Racial, ethnic, gender, class, and religious differences can often divide people. Understanding these differences is the first step toward creating a meaningful exchange among people of all backgrounds. This reference list provides a comprehensive overview of terminology used in conversations about diversity and equity. Because language continually evolves, the information provided should be considered a work in progress.
Diversity: A college campus is like opening a door to a world of different cultures, perspectives, and ideas. Learning with people from a variety of backgrounds encourages collaboration and fosters innovation and creativity. Providing an academic environment rich with diversity is an important part of the campus experience.
Equity: In the United States, people of color will become the new majority in education and workforce settings in just three decades. However, systemic barriers and poorly shaped policy have contributed to persistent inequities between racial and ethnic groups from classrooms to boardrooms. These challenges extend to postsecondary education and are evident in the deep gaps in student success and college attainment that exist. Equity in education is defined when all students receive the resources they need to prepare for success after high school.
Inclusion: More than ever, today’s students need to be prepared to succeed in a diverse, inclusive global workforce. Diversity and inclusion benefit communities, schools, and students from all backgrounds, as research shows that more diverse organizations make better decisions with better results.
Student activism in the form of campus protests against racism and bigotry—along with related types of discrimination—have become commonplace on college campuses. Student activism is denoted as work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political events.
Aggressive behavior may be defined as bullying depending on what happened, how often it happens, and who it happens to. Electronic bullying, too, is another form of bullying that has become a significant problem in the past decade.
The term “campus climate” is used to describe how individuals and groups experience membership in a campus community.
Civility is part of a code of conduct describing polite, reasonable, and respectful behavior. As an institution, Indiana University is dedicated to creating an environment where each individual is important and can succeed.
A college campus is to be a place where people from a variety of backgrounds and different cultures can convene to share perspectives and ideas.
Resolving conflict is an essential part of a maintaining a safe and inclusive campus community. The Office of Student Conduct offers Indiana University students conflict coaching and mediation services.
A college campus is like opening a door to a world of different cultures, perspectives, and ideas. Learning with people from a variety of backgrounds encourages collaboration and fosters innovation and creativity. Providing an academic environment rich with diversity is an important part of the campus experience.
While communities of color have made great strides in closing the education gap, disparities in higher education remain prevalent. Equality in education is achieved when students are all treated the same and have access to similar resources.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines hate crimes “as a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.
More than ever, today’s students need to be prepared to succeed in a diverse, inclusive global workforce. Diversity and inclusion benefit communities, schools, and students from all backgrounds, as research shows that more diverse organizations make better decisions with better results.
Until recently, a safe space referred to a room where people could discuss problems or issues they shared in a setting that offered shelter from epithets, bias, criticism, and other attacks. Today, a safe space has become a complex idea that, properly construed, can help students engage more fully in the pursuit of knowledge across differences.
Stalking refers to a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes a reasonable person to feel fear. A stalker can be someone you know well or not at all. Most have dated or been involved with the people they stalk. Most stalking cases involve men stalking women, but men do stalk men, women do stalk women, and women do stalk men.
Evidence suggests that today’s college students are experiencing greater levels of stress and anxiety. According to a recent Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors survey of counseling center directors, 95% of college counseling center directors surveyed said the number of students with significant psychological problems is a growing concern in their center or on campus.
Campus and/or workplace violence can take many forms — from a colleague or student who exhibits dangerous or threatening behavior to random acts of violence by members of the public with no connection to the campus. When behaviors become intimidating or threatening, you may feel anxious, afraid, and concerned for your personal safety. It is important not to manage such a situation alone. Various offices on campus can assist you.
1. Campus violence: Any behavior that violates a school’s educational mission or climate of respect or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions, and disorder.
2. Workplace violence: Any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the worksite. This behavior ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide.
Indiana University adheres to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity. In pursuing all aspects of the university’s mission, members of the Indiana University community are dedicated to advancing these core values:
The IU Diversity Assessments provides a baseline measurement for Indiana University in diversity achievement and progress over the past five years for each campus. The goal of the IU Diversity Assessment is to strengthen efforts for strategic planning university-wide.
As an IU community member it is important you know your rights and responsibilities, below are a few concepts and resources to assist you.
The IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct ensures your rights as an IU student are protected. While you’re entitled to respect and civility, you also have responsibilities to the campus community. The Code outlines these responsibilities and the university’s expectations for your behavior as an IU student.
These policies govern Indiana University academic, faculty, and student issues. The academic policies posted on this website (formerly set forth in the Academic Handbook) do not and shall not be construed to create a contract of employment between Indiana University and persons with academic appointments. The university reserves the right to update, revise, or withdraw all or any part of the academic policies, including but not limited to the procedures set forth in the policies.
First Amendment: College students’ views of the First Amendment – which guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition – are important for several reasons. Colleges and universities are places where intellectual debate should grow and flourish. This can only occur if different viewpoints are celebrated and the First Amendment is honored in practice and not just in theory.
Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation, and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that formed the basis for state-sanctioned discrimination, drawing national and international attention to African Americans’ plight. In the turbulent decade and a half that followed, civil rights activists used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to bring about change, and the federal government made legislative headway with initiatives such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Affirmative action policies were developed to address long histories of discrimination faced by minorities and women. These policies first emerged from debates over non-discrimination policies in the 1940s and during the Civil Rights Movement.
Indiana University strongly encourages all members of the IU community to report any known or suspected criminal activity or safety concerns occurring on IU property or during IU activities to the IU Police Department. Several IU offices on campus can provide assistance to deal with disruptive, threatening, or violent threats and/or behavior.
