Human Ecology (HE) Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) Committee Structure

Shared with HE Executive Committee on November 11, 2022. Revision reported to HE Executive Committee on December 1, 2023.

Department Mission Statement

The HE JEDI Mission Statement was developed by the committee to frame the guiding principles of JEDI for the department. Drawing on the UC Davis Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan and the UC Davis Principles of Community, the following mission statement was developed. The mission statement was approved by department faculty April 2022.

JEDI Committee Mission Statement

The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee is a collective of faculty, staff, students, and other representatives of the Department of Human Ecology. Through research, scholarship, and community input, we advocate a three-part mission: 1) to ensure the Human Ecology community has access to resources on equitable and just practices within higher education, 2) clear avenues through which to share relevant experiences and suggestions with the department, and 3) measures to ensure continued accountability toward JEDI principles.

The Committee

The Committee will be composed of voting members, representing department stakeholders, including the three undergraduate academic programs (LA+ED, HDE, CRD), three graduate groups (HDGG, GGG, CDGG), federation faculty, and staff members. Committee members will be self-nominated and appointed by the JEDI Committee Chair. The Committee Chair will be self-nominated, and ratified by the Department Chair. Committee appointments will be for one year, renewable for two additional years. The JEDI Committee Chair must be a faculty member and continuing member of the JEDI committee, and shall be a voting member of the Executive Committee.

Duties of the Committee

The Committee will work to foster JEDI excellence in the Department of Human Ecology, to create and sustain a supportive, inclusive, and accessible environment for all members, to diversify our membership, and work towards equity and justice. Specific duties of the JEDI Committee will be to 1) develop priorities and initiatives for the department on increasing JEDI; 2) increase awareness of JEDI issues and opportunities for outreach by providing community members training opportunities and webpage management; and 3) identify methods to increase JEDI in the department and present these methods to the Executive Committee for consideration and adoption.

Definitions[1]

Equity: The guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all students, faculty and staff, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist equality in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups. Examples include giving staff unequal access to University programs based on their race (or other protected category), excluding a student from joining a University organization based on the student’s sexual orientation or national origin (or other protected category), not hiring someone because of that person’s perceived age or religion (or other protected category), or failing to make reasonable accommodations for a student or employee with a disability. Visit http://reporthateandbias.ucdavis.edu/definitions.html for more information.

Diversity: Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. It is the variety created in any society (and within any individual) by the presence of different points of view and ways of making meaning, which generally flow from the influence of different cultural, ethnic and religious heritages, from the differences in how we socialize women and men, and from the differences that emerge from class, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability and other socially constructed characteristics.1

Inclusion and Inclusion Excellence: The act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued as a fully participating member. An inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people. Inclusion integrates the fact of diversity and embeds it into the core academic mission and institutional functioning.

Inclusion Excellence: Organizations that have evolved beyond diversity into fully integrated, inclusive entities that: Value and embrace diversity and inclusion; focus on the individual, moving beyond a focus on groups; focus on creating a work environment where each person is recognized and developed, and talents are routinely tapped into; practice talent differentiation strategies; value people because of, not in spite of, their differences; take steps to move toward an environment that is equitable for all; internalize inclusion as a core value, meaning it neither changes quickly nor is affected by economic trends; see human equity as an essential element of sustainable competitive advantage or organizational effectiveness; integrate inclusion into all aspects of the organization: all employees consider themselves responsible for creating a fair, equitable and inclusive environment.

Access: Access is a broad construct that represents affording the opportunity for everyone entrée, use, and benefit to/of/from everything in society.

Microaggressions:  Microaggressions are forms of systemic everyday symbolic violence, such as daily, intentional or unintentional, verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities. They can be layered assaults that include insults or judgements related to race, ethnicity, citizenship, gender sexual orientation, age, type of college (4-year vs. transfer student), immigration status, language, disability, socioeconomic status, and religion. Microaggressions found in classrooms and other educational settings can have a psychological, academic, and physical toll on those who experience them. Information on microaggressions adapted from UCD Center for Educational Effectiveness. For more information on implicit bias see Project Implicit (Harvard University).

Implicit Bias: Subconscious attitudes or stereotypes, both favorable and not, that affect our understanding, actions and decisions.