Workshop and Dialogue Expectations | Office for Equity & Diversity Education Program

The OED Education Program workshops and dialogues are highly participatory. All learners are expected to adhere to the Grounding Assumptions for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice:

Grounding Assumptions for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice

Below is a list of grounding assumptions generated by numerous, well-known scholars and activists. We encourage learners to read through these carefully and consider how they relate to you in your learning around equity, diversity, and social justice. They are helpful assumptions to carry with you into conversations with others, in your own self-reflection, and in general as a tool for your equity and diversity learning journey.

The work of equity and diversity is about creating community, which involves building trust through careful listening, respectful disagreement, and taking risks.
Speak from your own story and refrain from sharing the stories of others.
It’s not all our fault, but it is our responsibility.
Growth and learning can be uncomfortable, practice self-awareness.
Show what you’re learning, not what you already know.
Leave room for both/and/all.
Just because you are, doesn’t mean you know everything. Just because you’re not, doesn’t mean you don’t know anything. We can all contribute.
Individuals and organizations DO grow and change. There is HOPE.
There are no quick fixes, and we need to expect and accept non-closure.
Self-work, healing, and self-love are necessary for the acceptance of others.
Social justice work must happen at the individual, socio-cultural, and institutional levels.

Sources: Most of the grounding assumptions are adapted from Jamie Washington (washingtonconsultinggroup.net) and Kathy OBear (drkathyobear.com). Others are from Autumn Brown (iambrown.org)*