DEI – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

The School of Communication and Information (SC&I) is committed to pursuing inclusive excellence through:

Centering Inclusion
We commit to maintain a vibrant community where diverse ideas and perspectives are shared. We strive to create a culture where everyone in our community feels safe, respected, and able to bring their full selves to SC&I.

Community Engagement
We commit to honor and support work done by and for underrepresented populations. We actively cultivate relationships with our external communities to broaden access and share knowledge.

Continuous Improvement
We commit to offer ongoing diversity education so that all members of the SC&I community may continue to expand their equity mindset and be prepared to competently engage in our increasingly diverse and ever-evolving world.

October 2021

The School of Communication and Information promotes values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility as foundations for an academic community that embraces and promotes open exchange and purposeful inquiry. We stand in solidarity with those who experience intolerance and inequitable treatment due to racism, xenophobia, religious persecution, classism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and their intersections.

As a community, SC&I members – faculty, staff, students, and alumni – strive to bring a socially just future to our community, country, and the world by working to interrogate and overcome the historical oppression of marginalized social groups. We advance these core values as active elements of education, academic inquiry, public discourse, and professional practice. We commit to the recruitment, mentorship, professional development, and retention of a diverse faculty, staff, and student body.

We strive to reach the goals we set for ourselves in our 2021 DEI strategic plan, following Rutgers priorities and guidelines. These include:

1. Recruit, Retain, and Develop Diverse Community
2. Promote Inclusive Scholarship and Teaching
3. Define Sustainable and Substantive Community Engagement
4. Build the Capacity of Leaders to Create an Inclusive Climate
5. Develop an Institutional Infrastructure to Drive Change

We devote ourselves to the work of education and repair that aims to create an environment that is exemplary of social justice, equity, civility, safety, and opportunity to the fullest extent possible.

Together, we impact the present and can create a future where individuals experience the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Members of the Diversity Committee:
Kevin Ewell, Taylor Goulbourne, Shawnika Hull, Emil Lawrence, Dafna Lemish (Chair), Jorge Reina Schement.