GSW's commitment to diversity and racial equality

Over the past few weeks, Georgia Southwestern has heard powerful feedback from our campus community, and has had moments of intentional reflection that dig deep into our core values. At such a crucial time in the fight for racial equality, it’s important that, as an institution of higher learning, we understand and acknowledge our history while continuing to move forward. Georgia Southwestern is dedicated to fostering an inclusive campus environment that recognizes, supports, and empowers each individual member’s voice. We are actively listening to our students, faculty, staff and alumni. But it’s not enough to just listen - we must take action.

To build on the important work already established at GSW, here are some initiatives the University is taking as we strive to make progress toward racial equality on our campus.

• We approved and published a Diversity Commitment, in addition to our current Diversity Statement, that declares GSW’s commitment and responsibility to create and maintain a safe campus environment that affirms our diversity of individuals and diversity of views. We created an online suggestion form for input on how to improve the campus climate and make GSW a stronger, more inclusive community of learners.
• We established an online form for students to report incidents of discrimination, bias or harassment and have made it easily accessible.
• We will hold individuals in our campus community accountable for their actions as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, Employee Handbook, or Faculty Handbook.
• We plan to host a multitude of listening sessions, Town Hall meetings, and workshops in the Fall to gather diverse insight from our campus community.
• We are identifying partners to host educational forums on racism and equality for students, faculty and staff, and student leadership.
• We will organize a variety of programs and speakers campus-wide that address discrimination and injustice.
• We will reevaluate our curriculum and programming to ensure we are providing appropriate and meaningful interactions and trainings around issues of diversity.
• We will intensify our efforts in recruiting, supporting and retaining more Black faculty, staff, and students.
• We are working in partnership with the USG who will review and study the names of buildings and colleges on all USG campuses for suggested changes.

We understand that these steps are just the beginning of a journey, and we are proud to walk together, shoulder-to-shoulder, with our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and stakeholders as we move along this path. This important work will continue throughout the year as we build upon the conversation by gathering diverse perspectives from our campus community. Your feedback is valued and will steer us as we continue to learn and grow. Please help improve the campus experience by filling out this suggestion form. Together, GSW will rise to the challenge, and we will serve as a powerful force behind each and every one of our campus community members.