‘Remember that equity is about justice’

And that justice requires courage, collaboration and openness, speaker tells full house at UND’s DEI event

Along with hundreds of other guests, UND Today had the pleasure last week of sitting in on several expert presentations as part of the University’s first-ever DEI conference, The Future is Now: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Higher Education and Beyond.

We asked each of the four keynote speakers what they felt was the most important takeaway for their listeners. We share those thoughts below, plus a few more excerpts from their presentations...

Darrick Smith...

“Equity is first and foremost about justice, and justice starts with the individual and the individuals holding themselves and their institutions accountable.”...

Suzanne Johnson...

“It’s about education. And I really think the Nelson Mandela quote is the key. ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ In varying degrees (you need everyone with your organization to be on board with DEI to achieve that goal)...

Genevieve Negron-Gonzales...

“My main takeaway is that I hope folks feel clear about the struggles that undocumented students face in pursuit of higher education and that they see there are actionable things that all of us can do to try to help remove those barriers for undocumented students.”...

Katie Spencer...

“Let’s engage in the practice of radical imagination. We can’t just be critical. We also have to think about change and how we’re going to be practical about that in the future.”...