Commonly Used Terms
A DEI Glossary for Higher Education
Ableism
The system of oppression that disadvantages people with disabilities and advantages people who do not currently have disabilities. Like other forms of oppression, it functions on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.
A general term for the degree of ease that something (e.g., device, service, physical environment and information) can be accessed, used and enjoyed by persons with disabilities. The term implies conscious planning, design and/or effort to make sure something is barrier-free to persons with disabilities. Accessibility also benefits the general population, by making things more usable and practical for everyone, including older people and families with small children.
Ageism
The normalization and privilege of people within the preferred age range in a society. This age range defines who is taken seriously, catered to by most goods and services, allowed to have an impact on decisions in the society, and valued as a human being. Results in invisibility of, and discrimination and inaccessibility faced by, people outside that age range.
Ally
Someone who supports a group other than one鈥檚 own (in terms of multiple identities such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, etc.). An ally acknowledges oppression and actively commits to reducing their own complicity, investing in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression.
Anti-Racist
An anti-racist is someone who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing antiracist ideas. This includes the expression of ideas that racial groups are equals and do not need developing, and supporting policies that reduce racial inequity.
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism has deep historical roots and uses exploitation, marginalization, discrimination, and violence as its tools. Like all oppressions, the ideology contains elements of dehumanization and degradation via lies and stereotypes about Jews, as well as a mythology. The myth changes and adapts to different times and places, but fundamentally it says that Jews are to blame for society鈥檚 problems.
Bias
A form of prejudice that results from our need to quickly classify individuals into categories.
Bigot
A person who is obstinately devoted to their own opinions and prejudices and is intolerant towards other diverse social groups.
BIPOC
An acronym used to refer to Black, Indigenous and People of Color. It is based on the recognition of collective experiences of systemic racism. As with any other identity term, it is up to individuals to use this term as an identifier.
The current attitudes, behaviors and standards of faculty, staff, administrators and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential (as defined by Professor Susan Rankin). It includes the experience of individuals and groups on a campus鈥 and the quality and extent of the interaction between those various groups and individuals.
Cisgender
A term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior aligns with those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth.
Color Blind
The belief that everyone should be treated 鈥渆qually鈥 without respect to societal, economic, historical, racial or other difference. No differences are seen or acknowledged; everyone is the same (i.e., 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see race, gender, etc.鈥).
Cultural Appropriation
The non-consensual/misappropriate use of cultural elements for commodification or profit purposes 鈥 including symbols, art, language, customs, etc. 鈥 often without understanding, acknowledgment or respect for its value in the context of its original culture.
Cultural Competence
An ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures, particularly in human resources, non-profit organizations, and government agencies whose employees work with persons from different cultural/ethnic backgrounds. Cultural competence has four components:
- Awareness of one's own cultural worldview
- Attitude towards cultural differences
- Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews
- Cross-cultural skills (developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures.
Decolonize
The active and intentional process of unlearning values, beliefs and conceptions that have caused physical, emotional or mental harm to people through colonization. It requires a recognition of systems of oppression.
Disability
A physical or mental condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, or concentrating, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The documentation provided regarding the disability diagnosis must demonstrate a disability covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, amended as of 2008. See also 鈥淚ndividual with a Disability.鈥
Diversity
A term meaning each individual is unique and recognizes our individual differences. There are varied dimensions of differences: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies, global locations, and cultures. Diversity also involves different ideas, perspectives, and values.
Discrimination
An intentional or unintentional act that adversely affects employment opportunities because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, national origin, or other factors such as age.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
A policy created to ensure that all applicants and employees have a fair opportunity in the hiring process and in competing for promotions and equal access to training/professional development opportunities.
EEO: Protected Class
A group that is specifically protected against employment discrimination.
EEO: Section 504
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs receiving federal funds, and requires reasonable accommodation of qualified persons with disabilities except in cases where undue hardship is shown.
Ethnicity
The culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs.
Equity
Fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all students, faculty, and staff, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The guiding principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved, underrepresented, and marginalized populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist equality in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.
Executive Order 11246
Prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, religion, national origin, and color.
First-Generation College Students
Students who are the first in their immediate family to attend a college or university and earn a 4-year degree. Parents or guardians may have some college experience or an associate's degree, but not a bachelor's degree.
Gender
A socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people. Gender characteristics can change over time and are different between cultures. Words that refer to gender include, but are not limited to, man, woman, transgender, masculine, feminine, and genderqueer. Gender is often conflated with sex; however, this is inaccurate, because sex refers to bodies and gender refers to personality characteristics.
