Diversity Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) – Mission Statement

In response to the continued, ongoing, and escalating oppression of communities and people of color and in solidarity with the social justice movements taking place across the globe, WSU Anthropology graduate students created the Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) during the summer of 2020.

As a collective group, we have generated the following vision statement:

The DISC’s vision is to create, see through, and foster social justice reform initiatives capable of directly enhancing the short- and long-term wellbeing of the WSU Anthropology department, the WSU community, and academic spaces writ-large.

To realize this vision, we’ve identified several driving tasks. First, we seek to represent student interests, prioritizing BIPOC concerns, and to advocate for diversity and equity initiatives within and beyond our department. To source and meet graduate student needs, we will create and deploy an annual department-wide climate survey to fellow graduate students to document the status of student wellbeing and needs, and to inform DISC’s direction and future endeavors. To ensure students are well-positioned for success, we are creating and curating resources spanning institutional, academic, physical, and mental domains. We are leading and/or aiding efforts to broaden, standardize, and continuously improve identity-related, anti-racism, and anti-colonialism content and pedagogy in both graduate and undergraduate curricula. We are also working to host events and create spaces where we can talk about these difficult topics, work together to address social justice and equity concerns, and build a stronger, more inclusive community.

We will be posting updates on our progress on the AGO website and you can also follow us on Twitter @discanth1. We welcome you to submit any suggestions and comments you have to our website.

Together, we can create change.

DISC