ODI Mission & Vision

We provide leadership and expertise for helping the university achieve its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Guided by social justice principles, we cultivate a vibrant learning and working community for all members.

We envision a university that fully embraces diversity, equity and inclusion as morally right and educationally sound, and that centers the well-being of individuals and communities.

These principles guide the work we do:

• Accountability - We build trust with others by following through on our commitments. We call each other in when we fall short.
• Advocacy - We intentionally seek to listen to and raise up marginalized voices. We champion their self-determined needs.
• Balance - We hold diversity, equity and inclusion in congruence with each other.
• Collaboration - We acknowledge that our work outcomes are better when we work together within ODI and beyond. We share ideas and responsibility. We care for each other.
• Empathy - We seek to understand one another and honor each other’s needs.
• Honesty - We are truthful with each other and honor each other for being truthful, even and especially when it is uncomfortable.
• Humanity - We recognize that people are directly affected by the issues and the work we do.
• Intersectionality - We recognize that equity and liberation work should serve a broadly encompassing and ever-growing matrix of identities. We seek to broaden our inclusion to serve more communities as we grow.
• Integrity - We live our values in our work across campus and with each other.
• Learning - We seek to consistently improve on our knowledge of our work and service to the community. We recognize that the work and our own education is lifelong.
• Liberation - We work toward freedom from limits that historically have been set for marginalized individuals and groups.
• Transparency - We build trust by sharing information openly with the campus and with each other while protecting confidentiality where needed.

These definitions are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, they provide clarity for how our work embodies these terms as found in our Vision and Mission statements.

Diversity - The full spectrum of human identities, backgrounds, experiences, and their intersections.

Our work for diversity advocates a strategic balance of these factors as understood through the lens of institutional, societal and individual power.

Equity - Fairness.

Our work for equity focuses on the fair distribution of resources and power as informed by the self-determined needs of marginalized groups.

Inclusion - Full participation by all.

Our work for inclusion addresses the quality of the experience of those who have been excluded or marginalized to ensure their full participation and appreciation for their multiple contributions at all levels.

Social Justice - Justice in terms of the distribution of resources, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

Our work for social justice supports deliberate and intentional processes that empower individuals and groups who have been marginalized; we focus on breaking down systemic barriers created by the inequitable distribution of power and privilege.

With special thanks to the ODI/OCRSM Mission/Vision Working Group:

Luke Jensen, chair

Allison Dickinson

Miriam Osborne Elliott

Brian Medina

Andre Nottingham

Jazmin Pichardo

Shigeru Sakurai

Tamara Saunders