EJI-Designation I. Description
From EJI-designated Proposal:
• An EJI-designated course will use course content, pedagogy, and classroom interactions to highlight obstacles to and strategies required to promote equity and social justice and inclusion in the United States.
• An EJI-designated course will integrate equity, social justice, and inclusion into the established course content through pedagogy and heightened attention to classroom interactions and culture.
• An EJI-designated course will explore epistemological bias and discrimination in the United States based on a variety of individual and group factors.
II. Strategies
The EJI-designation will not be satisfied by the addition of stand-alone lessons on “other cultures” or other forms of “difference.”
Below are some suggestions and examples of how a course may incorporate issues and concerns of equity, social justice, and inclusion through course content, pedagogy, and climate. A successful EJI course will incorporate aspects from all areas: content, pedagogy, and climate.
(Note: The following list should also make clear the relevance of the EJI-designation for instructors and classes across the curriculum.)
Content • Identifies discipline-specific equity, social justice, and inclusion learning objectives.
Examples
o A Physics course aims to improve students’
awareness of the contributions of women and people of color to the field from both theoretical and applied foci.
o A Journalism course seeks to improve students’ knowledge of the world views and lived experiences of communities told from their perspectives.
o A Management class improves students’
understanding of the role of systemic racism in business organizations and management practices and different approaches to business practices • Content addresses issues or concerns related to diversity, equity,
Examples
o A Sociology course examines how historical cases of structural, institutional, and ideological
discrimination arise as a result of the socially defined meanings attributed to difference.
o An Engineering course examines the history of the discipline from the perspective of diversity and difference, asking about the status and contributions of diverse social and cultural groups to the field. o A Marketing course examines the history of racial
bias in advertising and strategies of change. Investigate marketing theories implemented by diverse ethnic groups.
• Assigns readings that represent diverse social and cultural voices and perspectives.
Examples
o A History course examines different accounts of major historical events from various social perspectives.
o A Political Science instructor actively seeks out course materials that are written by persons who belong to a diverse range of social groups.
o An Economics course addresses the role of slavery, racism in U.S. economic history and other cultural approaches to economics.
• Instructor makes an effort to historically and socially
contextualize material, especially when relevant to concerns of diversity, equity, or social justice and equity
• Historicize and contextualize historical events from an inclusive perspective that reveal the contributions of various members of the society. Eliminate cultural imperialism in the telling of history.
Examples
o A Mathematics course discusses the social and
cultural context in which a theory was developed and explores potential connections between the theory and the dominant cultural norms and values. o In examining different theories of intellectual
development, an Education course asks about the relationship between theory and social/cultural context; that is, the extent to which the different
theories reflect or were shaped by the norms and values that dominated the social and cultural contexts in which they emerged.
• Explores viewpoints that question power relationships or longstanding conventional wisdom within the discipline Examples
o A Philosophy course may analyze dominant theories of knowledge from a gendered perspective, asking to what extent they privilege the experiences of men. Recognize that all people create philosophies. Examine the philosophies of African, Asians, and American indigenous peoples.
o A Communications instructor may ask students to locate culturally or socially biased content in textbooks or other course materials.
• Addresses the concerns of diverse groups
o A Nursing Nutrition course addresses socioeconomic factors, environmental justice, access to grocery stores versus a corner store, and cultural food choices including the Standard American Diet.
o A course in Political Science may look at concerns that are relevant for marginalized groups in the U.S. and explore the contributions of diverse group
• Examines or approaches discipline-specific questions or problems from multiple social or cultural perspectives.
Examples
o An Educational Methods course focuses on the impact of the American educational model on students and society.
o A Literature course examines major works from various social and cultural perspectives.
Pedagogy & Climate
EJI-designated courses rely on inclusive pedagogy and encourage opportunities for transformative experiences for all participants, as well as foster a safe and respectful classroom environment.
Some strategies include:
• Use of inclusive language (e.g., gender inclusive ‘firefighter versus gendered ‘fireman’; they/them/their rather than she/he). • Use of examples that challenge, rather than reinforce stereotypes
on a continuum of wellness to death that disability is right before death; or, raise questions about where a Para-Olympian fits on continuum; or, explore Deaf culture in a course on educational techniques).
