As part of our commitment to provide further consultation and collaboration into the UBC Equity and Inclusion strategy, we held a series of consultation meetings during summer 2013 to engage students, staff and faculty.
Meetings were held at both the Vancouver and the Okanagan campuses. Our discussions were quite robust and enlightening and provided further input into the Equity and Inclusion Office as well as insight into the attributes of the future Associate Vice President – Equity and Inclusion.
Summary of recommendation from UBC Vancouver consultations:
- Need to promote the services offered by Equity and Inclusion Office
- Clarify issues around governance, accountability and responsibility at EIO
- Build a sense of community, equity and inclusion at UBC
- Promote visibility and access to equity & inclusion information across campus
- Create a structural model that is flexible and responsive to needs of UBC community
- Support for UBC’s broader equity concerns ie. In curriculum, intercultural understanding
- How can UBC support diversity in all units, ie. in existing and new departmental Equity Plans
- Share examples of best practices and success stories
Summary of recommendations from UBC Okanagan consultations:
- Improve awareness of UBC Okanagan Equity and Inclusion Office (UBCO-EIO):
- Cultural issues need to be factored into new structure
- Clearly communicate equity and diversity as a priority
- Embed activities in courses and campus life that support better engagement and awareness of benefits of equity and diversity
- Capacity of the UBC-O EIO
- Tap into existing resources and expertise across campus; training for faculty/staff/student reps