Race, Equity and Diversity at UW Facilities

This is not somebody else’s problem

President Ana Mari Cauce launched a Race and Equity Initiative in Spring 2015 with a challenge: that all of us — students, faculty, staff and university leadership — take personal responsibility for addressing our own biases and improving our university culture. And it began with a commitment: that together we would combat the racism and inequities, both individual and institutional that persist here and throughout our society.

This is what universities are all about. They are places of discovery and difficult conversations — where we learn new ways of looking at and acting in the world.

This work – this struggle — is not new. UW faculty, staff and students and the rest of our collective society have been in it for many years and in many ways. But many in our community believe we have reached a moment where we must commit to collaborative, accelerated action.

Diversity and equity for all

In order to support and sustain diversity and equity at the UW, as well as in the local, regional and global communities we serve, we must directly confront bias and racism at the individual, institutional and systemic levels. These are three key ways:

  • Confronting individual bias and racism
  • Transforming institutional policies and practices
  • Accelerating systemic change

Many deeply rooted institutional policies and practices ignore the social issues of the present. Often these are vestiges of less progressive times and they must be acknowledged, uncovered and dealt with.

The Race & Equity Initiative is working to change exclusionary or biased policies and institutional practices that lead to and maintain racial and other forms of inequity and deny people opportunities.

The current national climate is difficult for those of us who view diversity and equity as core values; who believe in not only respecting, but also celebrating differences; who believe in justice and fairness; and who hold dear the idea that all men and women were created equal and should have equal opportunities to achieve their goals and contribute to society.

Our University must be critical and thoughtful about its influence in this larger system. Our identity as an institution of higher learning has an impact well beyond the borders of our campuses — an impact that we can shape.

The Race and Equity Initiative is forging new partnerships with community partners to work in a greater and more comprehensive way to address equity and fairness for all in our community.

How UW Facilities seeks to be an ally

As one of the biggest and most diverse departments on campus, UW Facilities (UWF) knows we have an important role to play in helping the UW community become more equitable. Here are some of the steps we have taken to address equity issues.

Since 2005 the department has strived to include under-represented groups, such as racial minorities, LGBTQ+, and women, in our hiring committees, interview panels, and the teams that write and update job descriptions. In 2018, a Workforce Equity Group was founded to help provide a broader set of perspectives on systemic issues around the organization.

In addition, the UWF HR and Training teams have completed POD training on Race, Bias, and Dissonance. UWF HR has also consulted with the University’s Diversity Hiring Coordinator to help understand and implement tactics to remove bias from our policies and practices.

We also recognize that addressing systemic issues is necessary but not sufficient. We must also help address prejudice at the individual level. To that end we have partnered with Campus HR to ensure Addressing Sexual Harassment and Discrimination is taught at the highest level of quality to our leadership group, and with the Q Center to provide training that raises awareness regarding gender and sexual orientation equity. We also require that all employees refresh their Addressing Sexual Harassment and Discrimination training on a regular basis, even though there is no campus wide expectation to do so.

UWF HR also partnered with UWF Communications to distribute and post media that encourages us all to make our workplaces safe and more inclusive for all, including initiatives such as providing free personal pronoun buttons for use at the Training Center.

We know that more work is needed, and we are committed to continuing to adopt the best practices to ensure UW Facilities is an equitable place to work and contribute. We also invite you to share with us any ideas you or other colleagues may have about how to make UWF more equitable for all. Together we can build a more hospitable environment.

Resources