College of Education

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Shared Knowledge & Language Resource

Adopted Spring 2022

Purpose: The purpose and intent of this webpage is to co-construct and disseminate common Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) language, content knowledge, and resources that can be used college-wide for students, staff, faculty, and administrators. Our hope is that this list will lead to consistent and shared language as well as deeper conversations and study in all aspects of our work (instruction, advising, work practices and policies, scholarship, service, and ongoing dialogue among students, staff, faculty, and administrators. We encourage you to read, explore, cite, and implement these concepts and ideas in your work and daily practice. This list does not encompass all EDI topics nor is it, by any means, comprehensive. Please see the opportunity to provide feedback on the right section of the page.

A-Z Index

A

Ableism

“A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, ‘health/wellness’, and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, ‘excel’ and ‘behave'” (Lewis, 2021).

Ability

The quality of having the means or skill to do something. Ability is not permanent, can fluctuate throughout one’s life, and is another aspect of diversity in our communities. Disabilities do not necessarily limit people unless society imposes assumptions that do not account for the variation in people’s abilities (UC Davis).

Aces or Asexual

Individuals who generally do not experience sexual attraction to others of any gender. Some do experience romantic attractions. Asexuality differs from celibacy in that celibates have a sexual attraction, but choose to abstain from sex (UMass).

Allies or Allyship

To be an ally, a person in a position of power and privilege must engage in active, consistent, and repeated practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, seeking to work in solidarity with a marginalized group. Allyship is a continual process of building relationships based on trust, respect, responsibility, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people; An ally’s efforts must be recognized by the people they seek to ally themselves with as grounded in a genuine interest in challenging systemic oppression. Being an ally doesn’t mean one fully understands what it feels like to be oppressed. It means they are taking on the struggle as their own (Guide to Allyship).

Allosexism

The societal, institutional, and individual beliefs and practices that assume that everyone
experiences or should experience sexual attraction. Allosexism privileges allosexual or zsexual people and leads to prejudice and discrimination against asexual people (UMass).

Antiracist Education

An approach to learning that seeks to identify, oppose, and overturn racism in schools and society. It begins with the understanding that racial structures and beliefs from the past continue to affect all people in the present, including in schools. It affirms that educators have a responsibility to recognize and counter racism and to use instruction and curriculum proactively to achieve social transformation and a better future for all students (Center for Anti-Racist Education).

Anti-Bias & Anti-Racist (ABAR) Pedagogy

Work related to and supporting classroom instruction that is grounded in the active identification and deconstruction of one’s own biases and concomitant work to dismantle white supremacist actions, beliefs, expressions, values, and culture (Kleinrock, 2021). 

Aros or Aromantic

Individuals who experience little or no romantic attraction to others of any gender (UMass).

Assets-based Approaches

Approaches that recognize, validate, and disseminate the assets and strengths of minoritized communities and students. They challenge the dominant narrative that views the experiences of people of color and other marginalized groups in deficit terms, and that views privilege in terms of “merit.” (NYU: Steinhardt) 

B

Biphobia

We have been intentionally moving away from using words like "transphobic,” “homophobic,” and "biphobic" because they inaccurately describe systems of oppression as irrational fears. Also, for some people, phobias are a very distressing part of their lived experience and co-opting this language can be disrespectful to their experiences and perpetuates ableism (UC Davis).

BIPOC

An acronym that stands for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” which originated from the term “people of color.” Acronyms such as BIPOC, are important because they are part of reclaiming discriminatory terms such as “colored people,” which was used to “other” and discriminate against non-white people. The restructuring of that term as "people of color” (POC) places the emphasis on people first and signifies greater inclusion of people who have experienced racism and mistreatment because of their skin color and culture. At the same time, the BIPOC acronym also acknowledges that communities of color have unique histories and cultures and therefore do not have the same experiences or injustices (Cherry, 2020). BIPOC acknowledges that the particular forms of racism encountered by Black (e.g., slavery, Jim Crow, carceral violence) and indigenous people (e.g., genocide, land theft) as foundational in understanding the relationship between white supremacy and all people of color while acknowledging the importance of solidarity, upon which the POC label was established (PCEC, 2021).

