#WeAreAllWebster
At 麻豆视频, we embrace all human differences while building upon
our commonalities as people. Diversity and inclusion initiatives should serve to eliminate
discrimination and exclusion based upon the following: race, creed, national origin,
religion, color, ethnicity, age, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic
status, disability, or military status.
Committed to Social Justice and Racial Equity
There鈥檚 a place for everyone at Webster. We believe a diversified community leads to an increase in creativity, decision-making, and an appreciation of different perspectives. From our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council to our working groups and sponsored events, our University is committed to inclusive excellence and prioritizes collaborative initiatives. Each of our efforts are curated to achieve sustainable and significant community-wide transformations.
Our Diversity and Inclusion Statement
For us, diversity and inclusion are more than meeting a goal or focusing on a specific representation with a combination. It involves expressive dialogue and offerings of distinct talent, thought, and inquiry from individuals from various backgrounds. We recognize that diversity and inclusion cultivate academic excellence. Our University also understands the success of each individual strengthens the community.
Webster's Annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Conference
Success by the Numbers
The 2024 DEI Conference included 24 conference presenters including speakers, moderators and panelists over the course of 7 conference sessions. The conference drew more than 2,000 registered attendees from 23 countries, and 152 different colleges, universities and K-12 schools were represented globally. Thank you to our 11 sponsors who allowed the conference to be free to attend.
Attendees to the conference included faculty, staff, students, alumni, corporate partners and community members from around the St. Louis area. Topics at past conferences have included: hate speech, unconscious bias, gender in the media, how to be a transgender ally, multigenerational workforces, accessibility issues and immigrant experiences.
Read about our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Conferences, including summaries of previous conferences.
Resilience Inspires Student Excellence (RISE)
Launched in the summer of 2019, the Resilience Inspires Student Excellence (RISE) program provides educational access and career success for undergraduate BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students by increasing interactions with faculty, staff and University support systems, and fostering a stronger sense of community.
Webster Speaks Series
In 2020, we launched a speaker series, 鈥淲ebster Speaks: Dialogues on RACE, EQUITY and INCLUSION.鈥� Since then, it has built an international audience for its frank conversation with local and national leaders advancing these issues.
Webster's Witnessing Whiteness Program
The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, in collaboration with the YWCA, offered the Witnessing Whiteness program for 麻豆视频鈥檚 St. Louis area faculty and staff for three years. In its third cohort in 2021, Witnessing Whiteness groups voluntarily came together to do work around racism in a supportive, non-threatening setting. It is about learning to speak about race and racism, exploring white privilege, and practicing allying with sisters and brothers of color. The work of Witnessing Whiteness groups draws on the book 鈥淲itnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It,鈥� by Shelly Tochluk.
Transcript
[麻豆视频 logo]
[Tense music]
Text on screen: In December 2018, word spread through national and local news outlets that 麻豆视频 was considering launching a Witnessing Whiteness program for faculty and staff, in partnership with the YWCA-St. Louis.
Text on screen: And the backlash began.
[News clip from KMOU 8, Columbia, Missouri]
KMOU Reporter: A Missouri school is considering a segregated space for white students to talk about racism and white privilege.
[Screenshot from KMOU website with the title, 鈥淲itnessing Whiteness鈥�: Missouri college may introduce whites-only racism seminar, subtitle: 鈥淭he whites-only program would address racism,鈥� and photo of two people holding hands, one white and one Black.]
Text on screen: Voicemail to Vincent C. Flewellen, Chief Diversity Officer
Woman on Voicemail: I was born in a white America 鈥� 85 to 90 percent white, before they killed Kennedy. And you people want to sit here and lecture me and my people about race.
[Visual representation of sound graph (from an oscilloscope)]
Text on screen: Dana Loesch: Radio Host, KLIF 570 Dallas, Texas
Dana Loesch: Group members explore the history and construction of white racial identity, the manifestations of white supremacy and privilege white solidarity. All of this, I mean, good grief!
Text on screen: Voicemail to Vincent C. Flewellen, Chief Diversity Officer
Man on Voicemail: I am white, but I can guarantee you that I have not had privilege in my life.
[鈥淲itnessing Whiteness鈥� Screenshot from KMOU website]
Text on screen: KMOU 8, Columbia, Missouri
Reporter: The chief diversity officer at St. Louis's 麻豆视频 says the Witnessing Whiteness program requires all participants to be white.
[Visual representation of sound graph (from an oscilloscope)]
Text on screen: WTAG News Radio 580, Springfield, Massachusetts