JEDI Council Membership Guidelines

JEDI Council Mission Statement

Founded in 2017, the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Council of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is a group of faculty and staff members with experience and expertise in academic/creative and institutional social justice work. Born out of the Implementation Task Force of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, the Council serves as an advisory board to the College. The Council also advises the Dean on the implementation of the College of Arts and Sciences DEI Strategic Plan. The Council makes policy proposals and provides consultation to the Dean on faculty affairs, curriculum, and other College business to advance the CAS’s commitment to promoting a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive academic environment and campus community. The JEDI Council was initially formed by a group of faculty, but more recently has expanded to include staff. It is a semi-autonomous body: the Council creates priorities and identifies projects to work on each year in consultation with the Dean.

Past projects include:

• Inclusive Excellence Postdoctoral Program
• Cluster Hiring in Race and Social Inequality
• Diversifying the Core Curriculum
• Including DEI work in Faculty Activity Reports
• Advocating for HSI status for the University
• Working to increase faculty recruitment and retention in areas of intersectional diversity
• Adding DEI goals to applications for funding from the College, and to all College initiatives

JEDI Council Composition: The Council will consist of 6-8 members drawn from the pool of tenure-stream faculty (post MPR), senior lecturers, and full time staff in the college. One of the members will be a person from the Dean’s Cabinet who has expertise in this work. At least one Council member will be selected from the faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies and another from the Ethnic Studies Department.

Time commitment: Meetings happen once per month (approx 90 min); members may need to work 2-3 hours per month in between meetings. For faculty, this counts as significant service to the College. For staff, this may count as DEI work for your performance evaluation, to be determined with your supervisor.

Terms: 3 year terms, and a maximum of 2 consecutive terms is allowed

Selection: Each April, the Dean’s Office will solicit nominations to the Council (including self-nominations). Interested colleagues should complete this form and submit a cv/resume to demonstrate their interest. Current Council members will select members, in consultation with the Dean, according to the criteria below and with attention to intellectual diversity across a range of topics. New members will start their term on September 1.

Membership Criteria: To be eligible, members should have demonstrated excellence in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion work at the organizational level. The work of this committee must be strategic and efficient so prior depth of knowledge is required.

For faculty, evidence of the level of required expertise would include leading equity committees and/or major equity initiatives at the college/university. This may also include multiple publications or creative work on issues of equity and justice, and/or leadership in anti-racist, feminist and/or other inclusive pedagogies.
For staff, evidence would include leadership and/or participation in DEI committees and initiatives at the department/college/university level or externally.

Accountability: The Council membership will report to and solicit feedback from the Dean and the Dean’s Cabinet. In addition, the Council will update the department chairs and academic staff leaders in the college at least two times per academic year on their work.