The Washington University Equity and Inclusion Council (WUEIC) was founded in 2020 as one of several actions the university took toward addressing systemic racism and its toll on Black communities.
The council is charged with creating sustainable, institutional change that is transformative rather than performative. It was designed specifically to transcend the demand-response loop often triggered by a catalyzing incident or set of demands. We do this by:
- Existing without an expiration date
- Developing processes and structures that enable members of the university community to implement change rather than merely recommend change
With our focus on long-term change generated by diverse perspectives across the university community — including students, faculty, and staff, and administrators from all seven schools — we do not engage in healing work to address specific events. Rather, we focus on the systems that perpetuate inequitable or exclusionary policies.
We act in service to university leadership teams as they commit to examining current policies and procedures through this lens, and to building new processes that invite people into the work. To these ends, the council was given $500,000 in seed funding.
Our vision
Washington University in St. Louis should be a place where everyone — across campuses — has access to the available resources and support they need to strive for their highest potential. We will know such freedom and equity have been achieved when outcomes cannot be predicted by any element of social or political identity.
Our commitments
To those who cut the path for us:
We recognize that we are only the latest body to address institutional inclusion and equity at WashU, and we seek to honor and ground ourselves in the work that has come before us. In particular, two sets of documents guide our work:
- Student demands presented to WashU administration, spanning 1968 to 2020
- Reports presented in 2017 by WashU’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, a body established in August 2015 following the death of Michael Brown and the uprisings in Ferguson
To our WashU community, classmates, and colleagues:
We commit to learning in public, taking transparent and specific actions that align with other university efforts. We commit to creating systemic, structural change that builds on student demands spanning more than 50 years.
We also commit to the principle of radical accessibility by openly sharing information via concise and direct language, and by being responsive and available to members of the broader university community.
We commit to investing time and resources in the work necessary to create an inclusive climate and culture for all those affiliated with our institution, and to closing the gaps between where we are today and where we want to be.