Biromantic

Individuals who are romantically, but not necessarily sexually, attracted to people of more
than one gender (UMass).

C

Cisgender

Cis, short for cisgender (pronounced sis-gender, or just sis), is a term that means whatever gender you are now is the same as what was presumed for you at birth. This simply means that when a parent or doctor called you a boy or a girl when you were born, they got it right.

Cis people can be men or women, because those are the genders that doctors label people at birth, so they would be considered a cisman or a ciswoman.

A person’s gender is different from their sexuality; therefore, you can be cisgender and be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or another sexuality, just as you can be trans and any sexuality, too.

Cis has traditionally been used as a prefix, the same as trans has, and comes from the Latin meaning “on the same side as”, which sits opposite trans, from the Latin “on the opposite side as.” (See also Cisgenderism, Cissexism)

Cisgenderism

The cultural and systemic ideology that denies, denigrates, or pathologizes self-identified gender identities that do not align with assigned gender at birth as well as resulting behavior, expression, and community. This ideology endorses and perpetuates the belief that cisgender identities and expression are to be valued more than transgender identities and expression and creates an inherent system of associated power and privilege. The presence of cisgenderism exists in many cultural institutions, including language and the law, and consequently enables prejudice and discrimination against the transgender community. 

The pervasive nature of cisgenderism creates, designates, and enforces a hierarchy by which individuals are expected to conform and are punished if they do not. This hierarchy includes rigid beliefs and rules about many aspects of gender, including gender identity, expression, and roles. Individuals who do not conform to these rules are seen as deviant, immoral, and even threatening. In turn, prejudice, discrimination, and even violence are viewed as justifiable in order to protect and preserve this very system that benefits those in power who created it (See also Cisgender, Cissexism)(Lennon, E., Mistler, B.J. (2014)).

Cissexism

The appeal to norms that enforce the gender binary and gender essentialism, resulting in the oppression of gender variant, non-binary, and trans identities (UCBerkeley).

Climate

“Climate refers to the way in which an organization is perceived and experienced by its individual members. Climate influences whether individuals feel valued, listened to, personally safe and treated with fairness and dignity within an organization.” (Oregon State University- Definitions) 

Coming Out

Coming out is the process of voluntarily sharing one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity with others. This process is unique for each individual and there is no right or wrong way to come out. The term “coming out” has also been broadened to include other pieces of potentially stigmatized personal information. Terms also used that correlate with this action are: "Being out" which means not concealing one's sexual orientation or gender identity, and "Outing, " a term used for making public the sexual orientation or gender identity of another who would prefer to keep this information secret (The Psychology of "Coming Out").

Community Cultural Wealth

An array of knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed and utilized by Communities of Color to survive and resist macro and micro-forms of oppression. Communities of Color nurture cultural wealth through at least six forms of capital: aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant capital (Yosso, 2005).

Counter-Narrative (Counter-Story)

Critical Consciousness

The ability to analyze systems of oppression that have sustained inequitable structures, policies, and practices. Through the development of critical consciousness, the oppressed are liberated from internalized negative images of themselves and their communities. Ideally, through praxis (reflection and action), they are then motivated to take action to transform social realities. In education, the understanding of historical and contemporary forces that have disenfranchised, discriminated against, and oppressed, allows learners to release internalized oppression and develop the capacity to resist and act to change inequitable structures (Freire, 2018). Critical Consciousness differs from concepts such as “grit” and “growth mindset” in that it empowers learners to change the way they understand and see themselves in relation to societal forces that created educational, economic, and political barriers, rather than taking measures to change themselves to fit in and succeed in these oppressive structures.