• Collaboration with students to develop guidelines for safe and respectful classroom behavior.
• Utilization of a variety of instructional strategies, including cooperative learning. Recognize that students learn differently based on their socioeconomic status, abilities, disabilities, race, gender, age, and life experiences.
• Faculty are conscious of their own cultural and social identity (including power and privilege) and consideration of its significance for teaching and interacting with students who are differently situated.
• Avoid using students who may seem to be part of a particular group as representatives of that group, in classroom presentations and discussions (the fishbowl method of teaching).
• Incorporation of community outreach components into the course when appropriate
• Incorporation of diverse teams in projects. Authentic
Community Engagement
Recommended when appropriate for a course:
Connections to community can occur in many forms. The overall goal is to connect students with authentic experiences in communities at CCSU and beyond our campus.
• Examples may include, but are not limited to, community service aimed at communities of need, communities exacerbated by systemic injustices, and exploited communities. Examples can also include working with organizations that
confront/address social injustices such as (but not limited to) racism, classism, colonization, sexism, heterosexism, gender bias, patriarchy, white supremacy, and religionism.
• Engagement with countering intersectional injustices, which can be numerous. Examples may include (but are not limited to) intersectional unjust practices or mindsets such as ecoracism, ecosexism, and ecoclassism.
• Engagement with restructuring societal contexts that produce (but not limited to) gentrification, police brutality, racial and poverty profiling, institutional bias, criminal injustices in the
court system, excessive death practices in healthcare, economic biases, bank lending biases, advertisement biases, entertainment industry biases, governmental practices and/or policies, and workplace silencing.
III. Key Terms & Concepts
1. Equity with Social Justice: These terms highlight concerns about the relative impact of social institutions and structures on the choices, actions, and opportunities of the persons and groups situated in them; involves concerns about equity and fairness with regard to how persons are treated, the opportunities they enjoy, and their access to
resources. Equity with social justice means that the focus is two-fold: aims at both accessibility to resources and services within a society (equity) and the systemic
outcomes of that society (social justice). Equity with social justice means that both access and the systemic outcomes are attended to simultaneously. This is an important
distinction to make because, for example, a society where greed dominates ultimately make efforts of equitability moot since the overall outcomes employ exploitation. Therefore, both equity and social justice need to be examined together.
2. Inclusion: A recognition that goes beyond tolerance to inclusion of all histories, life experiences, and cultural backgrounds. Learning and teaching that addresses the norms, values, and practices in our institutions that have systematically advantaged white/men/cis/able bodied people to the exclusion and oppression of all others. Avoids trying to change some students (or faculty or staff) to fit our institution or to reduce tensions, and instead, challenges, critically examines, and seeks to change the institution to be more inclusive. Diversity: dissimilarities of persons/groups’ characteristics (such as traits, qualities, beliefs, values, and mannerisms) that result from differences in
backgrounds or group memberships. Key sources of diversity in the US are: ethno-cultural background, racial identity, citizenship, language, religious background, sexual orientation, gender expression/identity, and others. Seeks to embrace these differences and recognize their ability to transform society in powerfully positive ways.
3. Inclusive Pedagogy: Aims to ensure equity and social justice in education; of primary importance is the need for equitable learning environments in which all students, regardless of social or cultural identity, are able to participate equally in and have their needs and interests met through the educational process; recognizes the need for critical attention to all aspects of education—curriculum, classroom climate, pedagogy, and context—in order to ensure equitable learning.
4. Structural Violence: the systematic, and often invisible ways, that our structure harms those disadvantaged in our society. Recognition that race, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression/identity, among many other categories, make physical, emotional, and health differences in the life experiences of people in our society.
5. Social Identity: how persons are identified and positioned within society relative to systems of power and privilege, such as those of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, age, ability, class, and others. 6. Intersectionality: the interconnectedness of the social categories we all have (especially race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression/identity, and ecological identities), on an individual or group level, that create overlapping and interdependent systems of advantage and disadvantage.
