Understanding how systemic bias and historic inequities impact our society is a life-long pursuit that requires ongoing commitment. While that is not the focus of this course, we hope that you will engage in this work.

One, albeit small, way to acknowledge this impact, can be to create a diversity and inclusion statement. You might already have a diversity and inclusion statement or be familiar with them.

A diversity and inclusion statement states your commitment to building an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming classroom space for students of all backgrounds. These statements can help create inclusive classes and make students feel safe.

These statements can vary in length, but for our purposes, we’ll focus on creating a statement that is one to two paragraphs that can be used in your syllabus or to open your course.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement Examples

Before we write our own statements, let’s look at a few examples. Take some time to visit the following links. As you review the statements, consider what you like about them, what challenges you, and what you might change. Take notes or start a working document for your own statement if you encounter language that particularly resonates with you.

Now that we’ve reviewed a few sample statements, let’s draft our own. If you need help getting started, visit The Effective Diversity Statement for some tips on how to craft your own statement.

Self-Assess your Statement

After drafting your statement, self-assess it with the Rubric for Evaluating Diversity Statements.

Share your statement and provide feedback for your colleagues

After you have drafted your statement, please post it to the discussion board. Provide feedback to your colleagues. Remember that this is a learning space where we seek to support each other’s growth.

Reflection 3

After getting feedback from your colleagues, consider continuing to develop and retool your statement. After you use your statement in a course, reflect on the impact of the statement.

Before completing this module, take a few moments to share your reflections on the following prompts:

Summary

Promoting respect for student differences is an important competency for culturally responsive educators to cultivate. Diversity and inclusion statements are one way to promote respect for student differences.