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a framework from legal studies that examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the United States (Bell, 1987). A core tenet of CRT is that racism and disparate racial outcomes are structural and institutional rather than based on individual feelings or actions (Crenshaw, 1991). It is a valuable framework for helping identify how laws and policies can either entrench or eradicate historic racial inequities in education. In education, it can be a valuable approach or lens through which an educator can help students examine the role of race and racism in American society (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). CRT is the work of scholars who are developing an explanatory framework that accounts for the role of race and racism in education. CRT works toward identifying and challenging racism in its historical and contemporary forms as part of a larger goal of identifying and challenging all forms of subordination (Solórzano & Pérez Huber, 2020).

Cultural Taxation

Amado Padilla (1994) introduced the concept of “cultural taxation” in which faculty and staff of color experience additional work responsibilities such as serving as unofficial diversity consultants on campus, mentoring students of color, or serving as “departmental experts” for their particular ethnic or racial group. While the campus benefits from the presence and voices of faculty and staff of color, they are not often compensated for this “invisible labor” and subsequent responsibilities and experience heavier workloads and stress as a result (How to Recognize and Rescind Cultural Taxation).

Cultural Variability

Recognizing variability that exists within cultural groups helps to avoid essentializing a group’s culture. Acknowledging cultural variability challenges implicit, and often unrecognized, cultural assumptions of diverse groups—both within as well as outside of education.

Culturally Competent Educators

Educators who practice Culturally Responsive Pedagogies (CRP) are willing to engage with multiple perspectives and to enter discussions and situations that may challenge their comfort zones. They can “read” the cultural dimensions embedded in situations inside and outside of the classroom and are aware of how these cultural dimensions may be affecting students’ participation and learning. Culturally competent educators design and implement learning experiences that honor, support, and empower students from various cultural groups while supporting students’ learning. These educators realize as well that CRP can be thought of as a continuum of strategies and understandings, and they are open to growth and experimentation at any point along the continuum (See also Culturally Informed Pedagogies).

Culture

Refers to the norms, values, beliefs, and practices shared by a group of people. It is a set of guidelines, both explicit and implicit, that individuals inherit, adopt, and adapt, as members of a particular group. These guidelines influence cultural group members’ views of the world, their emotional experiences of it, and their understandings of acceptable and appropriate behaviors; cultural guidelines are learned (and often internalized) behaviors (e.g., Gay, 2018; Hollie, 2018). Cultures can be based on various groupings including race, ethnicity, language, age, gender/ gender expression, sexual orientation, nationality, (political) beliefs, activities/ hobbies. Experiences and expressions of culture are highly individualized and should not be generalized, essentialized or based on stereotypes (See also Non-essentializing Conceptualizations of Culture).

Culturally Informed Pedagogies

Culturally Responsive (Gay, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 1995), Affirming (Moll et al., 1992; Yosso, 2005) and Sustaining (Paris & Alim, 2014) pedagogies are frameworks that acknowledge and recognize the centrality of culture in learning processes, and the importance of teachers’ response, affirmation, and work to sustain culture as a part of their curriculum, instruction, and relationships with their students. Core tenets of each of these pedagogies, drawn from the literature are listed below:

• Culturally Relevant Teaching can be defined as “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural and historical referents to convey knowledge, impart skills, and to change attitudes” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 13).
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
  • An educator’s ability to recognize students’ cultural displays of learning and meaning making and respond positively and constructively with teaching moves that use cultural knowledge as a scaffold to connect what the student knows to new concepts and content in order to promote effective information processing. All the while, the educator understands the importance of being in relationship and having a social-emotional connection to the student in order to create a safe place for learning” (Hammond, 2015, 15).
• Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP)
  • Prioritizes “the use of cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2018, 31).
• Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching
  • Validates and affirms “the home (indigenous) culture and home language for the purposes of building and bridging the student to success in the culture of academia and mainstream society” (Hollie, 2018, 23).
• Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
  • “[Has for] its explicit goal supporting multilingualism and multiculturalism in practice and perspective for students and teachers. CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling as a needed response to demographic and social change. CSP, then, links a focus on sustaining pluralism through education to challenges of social justice and change in ways that previous iterations of asset pedagogies did not” (Paris & Alim, 2014, 14).

