Inclusion in Higher Education

Recognizing the need to create more inclusive and diverse campuses across the spectrum of higher education, 37 professors and higher education professionals from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint Johns University collaborated to create this book on how to work toward that goal. It is a good read for all college students, faculty, and administrators in higher education, and should spark conversation about what changes a given institution could make to become more inclusive.... [I]t is a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to create a more inclusive campus climate. Recommended.

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This book embodies how everyone in higher education has a role to play in transformative inclusion. It is a story of two campuses reaching toward a new kind of community and a practical introduction to steps toward change. It is grounded in frameworks and artifacts from operational, instructional, and scholarly perspectives. In one striking example, students engage in undergraduate action research focused on their own campuses, producing knowledge their institutions need while advocating for change. Taken as a whole, this collection models how an ecosystem leadership approach can begin to hold the complexity of a participatory institutional change process.

-- Sinda Nichols, Carleton College

This book provides framework that any college can draw on in its own DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice) efforts, precisely because it does not try to present itself as universal. It engages the messy idiosyncrasies of a specific institutional setting in a particular moment, offering a model that any institution can emulate to identify and address the emergent needs of an ever-changing campus community. Beyond drawing a road map for this work, the projects documented here begin to pave the way, illustrating not only where these campuses have been but also how they are already moving. Not content to assess and then intervene, they theorize the work while doing it: a true praxis. In this moment of unprecedented and unpredictable change, when campus realities shift faster than we can keep up with, such ongoing inquiry is our most essential tool for what these authors name as transformative inclusion.

As someone who has spent as much time in student affairs as in the classroom, I am particularly heartened to see this work being integrated into the academic life of the institutions. Rather than pigeon-holing DEIJ work as only an extracurricular or student affairs issue, these projects integrate research, course work and community life. Faculty, staff, students and community partners collaborate in humble self-assessment, exploration and problem-solving, prefiguring the kind of inclusive learning environment they seek to build. I am truly excited to begin applying ideas from this collection to my work with institutions in higher ed and beyond.

-- Davey Shlasko, Founder and Managing Consultant of Think Again Training & Consulting, Author of Trans Allyship Workbook: Building Skills to Support Trans People in Our Lives

Inclusion in Higher Education: Research Initiatives on Campus provides a thorough, nuanced, and innovative approach to leadership and scholarship that can serve as a blueprint for campuses especially during this challenging time. The focus on building community through transformative inclusion offers a needed alternative to the ineffective and typical models of additive diversity programming so common in higher education. Their collaborative inquiry approach created both powerful scholarship and dynamic teams engaged in addressing campus challenges. This bold and impressive book contributes a crucial model for engaging our communities and it couldn’t have come at a more important time.

-- Amy L. Reynolds, University at Buffalo, Co-author of Creating Multicultural Change on Campus

Contributors to this volume have been engaged in a transformative journey of learning, researching, and implementing real change through the Becoming Community initiatives. So rarely are institutions willing to look beyond the pro forma campus climate survey and undertake research that shines a light on the root causes of inequities. They’ve set a new, higher bar for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education by investing in self-reflective research initiatives that have led to truly inclusive policies and practices. The breadth of topics covered across chapters gives insight into the ways institutions need to uncover barriers to inclusion and build new micro and macro structures. Through their willingness to examine themselves critically at the personal and institutional level they have set the stage for ongoing systemic change. This book should serve as an inspiration and road map for any institution beginning their journey beyond “inclusive excellence” and onto transformative inclusion.

-- Libby Smith, University of Wisconsin-S