This guide serves as a resource to engage the general members of your organization in diversity and inclusion work. It’s important to note that DEI should not be a priority only during recruitment but should continue to be a priority throughout the year. Student organizations should aim to engage general body members in DEI work through various workshops, training, roundtable discussions, and g-body activities. This guide provides a comprehensive list of ways you can engage general body members in DEI efforts throughout the year.
General training structure
Programming ideas that have been efficient in the past in promoting diversity and inclusion efforts include different training, workshops, and roundtable talks to educate the general members of your organization. These can include workshops on identifying and correcting bias, trainings on how to uplift voices without speaking over them, table talks on various DEI topics, etc. These can take the form of a dialogue between you and the rest of your organization or it can also be a more formal powerpoint presentation or a mix of both. Whichever method you find works better with the needs of your organization.
Establishing Ground Rules
All trainings should start by laying out crucial ground rules. Specifically, participants should be made aware that:
Only one person should speak at a time;
The training discussion platform is a safe practice space where participants should be allowed to acknowledge their mistakes;
Anything said stays in the room;
Any lessons learned should leave with participants;
Participants should be conscious of their own assumptions and unconscious biases
Participants should always treat others with respect even if they disagree with them
Note: it is also good practice, particularly in smaller, more intimate settings, to invite participants to suggest their own ground rules within reason. You can work together to co-create a list of community agreements that all participants agree to. This communal agreement can be used to hold each other accountable during programming if any issues arise.
Asking Preliminary Questions
Depending on the nature of your organization and any time constraints, it is good to start by allowing participants to share some of their own perceptions about the value of discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is also valuable to invite participants to share some of the challenges of doing so. This is an opportunity to break the ice and engage people in dialogue while also getting a feel for what background and experiences participants are bringing into the space.
Videos, Activities, and Resources
Short videos and articles discussing DEI
You can start off your activity/discussions by showing a short video or letting your audience read a short article that sets the groundwork for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Please note that activities and discussions around DEI may require individuals to disclose aspects of their identity that may be sensitive. Please ensure that everyone feels comfortable before beginning the activity, and that you are prepared to facilitate challenging conversation. Be thoughtful in your choice and execution of any of these activities.
Honest Discussion
As a group or in smaller groups, have an honest discussion reflecting on how Diversity Equity and Inclusion relate to your organization.
Are these principles already reflected in your organization? To what extent?
Where is there room for improvement?
What are some goals members have for the organization?
What does a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization look like?
What needs to be accomplished to achieve that reality?
What is the value in recognizing these aspirations?
Implicit Bias
To demonstrate the roles of implicit bias, a helpful activity is to show words with an associated color and then with a seemingly unassociated color while asking participants to name the color of the text (eg: “red” in red text and then in blue text; “sunshine” in yellow text and then in green text).
You can do the Harvard Implicit Bias Test with your organization and follow up with reflection questions
Microaggressions
Another activity to show the prevalence of microaggressions is to show depictions in everyday life (slide deck resource being added soon by students).
Ex: “Are you a man or woman?”
Ex: “You don’t speak Spanish?”
Ex: “What are you?”
Allow members a chance to comment or share testimonials in an intimate setting.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
This activity requires the participants to read the article and reflect on the statements to understand their own privileges. Participants can tally up the statements they identify with and then engage in a group discussion to unpack the activity.
This activity entails using the map to depict opportunity Outcomes per regions of interest and by demographic identifiers. It allows individuals to see the differences in how regional upbringing can be a means of privilege and opens an opportunity for reflection and dialogue
During this activity, groups are each assigned a different amount of money to purchase privileges listed by the facilitator. Once these choices are made the facilitator leads a group discussion on the process of the activity and its broader implications.
Note: This DEI toolkit is a student-led initiative created by student leaders to address the need for additional DEI trainings, resources, and initiatives for student organizations. Support for these materials was provided by Campus Activities and the office of the Dean of Students.