D

Deadnaming

To refer to a transgender person by the name they used before transition instead of their affirmed, chosen name (USC Rossier).

Disability/(Dis)ability/Dis/ability

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This law defines disability in terms of difficulty performing a function that most people consider routine, such as bathing, eating, providing one's own transportation, or managing one's own finances. Disability is a general term used to indicate that the environment does not accommodate a person’s abilities. The term may refer to a physical, sensory, or mental condition. People with disabilities are the largest minority group in America, and the only group that any person can join at any time (Portrayal,NDRN).

Diversity

“Diversity reflects the many ways in which individuals and communities are unique, contributing distinct and valuable experiences and perspectives to the mission and vision of [an organization].” (Oregon State University - Definitions). 

Dominant Culture

The cultural values, beliefs, and practices that are assumed to be the most common and influential within a given society. 

Dyadic

Individuals who are born with chromosomes, a reproductive system, and a sexual anatomy that fit into the prevailing standard for “female” or “male” individuals (i.e., people who are not intersex) (UMass).

Dyadism or binarism

The societal, institutional, and individual beliefs and practices that assume that there are only two “biological” or “natural” sexes—female and male. Dyadism/binarism privileges dyadic people and leads to prejudice and discrimination against people with intersex variations (UMass).

E

Enby (Enbies)

A gender identity term used by some nonbinary individuals that is derived from the phonetic pronunciation of the short- hand for nonbinary, NB. Is used as a noun (e.g., I’m not a man or a woman, I’m an enby) (Nonbinary Fact Sheet, UCBerkeley).

Engagement

“Engagement reflects [an institution’s] commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion internally and externally.” (Oregon State University - Definitions) 

Equity

“Crafting solutions that meet the needs of diverse groups based on their histories and access to resources - outcomes oriented (different than equality or sameness; equity deals with specificity).” (USC, Equity Now! Fall 2020)

Equity Mindedness

The term “equity-mindedness” addresses racial, ethnic, and other social inequities and refers to the perspective or mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who call attention to patterns of inequity (e.g., policies, practices, and student outcomes). These practitioners are willing to take personal and institutional responsibility for the success of their students, and critically reassess their own practices (Center for Urban Education)(See also Equity, Diversity).

F

G

Gender Identity

A person’s internal sense of being male, female or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics (APA,USC Rossier).

H

Heterocentrism 

An (often subconscious) assumption that everyone is heterosexual, and the attitudes associated with that assumption (See Heterosexism, Heteronormativity).

Heterosexism 

Heterosexism is the assumption that heterosexuality is the social and cultural norm as well as the prejudiced belief that heterosexuals, or “straight” people, are socially and culturally superior to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit and queer (LGBTTQ) people.  

The use of the term “heterosexism” originated out of an argument that “homophobia” denoted an inherent assumption that antigay prejudice was based largely on fear and in turn did not describe the underlying “cultural ideology” that leads to biased attitudes and behaviors (See Heterocentrism, Heteronomativity, Heterosexual Privilege)( Lennon, E., Mistler, B.J. (2014). Cisgenderism.)

