Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Definitions

Ohio University Advancement is committed to moving beyond simply understanding and tolerating diverse communities to embracing and celebrating everyone’s distinct attributes.

Diversity

Diversity refers to the various elements that contribute to human differentiations, including but not limited to background, race, color, ethnicity, creed, religion/spirituality, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual identity, socio-economic status, native language, national origin, age, (dis)ability, military/veteran status, political perspective, and associational preferences.

By focusing on providing access to enhanced programming, academic support, experiential learning, and financial aid to attract and retain diverse, traditionally marginalized communities on campus, University Advancement aims to recognize and celebrate all OHIO stakeholders on all OHIO campuses. Internally, we seek to ingrain best practices throughout the division through continued training, open dialogue, and development.

Equity

Equity is achieved through a proactive mindset that first acknowledges that advantages and barriers still exist based on our diverse backgrounds, then consistently works to ensure all individuals have access to fair and just opportunities, regardless of our unique identities and life experiences.

     Ohio University Advancement recognizes that to create a vibrant and diverse community we need to combat bias and imbalances within our organization and continuously seek to rebalance processes and systems that have, either intentionally or unintentionally, deprived individuals from diverse backgrounds of equal opportunity. To create a culture of equity is not an end goal to be achieved but an everlasting effort to proactively acknowledge, address, and correct structural inequalities, historic and current, that create disparity at Ohio University.

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the act of embracing, valuing, and uplifting all members of a given community, as well as inviting everyone to participate and achieve their potential.

     We understand that while diversity is essential, it is not sufficient. An institution can be both diverse and non-inclusive, thus a sustained practice of creating inclusive environments is necessary for success. Ohio University Advancement is committed to pursuing deliberate efforts to ensure that our campuses are places where differences are welcomed, different perspectives are respectfully heard and where every individual feels a sense of belonging and is valued.