Purpose

The Diversity Series is sponsored by the Office for Diversity Affairs in collaboration with various academic programs and College offices. It is designed to stimulate and deepen conversations and knowledge and lead beyond talk to strategies for personal, institutional and social transformation. The Series is comprised of one keynote event in fall, winter and spring quarters, and satellite events and activities. The activities are structured to encourage the participation of the various learning communities that comprise The Evergreen State College, including the students, faculty and staff of the Tacoma program, the Reservation Based Community-Determined programs and Olympia daytime, Evening and Weekend, and graduate programs.

The keynote events and satellite activities provide forums for exploring and challenging sexism, heterosexual and male privilege, racism and white privilege/supremacy in education generally, at Evergreen specifically and in society at large. We intend to examine how institutionalized oppression simultaneously privileges and dehumanizes some by involving them in the process of marginalizing and dehumanizing others. We intend to expose and challenge the daily manifestations of institutionalized oppression and its ramifications for community.

To encourage integration of the Diversity Series themes into the Evergreen community's teaching, learning and work life, relevant educational resources are made available on this website. In addition, the President's Diversity Fund provides students faculty and staff with financial grants to create forums, seminars and other learning activities dealing with the series theme. When timing allows, those activities will be listed under "Additional Series Activities" as they are developed.

Objectives

• Improving the Campus Climate
  To create an opportunity for positive, sustained dialog and academic study about sexism, heterosexual and male privilege, racism and white privilege/supremacy across the borders of campus locations, academic programs, work units and schedules. To stimulate creativity in defining the strategies that will lead to college transformation.
• Curriculum Engagement and Transformation
  To work with faculty and faculty teams to integrate series themes, speakers, activities and related resources into their syllabi. To engage and benefit from the diversity of our multi-sited campus.
• Acknowledging and Linking Learning Communities Across the Campus
  To demonstrate respect for those valued members of our learning community who attend classes, study, teach and work at Evergreen, in the Tacoma and Reservation Based, Community Determined Programs, as well as at the Olympia campus. To use technology to facilitate a real-time academic experience that desegregates the college by engaging students, faculty and staff from our Tacoma , Reservation Based and Olympia learning communities in academic dialog.
• Faculty and Staff Development
  To work with faculty and staff to identify and respond to the challenges facing them when dealing with issues of oppression. To use writing as a central tool for reflection and to help document the experiences and perspectives of people involved in the project.
• Community Empowerment
  To empower members of the learning community to take personal responsibility for the well-being and transformation of the college.
• Create Resources for Ongoing Teaching and Learning
  To produce digital videos of presentations and forums for the College library collection.