FALL 2023 SESSIONS
DEI Fridays is a practice of community building, reflection, and learning where we aim to improve our campus climate around issues of equity, inclusion, and justice. We also want to equip participants with knowledge and tools to engage in social transformation in their communities beyond Baruch.
The virtual sessions begin with a welcoming, the reading of Community Agreements (see below) and a brief grounding exercise to help participants enter the virtual space and set their intentions for the session. Then, there is a presentation of a topic (typically in an interactive interview format), followed by break-out sessions, share-outs, and informal discussion.
Topics address individual biases and prejudices; individual sense of belonging at Baruch and CUNY; and structural and institutional discriminatory policies, procedures and practices.
The series was conceptualized after Marxe School faculty and staff who attended a DEI training in June 2021 and wanted to continue to learn collaboratively identified there were no opportunities to gather regularly to engage in such activities. Additionally, at a Town Hall jointly held by the Master in Public Administration Club and the Marxe Dean’s Office following the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020, students explicitly requested more spaces to discuss structural racism and its manifestations in the country, the state, the College, and the School.
The DEI Fridays program supports Goal V of the 2018-2023 Baruch College Strategic Plan: “elevate and embed the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competency throughout the College” and Strategic Priority Area “Strengthen Our Collaborative and Engaged Community” of the 2023-2028 Baruch College Strategic Plan.
We look forward to being in community with all of you.
The 2023-2024 DEI Friday Series is sponsored by the Office of the Provost.
The 2022-2023 DEI Friday Series was sponsored by the Black Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative and the Marxe DEI Committee.
The 2021-2022 DEI Friday Series was sponsored by the Marxe DEI Committee.
PAST SESSION VIDEOS AND RESOURCES
Most sessions were recorded and are available on YouTube here.
Spring 2023
- What Does it Mean to Be “Asian”? Understanding and Supporting the Asian and AAPI community at Baruch
- Anti-Racist Pedagogy: A Provost Innovation Fellow Teach-In
- The Courage to Teach and Research Racism: How Can Baruch Uplift and Protect Faculty and Staff from Targeted Attacks?
- Celebrating and Advocating for International Women’s Rights
- Land Acknowledgements and Beyond: A Conversation on Centering Indigenous Perspectives
- Navigating and Resisting White Institutional Spaces
- LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Training
- Stuck: Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder
Fall 2022
- DEI in Staff Development and Leadership
- Using Liberating Structures to Create Equitable and Inclusive Communities
- Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: A Provost Innovation Fellow Teach-In
- Supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace and Classroom
- Integrating an Equity Lens in Your Work
- Re-Imagining Equity and Inclusion at Baruch
Spring 2022
- Integrating DEI into Staff Development
- Using an Equity Lens in Faculty Hiring
- Integrating DEI into Faculty Development
- Inter-Cultural Approaches to Teaching and Learning: A Provost Innovation Fellow Teach-In
- Racism and Colorism in the International Context
- Voices of LGBTQ+
- Re-Imagining Assessment: Pedagogy Workshop
- Equity as a Cornerstone of Your Leadership: Students Only
- Community Voices
- Demystifying Disability with Student Disability Services
- Supporting First Generation College Students: A Provost Innovation Fellow Teach-In
- Cultivating Genuine Anti-Racist Allyship
Fall 2021
- Reimaging Inclusion and Belonging at Marxe
- Understanding Critical Race Theory & the Current Politics Around It
- DEI Issues & Activities: Students Only
- Rethinking Grading: Anti-Racist Assessment of Student Writing
- Welcome to DEI Fridays
COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS
- We are a community in progress. We can struggle together; we can grow together.
- We will practice active listening, respectful language, and kindness.
- We can ask for “literacy moments” when there are terms we are not familiar with.
- We assume positive intent and we also take responsibility for impact.
- We value each other’s lived experiences and appreciate the vulnerability necessary to share them.
- We are willing to slow discussions down to facilitate the exploration of complex, nuanced issues.
- We are prepared for discomfort around these topics.
- If content seems inappropriate or harmful, we will pause the discussion and may ask folks to discuss privately with the facilitators. If you need support during the presentation, please direct message the facilitator.
Please email Anna D’Souza (anna.dsouza@baruch.cuny.edu) with any questions or suggestions.