Gender Identity
Refers to a person鈥檚 internal, deeply felt sense of 鈥渂eing鈥 male or female, queergender, asexual, etc., which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth; because gender identity is internal and personally defined, it is not visible to others.
Gender Non-Conforming
An individual whose gender expression is different from societal expectations related to gender.
Hate Crime
A hate crime is any criminal act or attempted criminal act directed against a person(s), public agency or private institution based on the actual or perceived race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender or because of associations with person(s) or groups identified with on of these protected categories. A hate crime includes an act that results in injury, however slight; a verbal threat of violence that apparently can be carried out; an act that results in property damage; and property damage or other criminal act(s) directed against a public or private agency. Examples of a hate crime could include verbal or written threats of violence directed at someone because of their perceived sexual orientation, Anti-Semitic or Islamaphobic graffiti spray painted on an office door, or a physical assault based on the race or national origin of the individual targeted.
Historically Underrepresented
Groups who have been denied access and/or suffered past institutional discrimination in the United States and, according to the Census and other federal measuring tools, includes African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans. This is revealed by an imbalance in the representation of different groups in common pursuits such as education, jobs, and housing, resulting in marginalization for some groups and individuals and not for others, relative to the number of individuals who are members of the population involved. Other groups in the United States have been marginalized and are currently underrepresented.
Historically Underserved students
Students who do not receive equitable resources as other students in the academic pipeline. Typically, these groups of students include low-income, racial/ethnic students of color, and first-generation students, among others.
Identity
A person鈥檚 sense of self established by their unique characteristics, affiliations, and social roles.
Implicit Bias
Negative associations expressed automatically that people unknowingly hold and that affect our understanding, actions and decisions; also known as unconscious or hidden bias.
Inclusion
The act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued as a fully participating member. An inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for multiple cultural and social identities. Inclusion integrates the fact of diversity and embeds it into the core academic mission and institutional functioning.
Indigenous
Indigenous populations are composed of the existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world, overcame them and, by conquest, settlement, or other means, reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial condition.
Inequality
The unfair difference between groups of people in society, when some have more wealth, status or opportunities than others.
Intent vs. Impact
Intent is what we mean by our words or actions. Impact is how those words or actions are experienced, felt or understood by either the person they are directed to, or others.
Institutional Racism
Refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices create different outcomes and opportunities for different groups based on racial discrimination.
Islamophobia
The fear or hatred of Muslims, Islam and related symbols.
鈥泪蝉尘蝉鈥&苍产蝉辫;
A way of describing any attitude, action or institutional structure that oppresses a person or group because of their target group. For example, race (racism), gender (sexism), economic status (classism), older age (ageism), religion (e.g. anti-Semitism), sexual orientation (heterosexism), language/immigrant status (xenophobism), etc.
Justice
Often defined as 鈥渇airness鈥 in the way people are treated or 鈥渆qual treatment.鈥 However, the concept of justice is complex. What an individual considers just is shaped not only by personal characteristics (such as gender, race/ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status), but by the time and place in which he or she lives. Observing the same outcome of a situation, one person may say justice was done. Another may declare the outcome an injustice and great wrong.
Latinx/e
The gender-neutral alternative to Latina or Latino. It is a term used to describe a diverse group of people who have roots in Latin America. The term emerged from queer Latinx online communities in order to challenge the gender binary. Latine is also a gender-neutral form of the word Latino, created by gender non-binary and feminist communities in Spanish-speaking countries. The objective of the term is also to remove gender from Spanish, by replacing it with the gender-neutral Spanish letter E, which can already be found in words like estudiante.
LGBTQIA+
An inclusive term for those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual.
Marginalized Populations
Groups that are excluded, ignored or relegated to the outer edge of a group/society/community.
Microaggression
The verbal, nonverbal and environmental slights, snubs, insults or actions, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to target persons based solely upon discriminatory belief systems.
Narrative
A story or an account of events, experiences. It may be written or spoken.
Neurodivergent
Refers to a person on the autism spectrum or, more generally, to someone whose brain processes information in a way that is not typical of most individuals. These individuals may have learning disabilities, attention deficit and anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette鈥檚 syndrome. Through a neurodiversity lens, such conditions reflect different ways of being that are all normal human experiences.
