In April of 2021, the Indigenous Men and Men of Color Caucus, Inter Faculty Organization, Minnesota State University Association of Administrative and Service Faculty, Students United, Minnesota State College Faculty, and LeadMN all called on Minnesota State system and campus leaders to take specific steps towards meaningfully advancing equity in our system. We have since continued our call on the system office to implement the recommendations of the Equity 2030 faculty fellows, met with system office leaders to offer support in their equity work and provide feedback, and solidified our collective partnership into a standing coalition. For academic year 2021-2022, our organizations continue our commitment to collectively transforming our higher education system through collaboration.
If we, as a system, have committed to reducing the gaps in outcomes for students of color, low-income students, and first-generation students in the name of Equity 2030, we must first operate from a shared understanding of equity:
The higher education system we seek to achieve is one where every student, regardless of their circumstances, has the right to experience the positive, transformative effects of education with equal access and opportunity. Equity is how we get there. Equity is the process of prioritizing and investing material resources into equalizing opportunity, access, and outcomes for historically-marginalized, intentionally-excluded and harmed communities.
What are material resources? Material resources include, but are not limited to, money, labor, and time.
Historically marginalized and intentionally excluded and harmed communities in higher education include, but are not limited to: people of color, working and poor people, LGBTQIA people, all gender marginalized people, first-generation students, differently abled and disabled people, those who have interacted with the carceral system, undocumented people and those excluded from full U.S. citizenry, and more.
The process of equity must be coupled with justice and inclusion to achieve its aim. Equity work is accountable to those most impacted; those it claims to uplift.
As a coalition, our advocacy priorities for 2022 are:
Building equity and inclusion data, making the data accessible and disaggregated, and democratizing the data
Ensuring a framework of action and accountability for the equity scorecard
Establishing effective metrics and goals on Equity 2030
Solidarity with, and material support for, those doing equity and inclusion work, especially those who have been targeted for these efforts
Clear two-year to four-year transfer pathways that improve matriculation and graduation outcomes for first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color
Continued support for the implementation of the Equity 2030 Fellows’ recommendations
Resources and structural support for recruitment and retention of diverse staff, faculty, and students
Collectively push for the full funding of our higher education system
Our coalition believes that these goals, and the broader aim of Equity 2030, can only be achieved through a collective, collaborative effort that includes all stakeholders. If this is done while centering the voices of those most impacted, honoring the labor being done, distributing labor in proportion to resources, and pushing ourselves and each other to dream bigger about what is possible, we absolutely can meaningfully move towards eliminating these inequities.
Signed,
Minnesota State University Association of Administrative and Service Faculty
LeadMN – College Students Connecting for Change
Indigenous Men and Men of Color Caucus
Students United
Inter-Faculty Organization
Minnesota State College Faculty
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