Muhlenberg College Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Approved by the Muhlenberg College Board of Trustees on January 28, 2023
Glossary of Terms
Muhlenberg College’s mission to prepare individuals to be thoughtful leaders and serve meaningfully in a pluralistic and increasingly globalized world requires both individual and collective responsibility towards achieving the goals of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
Muhlenberg College recognizes and values intersecting identities including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, ability, age, socioeconomic class, nationality, language and citizenship status that are integral to who we are and how we experience the world and each other. This diversity enriches our campus community, is fundamental to who we aspire to be and calls for each of us to engage with one another in ways that demonstrate awareness of and respect for these identities. Together we must continually strive towards building a campus where differences are welcomed, respected and celebrated and each individual feels a sense of inclusion and belonging.
Our community seeks to support individuals from historically marginalized groups, acknowledging that some identities have been and continue to be advantaged by power and privilege at the costs of others, by creating access to opportunities that will enable them to thrive personally and professionally. In parallel, we strive to understand, acknowledge and redress the harm and injustice resulting from these inequalities whenever they occur within our community. The success of our institution is inextricable from the success of every individual, and to achieve this we must persistently, vigorously and collectively work towards diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
To this end, we commit to:
- Build and retain an increasingly diverse body of faculty, staff, students and trustees.
- Intentionally work to build relationships and a sense of community across diverse identities and perspectives.
- Identify the different needs of individuals and meet them in an effective, equitable, accessible and timely manner in order to ensure that everyone on campus is able to succeed and thrive.
- Make visible all work that faculty, staff, students and alumni do to enrich and uplift a diverse campus life.
- Challenge and confront any and all forms of identity-based bias and discrimination.
- Develop and implement inclusive and antiracist curricular and co-curricular programming that foregrounds human diversity and the experience and perspectives of historically marginalized groups.
- Support and uplift the work of affinity groups that seek to create empowering spaces for people from marginalized groups.
- Recognize the knowledge and experience that exists within diverse Allentown communities and intentionally work together toward common goals.
- Continuously build our cultural awareness, skills and capacity to engage in this work and provide sufficient support to do so.
- Assess and report progress, build regular strategic plans in collaboration with and based on feedback from the Muhlenberg community and hold ourselves accountable for this work.
These commitments guide the actions of each individual at Muhlenberg and our collective strategies for creating a more just community. We recognize that this work is often difficult and ever-evolving and that meaningful transformation requires that each of us be committed to working toward these goals.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Glossary
The following list defines terms used in Muhlenberg College’s statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
