Statement:
The Division of Student Affairs works to create an environment of inclusion which respects and affirms the inherent dignity, value, and uniqueness of all individuals, communities and perspectives. Our practices reflect awareness and understanding of the complexity of identity and the increasing interconnectedness of our world. It is our responsibility to promote and maintain a community of compassion, embracing the rich dimensions of diversity, and facilitating opportunities for understanding and the expression of both individual and shared truths.
Diversity:
Diversity encompasses acceptance and respect, understanding and recognizing each individual within our shared community is unique. Categories of difference, including a broad spectrum of demographics and philosophical perspectives are fluid. We respect individual rights to self-identification, recognizing that no one culture is superior to another.
Inclusion:
Inclusion is an active process of creating a community in which all people have full access to relationships and resources. Inclusion intentionally creates safe and respectful work, learning, service, and social environments in which every member’s voice and contributions are valued.
Responsibility:
Responsibility to diversity means more than just acknowledging and/or tolerating differences. Personal, institutional, and systematic discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while simultaneously creating and sustaining disadvantages for others. It is both our individual and collective responsibility to ensure that we engage in professional practices and interpersonal behaviors that interrupt conscious and unconscious discrimination, setting the current and future framework for inclusive excellence.
Diversity:
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
Diversity is a reality created by individuals and groups from a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences. It is extremely important to support and protect diversity by valuing individuals and groups free from prejudice, and by fostering a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic. Diversity includes, therefore, knowing how to relate to those qualities and conditions that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet are present in other individuals and groups. Finally, we acknowledge that categories of difference are not always fixed but also can be fluid, we respect individual rights to self-identification, and we recognize that no one culture is intrinsically superior to another.
Inclusion:
Inclusion intentionally creates safe and respectful work, learning, and service environments which are mindful of every member reaching their full potential and where all voices and contributors are valued.
Together, the Division of Student Affairs works to create a welcoming environment through interpersonal interactions that respect and affirm the inherent dignity, value, and uniqueness of all individuals, communities, and perspectives. Inclusion is an active process of creating a community in which people have full access to relationships and resources that enable their ability to reach their full personal and intellectual potential growth and success. Inclusive practices reflect awareness and understanding of the complexity of identity and the increasing interconnectedness of our world.
Social Justice/Social Responsibility:
“Diversity” means more than just acknowledging and/or tolerating difference. We recognize that personal, institutional, and systematic discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while simultaneously creating and sustaining disadvantages for others. In an effort to promote equity for Rutgers students and staff, we commit ourselves to assessing the accessibility of our programs and services, building systems that assist in this evaluation, and exploring interventions that counteract injustices. We remain deeply committed to promoting and maintaining a community of compassion, facilitating opportunities for shared understanding, critical inclusion, and expression of individual and shared truths. Ultimately, it is both our individual and collective responsibility to ensure that the entire Division of Student Affairs engages in practices and behaviors that interrupt conscious and unconscious discrimination, and that set the current and future framework for inclusive excellence.
Action Items:
To promote equity for Rutgers students and staff, we commit ourselves to assessing the accessibility of our programs and services, building systems that assist in this evaluation, fostering a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic, and exploring interventions that counteract injustices.