Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement
An equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) statement is a text that can be included in course outlines and/or on myCourses to welcome all students and set the tone for the course. This statement is an opportunity to share with students your values, understandings, commitments, and pedagogical actions relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The statement can also describe how students might engage with one another and with the course material. Writing an EDI statement is one way of making visible McGill’s valuing of respectful and inclusive learning environments in support of student success (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Plan 2020-2025, 2020; McGill University Strategic Academic Plan 2017-2022, 2017). The reflection questions, sample EDI statements, and template below can help you customize a statement in your voice that is appropriate to your course context.
In this article:
Reflect on EDI questions
The following questions invite you to reflect on the relevance and importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and related considerations within your course. Select a few questions to work through and write some ideas down.
How would you describe equity, diversity, and inclusion?
Why do equity, diversity, and inclusion matter to you in your teaching?
How do equity, diversity, and inclusion relate to your course learning outcomes?
What are some of the conventions or assumptions underlying your discipline/profession, which may not be readily apparent to all students? How can you make these clearer?
Are there specific parts of your course or particular teaching strategies or assessments where you expect that questions or concerns about equity, diversity, or inclusion will come up? Why? How can you prepare for these?
Do you want to list the various aspects of identity with which students might identify, to help them feel welcome? These aspects may include sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, class, political affiliation, age, disability, socio-economic status, religion, primary language, and more.
What kind of classroom environment are you trying to foster and how are you fostering this kind of environment? What kind of classroom environment do your students expect? If there is a gap between the two, how will you and your students navigate it?
Thinking about your teaching strategies, how might you support students in equitably taking part in group work, teamwork, and class discussions (where relevant in your course)?
What is one way in which you aim to teach more equitably, or reach a greater diversity of students, or teach more inclusively? (For example, perhaps you have strategies for encouraging all students’ voices to be heard, or you are revising course reading lists to ensure multiple perspectives are reflected, or you will be explaining a concept using varied examples.) How will your actions support students’ learning?
How will you address microaggressions that occur in the course?
How might you connect or combine your EDI statement with other statements in the Course Outline Template and Guide? (For example, you might bring a land acknowledgment, wellness statement, and EDI statement together in a single statement.)
Questions inspired in part by the many offered by: CalPoly Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology (2022); Eberly Center at Carnegie Mellon University (2022); Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning (2022); and Office of Teaching & Learning at the University of Denver (2016).
Consider sample statements
The following sample EDI statements come from multiple universities and disciplines, and are shared here in alphabetical order by discipline to provide inspiration and show the great variety of approaches one might take to writing an EDI statement. Read a few and make note of what topics, phrasing, and considerations resonate with you.
African American Studies, History of Medicine and History of Science
Carolyn Roberts, Yale University
“Our goal as a learning community is to create a safe environment that fosters open and honest dialogue. We are all expected to contribute to creating a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive environment. To this end, classroom discussions should always be conducted in a way that shows honor, respect, and dignity to all members of the class. Moreover, disagreements should be pursued without personal attack and aggression, and instead, should be handled with grace and care. This will allow for rigorous intellectual engagement and a deeper learning experience for all. Lastly, please remember to practice self-care, which, according to Audre Lorde ‘is not an act of self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.’”
Computer Science
Roman Feiman and Ellie Pavlick, Brown University
"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
Stephen J. Gould
“We think that Gould wasn’t just expressing concern for the underrepresented, but pointing out how much the world has lost because only a very small subset of people ever had a good chance to contribute to its progress. In this class, as members of one of the most historically privileged institutions on earth, we have a chance to make a dent in this historical pattern. The promise of science at its best is that the strength of your contribution does not depend on your identity. This promise has never been fully met, and part of our jobs as instructors is to get science closer to it. We are professors at Brown University, and this gives us power and privilege. We intend to use our current positions to empower those who do not yet have the same power and privilege. If you find yourself wondering whether the ways in which you are different from your peers or from the historical figures of the academic canon make you less qualified to be a student or a scientist, please remember this: the only thing we care about in this class is what you can do, and we promise to work to make sure you have what you need to be able to do it. Our fields, like all fields, need more and more people like you (and unlike you) to show what they can do. And if you feel empowered already, we hope you will join us in empowering your peers.”
Education
University of Iowa
“Respect for Diversity: It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups. In addition, if any of our class meetings conflict with your religious events, please let me know so that we can make arrangements for you.”
English
Alisse Portnoy, University of Michigan
“In our structured and unstructured discussions and dialogues, we also will have many opportunities to explore some challenging, high-stakes issues and increase our understandings of different perspectives. Our conversations may not always be easy; we sometimes will make mistakes in our speaking and our listening; sometimes we will need patience or courage or imagination or any number of qualities in combination to engage our texts, our classmates, and our own ideas and experiences. Always we will need respect for others. Thus, an important second aim of our course necessarily will be for us to increase our facility with the sometimes difficult conversations that arise inside issues of social justice as we deepen our understandings of multiple perspectives – whatever our backgrounds, experiences, or positions.”
