Equity, Diversity, Justice & Inclusion Task Force (EDJI)

In Summer 2020 Catawba College established the Equity, Diversity, Justice and Inclusion (EDJI) Task Force. As a community, we recognize our 21st Century contemporary society is fraught with old wounds and new challenges. 

The disregard and perpetuation of systematic oppression has created a crisis of humanity, which we have all witnessed and/or experienced to some degree. The traumas of histories and herstories past have steeped and compounded. Exclusion and disunion, in particular, remain endemic in our socio-political systems. There is a necessary healing that is needed to dispel the persistence of bigotry, bias and misappropriated privilege.

We also face new challenges as a society, as the unresolved issues of the past are compounded.  Accelerating income inequality, environmental degradation, and the collapse of traditional employment for working and blue collar families are now key hallmarks of the age of globalization.

Catawba College is willing and commended for taking these initial and purposeful steps to undo past wrongs and bring forward new solutions.

This Task Force must work to dismantle discrimination and intolerance where they exist. The intentionality of this group will stem from the principles of supportive solidarity. This will require an empathic understanding of the complex ways in which individuals interact with systems and institutions, and will provide a strong voice for Catawba’s more underserved students, faculty, and staff. We will help build cultural cohesion, alongside a commitment to transition from power-usurped to power-instilled. Our Interchange and allyship, advocacy and relationships, structural and resource support, educational collaborations, cultural aptitude, and mechanisms for accountability will ensure effective pathways forward for Catawba College.

Key attributes of the Catawba mission are supported by the sentiments of Transformation, Inspiration and Belonging. In order to ensure that these elements are consistently imbued across college operations, the following Task Force terms are further delineated: 

• Equity: An authentic concern for fairness and accessibility among our students, staff, faculty and community that moves to ensure the removal of systemic barriers in place at our institution
• Diversity: The collection of similarities and distinctions within our community that includes, but is not limited to cultural values, beliefs, and lived experiences that contribute to our perceptions of the world
• Justice: The peaceful, considerate, and empathic treatment of human beings from all backgrounds and perspectives; true justice must also extend to the non-human elements within our community
• Inclusion: A sincere sense of belonging, respect, and appreciation so all members of Catawba feel able and welcome to participate fully in the College living-learning-working environment. 

The EDJI Task Force aims to help propel this moment of change in time into a movement of social transformation by doing our finest work at Catawba College in a more formalized way, guaranteeing that there be no separation between the practice of our personal and professional value systems. An overarching purpose of the Task Force is to understand how faculty, staff, and students at Catawba can embody the changes needed in our world. What can we as a community do to influence the social change needed to make an impactful difference in our world? Our hope is that we recognize that this work must begin within our minds but is then reflected in our behaviors throughout our institution.