Senate is positioned to promote and support;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Academic Senate endorses the Diversity Values Statement drafted by Professor Helen Neville, as follows:

DIVERSITY VALUES STATEMENT As the state’s premier public university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s core mission is to serve the interests of the diverse people of the state of Illinois and beyond. The institution thus values inclusion and a pluralistic learning and research environment, one which we respect the varied perspectives and lived experiences of a diverse community and global workforce. We support diversity of worldviews, histories, and cultural knowledge across a range of social groups including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, economic class, religion, and their intersections.

Ensuring access to the Illinois experience and committing to recruiting a full representation of the state’s diverse populace in terms of students, faculty, staff, and administrators allows the University to respond to the needs of contemporary society. At the same time it demonstrates the importance of diversity to strengthen excellence and innovation. Diversity is strength, and with it comes excellence! Research indicates that people from diverse backgrounds working together identify more creative solutions to problems than people working in more homogenous groups. Thus, increased diversity encourages everyone on campus to think in more creative and innovative ways. This in turn enhances several important functions of the campus, including the production of ground-breaking research designed to address pressing societal needs and the training of future leaders to effectively work within increasingly diverse and global settings.

Our commitment to diversity means

  • we demonstrate our values and appreciation of the perspectives and contributions of the wide spectrum of people reflected in our community;
  • we support curricular, interdisciplinary, and co-curricular learning environments that expose students to multiple perspectives including the histories and contributions of groups across social and economic identities; and
  • we provide opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and administrators to establish meaningful relationships across differences and we actively encourage the campus community to participate in programming and events to create, develop and sustain those relationships.

As such, we aspire to create a truly pluralistic environment, free of barriers associated with identity, in our pursuit of academic and scholarly excellence.

AND

BE IT RESOLVED that the Academic Senate commits itself to following up this endorsement with resolutions recommending specific processes for implementation of the Diversity Value Statement’s goals,

AND

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Senate add to the charge of its Equal Opportunity and Inclusion Committee the tasks to monitor these diversity implementations on the UIUC campus and that it report to the Senate on the University’s diversity status.

Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity and Inclusion
Harry Hilton, Chair
Alejandra Aguero
Augusto Espiritu
Shivam Gupta
Al Kagan
Lucy Li
Joy Malnar
Kathryn Oberdeck