A year since the launch of the StEAR Framework and Roadmap for Change, the Associate Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion engaged UBC’s leadership across 15 different touch points and hosted 5 virtual sessions for UBC community members to share progress made to date.
The 20 engagements provided an opportunity for community members to directly ask questions and provide feedback on the work to date.
Over 400 community members registered for the five virtual community sessions, four of which were sessions specifically for members of various communities, including racialized, disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+, HPSM students, faculty and staff.
A high-level summary was also presented to a number of different leadership groups at UBC including the UBC executive, Deans, and administrative and academic leadership bodies at UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan.
At both the leadership and community-based events, the presentation was well received overall. Opportunities for further improvement and continued engagement were identified, discussed in the Q&A section below.
The presentation provided a background overview of the StEAR Framework and Roadmap for Change development process, StEAR evaluation approach, including the status of institutional strategic actions, inventory of unit-level activities and institutional indicators of change, and spotlight initiatives.
*Note: Some session presentations also contained additional information relevant to a particular community of focus.
Discussion themes
Throughout the sessions, we received a total of 159 questions across the five community engagement sessions held. These questions reflected deep community engagement and highlighted a broad spectrum of concerns regarding the ongoing implementation of equity and anti-racism initiatives at UBC. Here is a summary of the primary themes that emerged from the questions posed by participants
Accessibility and Accommodations: This theme was the most prominent during the engagement session with disabled students, faculty, and staff, highlighting significant interest in UBC’s compliance with the Accessible BC Act, the development of comprehensive accessibility plans, and the procedures for ensuring educational and facility accessibility.
StEAR Framework Implementation and Strategic Priorities: This theme was central to many inquiries, focusing on the methodologies for identifying and prioritizing equity and anti-racism actions within UBC, the role of central units versus individual departments, and the overall consistency and effectiveness of the framework’s implementation across different campuses and faculties.
Data and Metrics: This theme was one of the top emerging themes at all five community engagement sessions, highlighting participants’ keen interest in understanding how data is collected, analyzed, and utilized to inform and evaluate the university’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.
Leadership and Institutional Commitment: This theme was the most prominent at the engagement session for 2SLGBTQIA+ students, faculty, and staff. Participants were interested in the depth of involvement and dedication of UBC’s leadership in advancing the Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (StEAR) framework, as well as how those who are working to advance equity and anti-racism from outside of formal leadership structures, can be recognized for their contributions.
EDI Funding and Resource Allocation: This theme was the most prominent at the open engagement session for all UBC students, faculty, and staff, with questions focusing on the allocation of resources for EDI initiatives, especially the StEAR Enhancement Fund.
Complaint Processes and Accountability: This theme was one of the top emerging themes at the engagement session for racialized students, faculty, and staff. Participants expressed a strong desire to understand the mechanisms UBC has in place for handling complaints related to human rights and discrimination, with a particular focus on issues concerning racial and disability equity.
Antisemitism and Jewish Engagement: There was considerable interest at the engagement session for HPSM students, faculty, and staff in how UBC is engaging with the Jewish community and addressing issues of antisemitism.
Community Engagement and Advocacy: Participants expressed a strong interest in how UBC plans to foster deeper engagement with various community groups and ensure their active participation in shaping equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.
What’s next?
The engagement sessions provided us with first-hand insight into how implementation efforts are received by the UBC community and valuable feedback to consider as we continue to evolve this work going forwards in our attempts to be as responsive as possible to community experiences and needs. The additional resources below share additional information about our work to address the themes raised.
Moving forward, the EIO will employ an iterative approach to updating the StEAR Roadmap for Change based on a broad spectrum of feedback. We will also continue gathering progress updates on institutional actions, sharing information about unit-level activities, and monitoring indicators of change. We will share an interim update in December 2024 and a Progress Report in June 2025.
We acknowledge and are grateful to the UBC community, staff, faculty and students, for their ongoing commitments and engagement to advance equity and anti-racism, accountability and engagement.
Additional Information & Resources
The below resources provide additional information regarding the themes raised in the sessions.
- UBC Accessibility Committee
- Centre for Workplace Accessibility (staff and faculty)
- Centre for Accessibility (UBCV Students)
- Disability Resource Centre (UBCO Students)
- 2024 StEAR Progress Report
- 2023 Employment Equity Report
- Student Diversity Census
- EDI Action Network
- Faculty and Portfolio equity leads
- StEAR Enhancement Fund – Apply for Funding
- Human rights advising
- Discrimination complaints process
- Navigating human rights and expression rights with an ethic of care
- Networks, clubs, and committees
- Newsletters
Additional resources and initiatives are in development related to themes around accessibility and antisemitism. For example, the EIO is developing an EDI educational resource hub on accessibility, human rights, equity and anti-racism, including on antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination as forms of racism. The Accessibility Committee and Accessibility Planning Team are also in the process of developing an Accessibility plan.
If you are looking for further opportunities to engage with the EIO and/or StEAR please reach out at info@equity.ubc.ca or sign up for our newsletter.
If you need support with unit-level efforts to advance equity and anti-racism efforts, submit a request for a consultation with our office or reach out to your Faculty or portfolio equity lead.