University of New Hampshire
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The Office of Community, Equity and Diversity inspires individual and community growth toward building an inclusive and equitable living and learning environment. We encourage our campus and community partners  to understand themselves and others through self-reflection and collaborative work. Our programs and practices, grounded in anti-discrimination and anti-racism, cultivate opportunities for all to flourish. 

The office is administered by the Associate Vice President for Division of Community, Equity and Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer

The mission of the University Commission for Community, Equity and Diversity is:

• To work collaboratively with the Inclusion Council and the CED Office on issues of diversity and inequity. 
• To create working groups and committees involved in awareness-building programming; and submit proposals for services, policy changes and practices that build safer, more welcoming, universally accessible learning, working and living environments free of physical, programmatic and attitudinal barriers.
• To monitor campus for both discriminatory incidents and evidence of progress, sharing issues/concerns with CED, and recommending action(s) to the Inclusion Council and other UNH governance groups.
• To act as a resource/source for action items as identified by the President and/or other UNH governance groups.

UNH conducts myriad cultural competency trainings and activities. The programs reach all students, staff, and most faculty. Below are brief descriptions for many of the programs.

Social Justice Education Training: Social Justice Education Training is a professional development opportunity for UNH faculty, staff, and graduate students to further their understanding of social justice and diversity issues. The eight-hour training, which is divided into two days, covers issues of oppression, social injustice, social identity, and facilitation in a small-group setting. (Open to all faculty, staff, and graduate students.)

There are three tracks to the SJE Program:

• Awareness
• Allyship
• Action

Residential Life Curriculum: Residential Life strives for all residential students to feel a sense of belonging in their community.  We work towards this goal by using inclusion, equity, and antiracist lenses in our curriculum.  Students are provided opportunities to reflect on and develop their understanding of the impact of their identity, privileges, biases, and their role within the community around issues of inclusion and equity. 

1. WHO AM I AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? Students will demonstrate knowledge of their own identity, how it intersects with the identities of others, and how it impacts their lived experience. 

2. HOW DO I TALK ABOUT THIS? Students will be able to identify and define inclusive language. 

3. HOW CAN I LEARN FROM OTHERS? Students will engage in conversations that develop their ideas of inclusion and equity. 

4. HOW AM I ENGAGING WITH THE WORLD? Students will evaluate their participation in systems of oppression, privilege, and power while seeking to understand others’ perspectives. 

Examples of Social Justice Education in our Residence Halls:

• Conversations with residents about identity development
• Bias Gallery
• Culture Nights
• “Ally” campaign
• Invisible Knapsack (privilege article)
• Documentary series
• Safe Zones Programs
• The Hungry Planet
• Newsletter articles by hall directors, RAs or students 

Safe Zones Trainings: The Safe Zones Trainings are professional development opportunities for UNH faculty, staff, and graduate students to advance awareness, knowledge, and skills around the services and support that we provide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students and colleagues. Participants of Safe Zones Trainings are a campus-wide network of allies who are supportive of LGBTQ faculty, students, and staff and are committed to contributing to a campus climate of inclusion at UNH. Trainings are 1.5 hours in length. We offer department-specific trainings, and some trainings that are open to mixed groups of faculty and staff from various departments. http://www.unh.edu/safezones. (Safe Zone Trainings are now incorporated into all Residence hall curriculums for all incoming students. In addition, Safe Zone Trainings are open to all faculty, staff, and graduate students.)

IncludeU Training: 

IncludeU: (formerly GEAR UP) is an online, asynchronous professional development workshop designed by UNH ADVANCE for those participating in or chairing faculty search committees.IncludeU participants learn:

• Up-to-date skills and knowledge to maintain consistent, effective, and unbiased faculty searches
• To recognize that we all have bias and will be more aware of how bias affects academic workplace dynamics, including during the search process.
• To be able to describe the negative consequences of bias on academic workplace climate and some of the various ways witnesses to bias incidents can intervene.
• To be able to implement effective intervention behaviors to mitigate the effects of bias in the workplace and articulate why not all people can or should intervene in the same way.

Participants receive a certificate of completion after completing the entire course.  Training is required every two years. 

Title IX training: The Title IX Coordinator provides training on sexual harassment, sexual violence and mandated reporting instructions to new incoming faculty during orientation as well as to whole departments and staff on an annual basis. https://www.unh.edu/affirmativeaction/title-ixsexual-violence (All staff and most faculty.) 

Community of Care Preventing Sexual Violence and Harassment at UNH Reporting Guide: UNH staff, faculty, teaching assistants and graduate students receive the Community of Care Preventing Sexual Violence and Harassment at UNH Reporting Guide for reporting sexual violence and harassment. The module covers:

• UNH policies related to sexual violence (which includes sexual harassment, assault, or misconduct; unwanted sexual contact; relationship abuse; dating violence; domestic violence; and cyber-stalking)
• Definitions of sexual violence and harassment
• Federal and New Hampshire laws concerning sexual violence and harassment
• How to formally report incidents of sexual violence and harassment
• What happens when UNH receives a sexual violence report
• How to get confidential support for survivors of sexual violence and harassment and their friends

(All incoming and transfer students are assigned to complete the Community of Care Preventing Sexual Violence and Harassment at UNH Reporting Guide online module. In addition, each year, all UNH staff, teaching assistants, graduate students, and most faculty receive the program.) 

Orientation: All new staff during their orientation are required to take the “Creating a Respectful Workplace at UNH” on-line module. The module provides employees a greater understanding on how to recognize and address unacceptable behavior, along with strategies to promote a respectful workplace. When the module was first introduced (approximately 3 years ago), all existing staff were sent a Directed Communication from the President and Human Resources (with the module web link) to introduce the module. All existing employees were requested to participate in taking the module. http://www.unh.edu/hr/respectful-workplace.

In addtion, many colleges and units have their own training programs and communities of practice related to diversity and equity training and skill building. See for example

•  https://eos.unh.edu/justice-equity-diversity-inclusion
•  https://extension.unh.edu/about/volunteering/together-learning-about-diversity-equity-inclusion-justice-accessibility-deija and
• https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/21-day in which many UNh students, staff and faculty have participated.