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Equity Action Plan

Goal 1: Equity-centred culture

Create an inclusive campus community that values diversity and challenges dominant systems of power, including colonization, white supremacy and heteropatriarchy, through research, teaching, curriculum, policy and practice.

Why?

During the plan’s creation, UVic community members noted that dominant systems of power continue to prevent the success of the equity work underway at UVic. In response, we must work to dismantle all forms of oppression, including colonization, white supremacy and heteropatriarchy. Addressing the ongoing and historical impacts of these systems of power will help build an inclusive culture on campus.

  • There is a lack of acknowledgement of and commitment to addressing the oppressive and inequitable systems of power that UVic was built on (e.g., colonialism, white supremacy, etc.) by senior academic and administrative leadership. This recreates inequitable systems of power.
  • Many decision makers have not experienced systemic oppression or inequity. They may lack the skills and knowledge to consider how their decisions impact systemically and historically marginalized groups. This results in uninformed, unclear work that reinforces barriers to equity.
  • Intercultural competency and cultural safety are not prioritized or evaluated within individual units, departments or faculties. Training is inconsistent and/or voluntary.
  • Without a shared understanding of UVic’s core equity goals, values and definitions, equity work across campus lacks cohesion and collective action.

Committed actions

Community-wide impact

  1. Communicate about major institutional decision-making in a way that reflects UVic’s commitments to advancing equity while recognizing inequitable/differential impacts. Lead: Executive Council

  2. Provide equity, anti-oppression, anti-racism and cultural safety education for all members of the university. Include specific opportunities to develop Indigenous cultural competencies by learning about Indigenous histories, current realities, rights to self-determination and anti-Indigenous racism. Leads: VP Indigenous, VP Academic & Provost (VPAC Executive Team), VP Finance & Operations (Human Resources), University Secretary (Equity & Human Rights)

  3. Establish and implement a Black inclusion plan that advances the principles and actions of the Scarborough Charter(Black flourishing, Inclusive excellence, Mutuality, and Accountability) within governance, research, teaching and learning, and community engagement. Leads: VP Academic & Provost (Scarborough Charter Steering Committee), University Secretary (Equity & Human Rights)

  4. Create a strategy that supports the development of unit-level equity committees and encourages their engagement with each other and the Equity Action Plan. Lead: University Secretary (Equity & Human Rights)

  5. Provide tailored training to key university governance bodies, starting with the Board of Governors and specific senate committees (Senate Committee on Academic Standards, Senate Committee on Learning and Teaching, Senate Committee on Planning), so their decisions are well informed to advance equity and build an inclusive campus. Lead: University Secretary

 Student-specific impact

  1. Develop an institutional commitment and faculty-specific education strategies so that all students learn about equity, anti-oppression, anti-racism, colonization and Indigenous rights to self-determination within academic programming prior to graduation. Leads: VP Indigenous, VP Academic & Provost (Deans)

  2. Develop guidelines and training for instructors related to maintaining discrimination and harassment-free student learning environments (e.g., classrooms, labs). Leads: VP Academic & Provost (Provost), University Secretary (Equity & Human Rights)

  3. Address under-representation within the graduate student population by developing pathways, funding, and other supports for graduate students from systemically and historically marginalized groups. Lead: VP Academic & Provost (Graduate Studies)

 Employee-specific impact

  1. Standardize the use of performance evaluation tools for faculty and staff that incorporate and assess equity skills, competencies and achievements. Leads: VP Academic & Provost (Faculty Relations), VP Finance & Operations (Human Resources)

  2. Provide the UVic research community with guidance and resources to implement equitable and inclusive research practices in alignment with federal research funding programs’ principles. Lead: VP Research & Innovation

  3. Implement standards and best practices for Responsible Research Assessment in internal grant selection and recognition processes. Leads: VP Academic & Provost, VP Research & Innovation

What's next

Ready to take action?

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