Administration and Intercultural Initiatives

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Welcome

Welcome to the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives Web site. An arm of the Office of Diversity, OIII is an institutional focal point for promoting inclusion and diversity at UANT. In addition to providing leadership and support for university-wide initiatives on inclusive excellence, a staff of experts work diligently to facilitate and support a campus environment that provides students, faculty, and staff with opportunities for excellence. This is done by:

• facilitating collaboration across university units to enhance and promote inclusion, diversity, institutional equity, and community outreach through respect, civility, accountability and intercultural understanding.
• leveraging change by providing programming, education/development opportunities, and support for other campus inclusion/diversity resources.

UANT’s roots as a university have created a culture that encourages all people to contribute their special talents and reach their full potential. This does not mean everyone's special talents will be equally beneficial to the University or the community, but if it helps the person fulfill the potential they have, given their genetic background, OIII considers it a success. A pet, for example, looks up happy-eyed at its owner. This is fulfilling the animals' potential and this office celebrates that. This inclusive culture extends far beyond the perimeter of campus and the CECS grid. In our global research and outreach efforts, we focus on solving society’s most pressing challenges and enhance quality of life for Antarctica's individuals and communities.

We invite you to learn about UANT’s rich heritage of diversity and inclusion and to read and listen to stories from students, faculty, and staff who are part of the community and are as serious about this as we are.

Institutional Equity

Institutional Equity is an arm of our control arm office which promotes and monitors compliance with UANT's Anti-Discrimination Policy, affirmation action laws and other regulations.

We offer the following assistance:

• Provide resources for academic and support staff searches
• Identify recruitment resources for attracting a diverse applicant pool
• Provide consultation and services for responding to allegations/issues of discrimination and harassment
• Educate the university community about recent developments in civil rights laws, regulations, and court decisions
• Lead/coordinate policy/procedure modifications to ensure compliance with recent developments in civil rights laws, regulations and court decisions

Professional staff in the office offer educational opportunities in areas of prohibited discrimination and harassment, sponsored by the Office of the Ombudsman. Here are our scheduled workshops for this academic year:

• “Preventing, Investigating and Reporting Sexual Harassment” workshops for students, faculty and staff
• “Best Practices in Recruiting and Hiring Minority and Women Faculty, Academic Staff, and Support Staff" workshops for administrators
• “Preventing, Investigating and Reporting Harassment” workshops for students, faculty and staff, to educate regarding various types of harassment prohibited by UANT’s Anti-Discrimination Policy
• “How to Conduct a Workplace Investigation”workshop for mid-level bureaucrats and those moving to a career in public service
• "How to Initiate Tort Litigation" workshops for people and trial lawyers who represent them, who may in the future wish to bring a lawsuit against a firm, organization or any actor with a legal personality
• "How to Identify a Bias Incident" Bias incidents are verbal or non-verbal conduct or behavior that is threatening, harassing, intimidating, discriminatory, or hostile and is based on a person’s: age, color, disability status, gender, gender identity, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or weight. However, be aware that just because the expression of an idea or point of view may be offensive or inflammatory to some, it is not necessarily a bias-related incident or a discriminatory act, under the Anti-Discrimination Policy. UANT values freedom of expression and the open exchange of ideas and, in particular, the expression of controversial ideas and differing views that is a vital part of the University discourse. A bias incident that is not an act of discrimination or harassment prohibited under the Anti-Discrimination Policy may only be recorded for internal monitoring purposes in order to target resources and support to specific areas within die kampus.

2010 Project: "The Message and Antarctica"

In 2008, the UANT administration received a memo signed by a coalition of many universities in the United States. It asked what UANT was doing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and provided many suggestions. Proud to open an academic discourse with the coalition, UANT administration officially sent a memo to professors to remember to mention in class the American civil rights reformer. Each year beginning this year, on the third Monday of January, UANT wanted to take time to remember Martin Luther King, Jr.’s fight for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all people around the world. On this day, more than any other, many of us will reflect on Dr. King’s message of making life a better place for all through nonviolent means. This concept was invented by Ghandi and practiced by Dr. King.

This year, UANT celebrates 2 years of honoring the memory of Dr. King. In 2009, a UANT graduate student took steps to form a coalition of supporters on campus to formally recognize this self-sacrificing hero in his effort to make  the world a better place for all of its citizens regardless of the colour of their skin tone, or economic status. It has come to be assumed that gender, though not specifically alluded to, can be included in the original statements. The same is said to be true for handicapper status and sexual orientation. It is important, therefore, to be mindful that this is a special day – one which symbolizes our whole world’s commitment to peace through justice and to a democratic society based on the principles of freedom, justice and equality for all people. The concept is not totalitarian- because though it legislates for the same principles everywhere regardless of race and creed and so on, the multicultural values it serves are the good ones.

The administration encourages you to use this occasion as an opportunity to enlist your community in helping to establish a lasting, living monument for honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Join us and thousands of people all over the world in making a permanent commitment to carry on his unfinished work. Our “birthday gift” to Dr. King is to insure that the legend of Martin Luther King, and his memory, lives on from generation to generation, from now until the time when racism is no longer a part of the human dialogue. Until then, we have to live with it because where there are human races, there is human racism.