Loyola University Chicago

According to the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the school will “recruit and retain a diverse student body, staff, and faculty that is reflective of an increasingly diverse society and recognizing that inclusion.”

LUC’s “Anti-Racist Pedagogy Certificate program” consists of “a new year-long series of seminars, workshops and related assignments designed to provide Loyola educators (including faculty, staff, graduate students, and other instructors) with pedagogical values and strategies to craft learning experiences that are anti-racist and anti-oppressive.” This program will run from 2022 to 2023 and will also reopen in the summer of 2023.

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will “provide ongoing learning and educational opportunities to prepare our staff, faculty and leadership with the knowledge and skills to be able to fully engage and function across differences in an increasingly pluralistic society.”

As part of the ARI, Loyola University Chicago will incorporate “mandatory training to address implicit biases, required statements about equity and inclusion as part of job applications, and demographic research to ensure candidate pools reflect appropriate diversity” as part of the new faculty hiring process.

The school offers the READI Innovation Fund, which are grants that work towards supporting the goal to “approach DEI opportunities and challenges with an innovative lens in a way that creates a greater sense of belonging for students, staff and faculty.”

Loyola University Chicago crafted the Anti-Racism Initiative in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. One goal of the ARI is to “establish an office of Black Student Success.”

One of the Anti-Racism Initiative’s goals is to “provide coaching and support in leadership for racial justice and systems change.”

LUC offers resources for anti-racist pedagogy.

The Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy has an Anti-Racist Pedagogy Series including “Anti-Racist Course Design,” “Advocacy and Taking Action,” and other related series.

Loyola University Chicago has an “Anti-Oppressive Film Series” which represents “an effort to cultivate anti-racist and anti-oppressive thought, action and pedagogy by examining race, structural and systemic racism, structural oppression, belonging, identity, and other themes through the medium of film.”

Loyola University Chicago features an “Anti-Racist Pedagogy STEM Series” as part of a “call to action for Loyola University Chicago to continue working to create an equitable and inclusive learning environment in STEM (Science, Math, Engineering and Math), related fields.”

LUC has a program known as the “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Pedagogy (DEIP) Circles” which represent “an informal effort to cultivate anti-racist thought, anti-oppressive action, and equitable pedagogy by providing a private space for Loyola educators (faculty, staff, instructors) to come together, discuss issues they may encounter in their instructional and pedagogical spaces, and skillshare strategies and tactics to promote equity, navigate difficult situations, and ensure wellbeing in their pedagogical spaces.”

LUC’s “hooks-Freire Pedagogy of Justice Series” is an additional set of resources that incorporates “cultural responsiveness” and “anti-oppressive” concepts.

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is charged with the school’s goal to “ensure that racial justice, diversity, equity and inclusion are integrated into our teaching methodology and program offerings and that scholarly research by faculty in these areas is supported and valued.”

LUC created its “Anti-Racism Initiative Advisory Committee” in order to work towards accomplishing each of the stepping stones aligned with the school’s goal of “becoming a fully- inclusive Anti-Racist institution.”

In September 2020, Loyola University Chicago began the Racial Justice Examen, which “seeks to support academic units in their work towards becoming an anti-racist institution through reflection, understanding, empathy, and action.”

Loyola University Chicago proposed a Call to Action which was inspired by the Equity in the Center.

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion made a commitment which entails it will “ensure that our institutional structures, policies and procedures promote equity and inclusion for all members of our community” and “seek to remove unjust barriers that prevent us realizing our commitment to inclusive excellence.”

The school’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion “advances the recognition and appreciation of our diverse community, promotes multicultural education across campus, strives to ensure the retention and success of underrepresented students, and fosters a supportive, inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff.”