Heteronormativity 

Heteronormativity is the cultural bias in favor of opposite-sex/gender relationships, to that of same-sex/gender relationships. Because opposite-sex/gender relationships are viewed as “normal” and same-sex/ gender relationships are not, lesbian and gay relationships are subject to a heteronormative bias. Heteronormative bias is a bias that can be eliminated socially, culturally, and legally. Heteronormative biases include:

• The under representation of samesex/gender couples in advertising and entertainment media
• Religious biases to not marry samesex/gender couples
• Heterosexual persons freely discussing their intimate relationships without second guessing to disclose their partner’s name, gender or pronoun (he/she) 

Heterosexual Privilege 

Heterosexual privilege is an advantage automatically given to heterosexual persons simply because they are heterosexual. This is similar to the privileges Caucasian persons receive because of their race or men receive because they are male. A few examples of heterosexual privilege include being able to display simple affection in public without the fear of retaliation, violence, or harassment, children’s books only reflecting heterosexual parents; and only being able to find heterosexual wedding cards. Heterosexism can be both subtle and overt. 

I

M

N

Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity refers to the natural and important variations in how human minds think. These differences can include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, Tourette Syndrome, and others. Like other variable human traits like race, gender, sexuality, or culture, there is no right or wrong form of diversity. The social dynamics that exert power over other forms of diversity also impact neurodivergent people. Neurodiversity is not something to be cured or corrected to fit some social norm - rather, we should celebrate different forms of communication and self-expression and promote support systems to allow neurodivergent people to thrive (See also Neurodivergent) (Neurocosmopolitanism, The National Symposium on Neurodiversity) (UCDavis).

Neurodivergent

“Neurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a brain that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.” A person whose neurocognitive functioning diverges from dominant societal norms in multiple ways – for instance, a person who is Autistic, has dyslexia, and has epilepsy – can be described as multiply neurodivergent. The terms neurodivergent and neurodivergence were coined by Kassiane Asasumasu, a multiply neurodivergent neurodiversity activist.” (Neurocosmopolitanism) (See also Neurodiversity; Neurotypical) (UCDavis).

Neurotypical

“Neurotypical, often abbreviated as NT, means having a style of neurocognitive functioning that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal.” Neurotypical can be used as either an adjective (“He’s neurotypical”) or a noun (“He’s a neurotypical”).” (Neurocosmopolitanism) (See also Neurodivergent)(UCDavis).

Non-binary

Used both as an umbrella term and a gender identity label to refer to people whose gender does not fall within the binary categories of man and woman. Nonbinary people have been recognized throughout history in many cultures.  

There are several different identity labels and experiences that fall under the nonbinary Umbrella including: an absence of gender (e.g., agender, genderless); a presence of multiple genders (e.g., bigender, pangender); fluctuation between different genders (e.g., genderfluid, genderflux), or identification with third gender in-between or outside the gender binary (e.g., genderqueer, neutrois), and partial identification with being a man or woman (e.g., demiboy, demigirl). Terms such as gender creative or gender expansive have been used to describe nonbinary or nonconforming children and adolescents.  

Some nonbinary people also identify as transgender or trans (referring to their assigned sex differing from their gender identity) or as cisgender (referring to their assigned sex being similar to their gender identity) whereas others do not identify with either. However, nonbinary people are often conceptualized as a subpopulation within the greater trans umbrella and make up approximately one third of the trans population. 

Many nonbinary people use pronouns such as they/them/theirs, ze/hir/hirs, among others, whereas other nonbinary people use she/her/hers, he/him/his, alternate between sets of pronouns (e.g., he/him some days and she/her other days), use multiple sets of pronouns (e.g., she/her and they/them) or don’t use pronouns at all (referred to by name only). It is important to recognize that a person’s pronouns cannot be assumed from their appearance or their gender identity (Nonbinary Fact Sheet).

O

P

Pangender

A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression is numerous, either fixed (many at once) or fluid (moving from one to another, often more than two)(UMass).

Pansexual  

A person who is fluid in sexual orientation and/or gender or sex identity (UCBerkeley).

R

S

Sizeism

The pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion that oppresses people who have bodies that society has labeled as “overweight,” as well as people of short stature. Hxstorically speaking, fat people’s bodies have been labeled as unhealthy, undesirable, and lazy; this fails to complicate narratives around health and healthy living. This form of oppression has been referred to as fatphobia (UCDavis).

T

U

W