The Diversity and Difference Standing Committee (DDSC)
Purpose
The Committee serves as a clearinghouse for activities, expertise, and curriculum materials related to diversity and difference. The Committee enhances communication, scholarship collaboration, coordination of professional developments and sharing of resources among those engaged in learning about diversity and difference.
Membership
Includes six (6) at large members chosen by the faculty.
Goals and responsibilities
To educate our students and ourselves to:
- Understand and appreciate differences among people
- Comprehend the impacts of privilege and difference in his/her own life and educational experience
- Be skilled at communicating and collaborating with people different from herself/himself, particularly in the context of his/her work as an educator or other professional
- Be skilled at mediating conflict and misunderstanding among children and adults based on privilege and difference
- Be adept at shaping teaching, curriculum, educational policy, and institutional culture in ways that honor and celebrate difference and diversity
- Understand the origins and dynamics of attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral patterns that create inequities based on difference
- Understand the ways in which organizations and systems, often unintentionally institutionalize privilege and disadvantage among groups