The Racial Equity Summit, an international gathering of scholar-practitioners and policymakers was hosted in the Netherlands in January 2020 in efforts to tackle the challenge of identifying important considerations for establishing a global strategy to advance racial equity in higher education. The first Racial Equity Summit was a collaboration between ECHO (Center for Diversity Policy in the Netherlands), Interdisciplinary Research Institute for InEquality (IRISE) at the University of Denver, VRIE University, Hague University of Applied Sciences, and The Ohio State University. The Summit was convened by Dr. Frank Tuitt, professor of higher education at the University of Denver, and Mary Tupan-Wenno, executive director of ECHO.
We were a part of a small contingent of U.S.-based scholars, including faculty, graduate students, and practitioners, who partnered with colleagues from institutions and agencies in the Netherlands. As participants, we had the opportunity to learn from our colleagues in the Netherlands about efforts they have engaged in toward increasing access and equity at the local level. In addition, we shared practices and discussed policies and related issues from a U.S.-based context through presentations on diversity and inclusion research and practices that promote access and equity for racial and ethnic minoritized communities in education.
The Summit spanned four days and included partnerships with local universities and organizations. Collectively, we engaged in the following: spending time with and learning from colleagues about the Dutch educational context through educational panels and viewing documentaries, sharing meals and reflections, and taking tours and visits to various sites throughout Amsterdam and The Hague to provide insight on local history and experiences, and brainstorming ways to continue our efforts after the Summit.
In the following sections, we reflect on several of the panels that we participated in and share knowledge and insights from our conversations. Through sharing our reflections, lingering questions, and creativity, we call on education stakeholders and readers to consider ways to improve our institutions toward racial equity. Collectively, we consider ways that racial equity can reshape our relationships to higher education, research and praxis, as well as to each other, our students, and our communities. We offer our reflections and considerations for educators and administrators working to enhance racial equity and inclusion efforts and outcomes in higher education.
Enhancing Institutional Commitments to Racial Equity and Inclusion
Our panel discussion focused on translating diversity, equity and inclusion praxis to transform policy and practice in education. As part of our discussion, we outlined the need for institutions across the world to create more equitable structures for the success of those who are disproportionately impacted by power and oppression, specifically racism. Since the overarching theme of our summit was about advancing racial equity in education, our conversations centered on the development of global strategies that would position us to do this effectively. As a result, we discussed the importance of acknowledging racism and the power structures that collectively influence the demise of racially minoritized populations, and actively seeking to disrupt and shift the responsibility from these groups to institutions of higher education.
Although disrupting racism is everybody’s business, we specifically called for a shift in the placement of responsibility because it is important for institutions and their stakeholders to take a more active role in creating more equitable and inclusive campus environments. To that point, there was a call to action for institutions of higher education to recognize that placing the responsibility on one department or a chief diversity officer is not only passive but also is dismissive and reflects irresponsible leadership. In order for global racism in higher education to be overhauled, there must be an institutional commitment to employing systemic interventions that challenge, dismantle and transform oppressive systems into equitable and inclusive ones.
