CFI Statement on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
This is a time of crisis in which intersecting injustices and mounting pain come into focus: a pandemic that disproportionately harms Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and those with disabilities; a convulsion of government violence against Black individuals; and a continuing history of subtle and overt discrimination and marginalization on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and class. The Center for Faculty Innovation (CFI) is the educational development center of a predominantly white institution that strives, in its guiding values, “to be an inclusive community.” In this context of privilege, the CFI acknowledges its complicity in systemic racism and other intersectional suppression and pledges to cultivate inclusive communities of peers committed to helping each other succeed, advancing individual and organizational change. This entails creating spaces that decenter white, male, socially dominant perspectives and that are truly spaces for members of the JMU community who have been pushed to the margins. This must also involve engaging faculty who hold privilege in processes of re-examination that do not focus solely on their self-improvement but on decentering themselves in support of the evolution of a truly inclusive institution with aligned policy and practices. -June 2020
"The CFI will cultivate inclusive communities of peers committed to helping each other succeed, advancing individual and organizational change." -CFI vision statement
Through varied program offerings, the CFI engages with the local, national, and global academic and faculty development communities on issues such as inclusive excellence, the changing professoriate, and diverse forms of scholarship. Notable is the framing of access, inclusion, diversity, and social justice initiatives that both center and wrap around our work. Acknowledging the importance of engagement – with ideas and with the world – we believe richness of difference is integral to the cultivation of high-quality academic programs. Further, access and inclusion initiatives must coexist at multiple levels (i.e., ground-up and top-down) in order to enhance faculty’s diversity capacities in teaching, scholarly creation, and leadership. In addition, CFI access and inclusion initiatives reflect on aspects of access and inclusion in the discipline of educational development itself.
Glossary of Racial Equity Terms
JMU’s Task Force on Racial Equity (TFRE) recommends establishing a shared vocabulary for discussing racial issues. Developing a shared vocabulary provides a baseline of understanding for us to initiate conversations and develop connections. TFRE identified a comprehensive glossary of racial equity terms created by Racial Equity Tools, an organization that supports groups working to achieve racial equity. All terms contain detailed definitions, use cases and examples, and each is properly sourced.
