Learning new words and phrases that help us make sense out of what is happening around us is an important strategy for advancing equity, diversity and inclusion. New language offers a portal into experiences of injustice that otherwise remain unnamed and thus unrecognized.
The NEIU Equity-Diversity-Inclusion Glossary Project offers the University community access to a collectively generated living-and-breathing document of key words and phrases that help us to identify, understand and change the inequity and discrimination experienced by our students, faculty and staff.
How it works:
Step One: Call for New Terms/Phrases
Each fall semester, the Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion will circulate a Targeted Announcement inviting the University community to suggest new terms and phrases for the EDI Glossary.
Step Two: Invitation to Draft/Revise Definitions
After the three-week suggestion period closes, those who proposed new vocabulary will be invited to draft definitions for those terms/phrases. This will be a three-week period.
Step Three: Review Definitions
After the three-week drafting period closes, the University community will then have a three-week period to review the newly drafted definitions, make suggestions or request additional conversation on any of the new or old definitions.
Step Four: Publish New Terms/Phrases and Revisions.
Those terms/phrases and revisions that are not flagged for additional discussion after the three-week review period will be added to the EDI Glossary.
Step Five: Schedule Discussions on Flagged Terms/Phrases.
The Executive Director of the OEDI will schedule a discussion forum for those definitions of terms/phrases that did not reach consensus or were otherwise flagged for further discussion. A Targeted Announcement will be released with the date(s) and venue for these forums. If consensus is reached about the definition of the terms discussed at these discussion forums, they will be added to the EDI Glossary. If consensus is not reached, then the terms/phrases will remain on the suggestion list for the next cycle of proposals and review process.
The Executive Director of the OEDI is the final authority on revisions and inclusion of terms/phrases to the EDI Glossary and reserves the right to strike any suggestions based on published literature and best practices established by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
