Equality, Diversity, the University’s journey towards inclusion

Welcome to this, my first blog to share the University’s journey towards inclusion. I make specific reference to it being my first blog because that’s important; it provides the context and, as I am sure you know, providing the context for a situation aids in understanding. (I am also hopeful that it will make you more sympathetic!).

Before I get into the focus of the post though, I wanted to explain why I’m blogging now. Yes I had heard of the power of social media, its ability to amplify information, to communicate instantly and enable others to engage with what you post. Quite frankly it had terrified me! I did see the importance of communicating the fantastic work that is going on across the university to advance equality, recognising that not sharing prevented others being engaged. After all how could they be involved if they didn’t know what was going on! All of these factors were very commendable, but still not enough to persuade me to venture into the world of social media.

So, why now?

Quite simply, it was the arrival of a student intern. A young woman who approached me over the summer expressing an interest in following a career in equality and diversity. To be fair, I had been thinking about an intern for quite a while, but never made the time to do anything about it. From meeting her I discovered she was a Level 5 History student who therefore wouldn’t automatically have work experience or a placement as part of her course. I listened to what she wanted to get from working alongside me. I felt confident that I would be able to share my wealth of knowledge and experience with her, creating opportunities for her that would resonate with jobs that she might look to apply for.

What I underestimated though was the learning that she would bring to me. Yes, she introduced me to the knowledge that I would need to be able to blog or Tweet, but actually she has taught me so much more, mostly about myself. Completely unaware, she has helped me overcome my limiting self-belief that “I can’t use social media”. So to those of you who have been pondering on whether or not you could offer one of our students a similar opportunity, I say, stop thinking and, in the immortal words of Nike, “Just do it”.

Diversity Champions

So now that I have said all that, what did I want to say about the university’s journey towards inclusion? Well firstly I want to point out that our achievements to date wouldn’t have been possible without a range of colleagues. Whilst not formally recognised as diversity champions or allies, they have proactively led on a range of activities to advance equality and celebrate diversity. These include:

• Christian O’Connell who as part of a local Black History Partnership, has led on our celebrations for Black History Month;
• the LGBT+ Student Society and Trans student group who secured the inclusion of gender neutral toilets on all our campuses;
• the SU who introduced the Rainbow Laces Campaign for Varsity;
• Professor Melanie Ilic and colleagues who led the university’s celebrations of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month for the first time this year; and
• Anne Dawson who generously sponsored a Celebrating Diversity competition for students across the university.

These are only the pieces of work that I know about!

I want to highlight particular pieces of work each week. Given how much focus I’ve placed on why and how this blog has come about, I think that will have to wait until next time. However, rest assured, next week, the spotlight will be on our partnership project with the Equality Challenge Unit.

Thanks for reading this post.

We’d love it if you follow our blog and check out our new twitter account @UoGEquality.