Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Department of Asian Studies is committed to creating and sustaining an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for our students, faculty, and staff. For us these are not only core values but critical practices, that guide our collective endeavours. The Department of Asian Studies was one of the first units within the Faculty of Arts to establish an Equity Committee in 2013. Since that time UBC has pursued major initiatives to strengthen its commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) on campus. In 2015 the Equity and Inclusion Office (EIO) was upgraded and placed under the leadership of an Associate Vice President for EDI. These transformative changes have led to many new campus initiatives: the Employment Equity Plan, the Inclusion Action Plan, the Canada Research Chair EDI Action Plan, Differences That Matter: A Conflict Engagement Initiative, the Student Diversity Initiative, and the Dimensions program. Our aim in Asian Studies is to align ourselves with all these initiatives and abide by key UBC policies covering EDI. Keeping in view the prevalence of inherent and structural biases that restrict the pursuit of just employment and equitable access to education, the department is dedicated to ensuring that racialized and Indigenous communities; people who identify with marginalized genders and sexual orientations; disabled people; economically disadvantaged and other under-represented groups are offered equitable opportunities to study, work and thrive. In order, for us to foster faculty and stakeholder conversations the Department recently conducted a detailed EDI survey among our graduate students.  This is a living document and will be continuously updated based on future interventions in the form of workshops, surveys, and teaching pedagogy.

EDI RESOURCES

EDI POLICIES

 

This statement was approved by the faculty in April, 2022. The statement is reviewed and the list of resources updated from time to time by the departmental Equity Committee.
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