Equity Team
West Campus Equity Team
Values and Mission
Values:
The West Campus Equity Team, values equitable opportunities regardless of gender, race, economic status, or identity in the areas of emotional safety, representation, and distribution of resources. We celebrate and educate ourselves and the greater community to ensure that this is treated with honor, inclusivity, and respect.
Mission:
Through collective and ongoing engagement and collaboration, with student awareness at the center of the decision making process, The West Campus Equity Team will create an inclusive environment that centers the voices and stories of under-represented and underserved communities for the physical, mental, and emotional well being of the West Campus community and beyond.
Hispanic Heritage Month
October 1, 2023
It is important to know that when it comes to terms like Hispanic or Latino, they do not mean the same thing. Hispanic is a term used for those whose first languague is Spanish and or it is there dominant languague while Latino/ Latina is for anyone with origin in the Latin American countries. Therefore it is important to know that someone might prefer the term Latino which includes countries that do not predominantly speak Spanish such as Brazil.
Fun fact: There is a total of 21 countries with their official language being Spanish.
Equity Team Challenge
Week 8: LQBTQ+
Systems of oppression are intertwined and create inequality that marginalizes individuals and communities. Today’s challenge looks at how LGBTQ+ rights are related to women’s rights.
Main Challenge
Equity Team Challenge
Week #8
Equity Team Challenge – Week 8: Racial Wealth Gap
The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. This gap represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.
Main Challenge
Equity Team Challenge
Week 7 - Redlining
Definition: Redlining is a discriminatory practice that puts services (financial and otherwise) out of reach for residents of certain areas based on race or ethnicity. It can be seen in the systematic denial of mortgages, insurance, loans, and other financial services based on location (and that area’s default history) rather than on an individual’s qualifications and creditworthiness. Notably, the policy of redlining is felt the most by predominantly Black and brown racial and ethnic minorities.
Main Challenge
Equity Team Challenge
Week 6 - Race and Equity
Weeks 1 through 5 challenges were focused on personal reflection.
For the next challenges, we will shift focus to a broader view of
racial equity and social justice by contextualizing the
institutional and systemic factors of racism and other
marginalization of peoples. The reflection questions still focus
on you, the individual, and how you operate within the broader
context.
Equity Team Challenge
Week 5: Intersectionality
Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to describe how systems of oppression overlap to create distinct experiences for people with multiple identity categories. Although intersectional theory and activism today are far-flung and embrace a wide variety of people, Crenshaw began with Black women, whose oppression couldn’t be encompassed exclusively with the terms “racism” or “sexism,” if they were framed as an either/or proposition.
Main Challenge
Equity Challenge #4
May 8, 2023 - May 12, 2023
Equity Team Challenge – Week 4: Privilege
“Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do. Access to privilege doesn’t determine one’s outcomes, but it is definitely an asset that makes it more likely that whatever talent, ability, and aspirations a person with privilege has will result in something positive for them.”
– Peggy McIntosh, Unpacking the Invisible Backpack
Main Challenge
Equity Team – Challenge Week 3
Week of May 1, 2023 - May 5, 2023
Anti-Racist Definition: One who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea.
Being anti-racist does not require that you always know the right thing to say or do in any given situation but that you take action and work against racism wherever you find it including, and perhaps most especially, in yourself.
Main Challenge
Equity Team Challenge
Week #2 - Unconscious Bias
Our second weekly Equity Team challenge focuses on conscious and unconscious bias and how they impact the way we interact with the world. Without self-reflection and active confrontation of our biases, we miss the opportunity to learn, connect, and grow. It’s our responsibility to learn our biases, understand their origins, and reframe the narratives we have because of them.
Main Challenge
Watch video – Verna Meyer: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them (link to video, 18 minutes)
Weekly Challenge
April 16, 2023 to April 22, 2023
We start our weekly challenges this week, with this first one that shares 3 principles that can serve as guiding lights as we work towards racial and social equity. Through these challenges, we encourage you to not just identify injustices, but rather to re-imagine the future and create a path to a more just world for all.
MAIN CHALLENGE