Diversity is an organizational strength

“People from different backgrounds have varying ways of looking at problems, what I call ‘tools.’ The sum of these tools is far more powerful in organizations with diversity than in ones where everyone has gone to the same schools, been trained in the same mold and thinks in almost identical ways.”

– Scott E. Page, Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science and Economics, University of Michigan

Decolonize the University

University of Color, “Decolonize the University”

A (now closed) petition that calls for democratizing and decolonizing the university. It’s a very comprehensive list–something here to provoke pretty well everyone on campus. Much of it addresses curriculum, but it also deals with other practices.

Universities Canada Principles on Indigenous Education

Universities Canada, “Universities Canada Principles on Indigenous Education”

A statement from Universities Canada that addresses, in point form, everything from governance structures to content and curriculum–all as responses to both indigenous presence on campus and “social and cultural imperatives” to think about indigenous inclusion.

It’s Time to Ditch Our Deadlines

Ellen Boucher, “It’s Time to Ditch Our Deadlines,” Chronicle of Higher Education (August 22, 2016).

Boucher considers how structures like deadlines presume “who” is in the classroom, and might inadvertently result in the exclusion of many students; this connects to our ongoing discussion at UPEI about both “what” and “who” university is for (the comments are really interesting too!).