Philosophy
Charli Eaton, California State University-San Bernardino
“The topics that we’re covering in this class are often difficult, not just intellectually but emotionally. While I expect there will be rigorous discussion and even disagreement in the course of our class discussions, I ask that you engage in discussion with care and empathy for the other members in the classroom. Aim to disagree (and support your point of view with credible, scholarly resources) without becoming disagreeable. In this class we will not shy away from the uncomfortable. Critically examining and assessing our most basic assumptions and values is not just one of the tasks of philosophy but is an activity vital to living an authentic (and your best!) life. I urge you to have the courage to experience the uncomfortable in this class. In exchange for your courage, I will work to ensure a classroom environment that supports your taking these intellectual and emotional risks. Some of you will have strong opinions based on religious or spiritual beliefs. This is expected and respected as long as we allow everyone a voice. I welcome you as my academic partner.”
Physics
Rona Ramos, Yale University
“This class strives to be an inclusive community, learning from the many perspectives that come from having differing backgrounds and beliefs. As a community, we aim to be respectful to all. We reject all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including but not limited to those based on age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and veteran status. Faculty and students are expected to commit to creating an environment that facilitates inquiry and self-expression, while also demonstrating diligence in understanding how others’ viewpoints may be different from their own.”
U.S. Orientalism
Autumn Reed, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
“Diversity Statement on Civil Dialogue: I hope the course challenges us to engage with issues that touch our and others’ lives personally and politically and to develop ways of thinking and acting to address them in nuanced, conscious, and accountable ways. Questions, personal insights, experiences, and emotions about the materials and topics are always welcome in class. I do not expect that we share the same views on the topics we cover (in fact I hope we do not). We all need to speak up, especially when we do not agree with each other’s views, but do so in a respective manner. The range of views you hold and the experiences you bring into the classroom will make our learning experiences much more interesting and enriching. In order to ensure an environment for robust intellectual debate, please do not video or audio record in class.”
Draft your statement with a template
Now that you have reflected on how equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) considerations relate to your course and perused some sample EDI statements, it is time to draft your own. Address the following prompts to draft your EDI statement. You can choose which are most relevant to your course.
How EDI and related considerations such as addressing systemic oppression and racism are framed within the course, university, and/or discipline;
How students are invited to engage in the course and why (e.g., respectfully, sharing personal experiences (or not), whether disagreement/debate are welcomed and under what circumstances, how to address mistakes/microaggressions); how engaging in this way will support students’ learning;
How you will support students in an equitable, diverse and inclusive classroom environment;
How students should provide constructive feedback or signal an issue or concern related to EDI in the course.
Annotated example:
Charli Eaton, California State University-San Bernardino
“The topics that we’re covering in this class are often difficult, not just intellectually but emotionally. [2. How students are invited to engage:] While I expect there will be rigorous discussion and even disagreement in the course of our class discussions, I ask that you engage in discussion with care and empathy for the other members in the classroom. Aim to disagree (and support your point of view with credible, scholarly resources) without becoming disagreeable. In this class we will not shy away from the uncomfortable. [1. Framing/connecting to discipline:] Critically examining and assessing our most basic assumptions and values is not just one of the tasks of philosophy but is an activity vital to living an authentic (and your best!) life. [2. How students are invited to engage:] I urge you to have the courage to experience the uncomfortable in this class. [3. How you will support students:] In exchange for your courage, I will work to ensure a classroom environment that supports your taking these intellectual and emotional risks. Some of you will have strong opinions based on religious or spiritual beliefs. This is expected and respected as long as we allow everyone a voice. I welcome you as my academic partner.”
Feel free to supplement these prompts with the ideas you have written down from your earlier reflections and reading.
Once you have drafted your statement, you might want to share it with a colleague and/or students for feedback.
Revise your statement
Composing an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) statement can be an iterative process. You may choose to revise it after using it for a term or two, to respond to student feedback or to changes in your course.
Learn more:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statements (CalPoly Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology)
Diversity & Inclusion Syllabus Statements (Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning)
Diversity Statement on a Syllabus (Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon University)
Diversity Statements (Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale University)
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Plan 2020-2025 (McGill University)
Inclusive Excellence and Our Teaching (Office of Teaching & Learning, University of Denver)
McGill University Strategic Academic Plan 2017-2022 (McGill University)
Rethinking the course syllabus: Considerations for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (Fuentes, Zelaya & Madsen)
Syllabus Review Guide for Equity-minded Practice (Center for Urban Education)
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