Oppression
The systemic and pervasive nature of social inequality woven throughout social institutions as well as embedded within individual consciousness. Oppression fuses institutional and systemic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry and social prejudice in a complex web of relationships and structures.
Patriarchy
Actions and beliefs that prioritize masculinity. Patriarchy is practiced systemically in the ways and methods through which power is distributed in society (jobs and positions of power given to men in government, policy, criminal justice, etc.) while also influencing how we interact with one another interpersonally (gender expectations, sexual dynamics, space-taking, etc.).
People of Color
A term used to refer to nonwhite people, used instead of the term 鈥渕inority,鈥 which implies inferiority and disenfrancisement. The term emphasizes common experiences of racial discrimination or racism.
Predominantly White Institution (PWI)
A Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in higher education is a college or university where 50% or more of the students are white. This numerical definition does not say anything about the percentages of white instructors, administrators, or staff.
Prejudice
A preconceived judgement or preference, especially one that interferes with impartial judgment and can be rooted in stereotypes, that denies the right of individual members of certain groups to be recognized.
Privilege
An unearned, special advantage or right that a person is born into or acquires during their lifetime. It is supported by the formal and informal institutions of society and conferred to all members of a dominant group, by virtue of their group membership. Privilege implies that wherever there is a system of oppression (such as capitalism, patriarchy, or white supremacy) there is an oppressed group and also a privileged group, who benefit from the oppressions that this system puts in place. Privilege and power are closely related: privilege often gives a person or group power over others.
Queer
An umbrella term used by individuals who feel that they personally don鈥檛 fit into dominant norms due to their own gender identity/expression, their sexual practices, their relationship style, their politics, etc. A formerly derogatory slang term used to identify LGBT people. Some members of the LGBT community have embraced and reinvented this term as a positive and proud political identifier when speaking among and about themselves.
Race
A social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance (particularly race), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation, cultural history, ethnic classification, and the social, economic and political needs of a society at a given period of time.
Racial profiling
Any action that relies on stereotypes about race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion or place of origin, or a combination of these, rather than on a reasonable suspicion to single out a person for greater scrutiny or different treatment.
Racism
Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on difference in race/ethnicity, usually by white/European descent groups against people of color.
Reparations
The making of amends for a wrong that has been done 鈥 whether by individuals, corporations, government or other major institutions 鈥 by paying money, control of land, housing, jobs, health care, transportation and even finance and trade.
Safe Space
Refers to an environment in which everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves and participating fully, without fear of attack, ridicule or denial of experience.
Sexual Orientation
The emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional attraction or non-attraction to other people. Sexual orientation is fluid and people use a variety of labels to describe their sexual orientation.
Silencing
The conscious or unconscious processes by which the voice or participation of particular social identities is excluded or inhibited.
Social Justice
Constitutes a form of activism, based on principles of equity and inclusion that encompasses a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others.
Stereotype
A form of generalization rooted in blanket beliefs and false assumptions, a product of processes of categorization that can result in a prejudiced attitude, critical judgment and intentional or unintentional discrimination. Stereotypes are typically negative, based on little information and do not recognize individualism and personal agency.
System of Oppression
Conscious and unconscious, non-random and organized harassment, discrimination, exploitation, prejudice and other forms of unequal treatment that impact different groups. Sometimes used to refer to systemic racism.
Title VII (Civil Rights Act of 1964)
Civil rights legislation that outlawed employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This legislation also ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, the workplace, and facilities that served the general public.
Title IX (of the 1972 Educational Amendments to the Higher Education Act)
Prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funds and covers programs and activities including student loans and scholarships, access to courses, housing, health services, athletics, career services, and publications.
Tokenism
Performative presence without meaningful participation. For example, a superficial invitation for the participation of members of a certain socially oppressed group, who are expected to speak for the whole group without giving this person a real opportunity to speak for her/himself.
Transphobia
The fear or hatred of persons perceived to be transgender and/or transsexual.
A person who served in the Armed Forces of the United States during a specified period and was honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances. Armed Forces is defined as the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, including all components thereof, and the National Guard when in the service of the United States pursuant to call as provided by law on a full-time active-duty basis, which does not include active duty for training purposes.
White Fragility
A state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.
White Supremacy
A power system structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined; and who feel superior to those of other racial/ethnic identities.
Xenophobia
Any attitude, behavior, practice, or policy that explicitly or implicitly reflects the belief that immigrants are inferior to the dominant group of people. Xenophobia is reflected in interpersonal, institutional, and systemic levels oppression and is a function of white supremacy.
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