JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Initiatives

Next Steps: Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Work 2022 - 2023

On September 29, 2022, the leadership of the Division of Student Life engaged in a day long retreat. One of the topics for the retreat was to develop action steps for our work in support of MPACT 2025 (University of Minnesota system strategic plan), UMD’s Strategic Plan Goal 2, and our own Student Life Strategic Plan Goal Area 2. We used the term “JEDI initiatives” to describe efforts in support of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). 

We captured ideas through a SOAR analysis (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) and created a Google Jamboard "identifying six areas of focus:  "quick wins," staff and student worker onboarding, accessibility and environmental scans in each unit, naming/signage, availability of computer work stations to all staff, and a renewed bystander intervention training program for students.​​​​​​Committed to transparency and accountability, each Student Life unit will use this Google document to record action steps across the Division. We will also note progress toward completion of each action.

Working to End Systemic Racism 2020-2022

On June 12, 2020, the leadership of the Division of Student Life wrote and shared a statement against racism and specifically, anti-Black racism. The statement included the following action steps.

  • Doing the work to understand systemic racism as well as our own biases and perspectives.
  • Listening to our students to gain their perspectives and learn their priorities for change and areas of greatest opportunity.
  • Reviewing policies and procedures from an inclusive lens.
  • Educating students with majority identities about their privilege and help them develop anti-racist approaches.

We also committed to transparency and accountability as we move forward. Each Student Life unit developed an action step addressing systemic racism in their 2020-2021 strategic plan. In this document, action steps across the Division were collected, along with progress made toward the completion of each action. We did this in order to hold ourselves accountable and to be accountable to our students. We have also created a form for input and feedback from our students and we will synthesize what we receive and share it on this site.