Penn State Equity Resources
Includes various internal and external offices, centers, opportunities and resources.
- Belonging at Penn State Resources
- Campus Community Diversity resources
- Find Your Community
- Land Acknowledgement
- Penn State Title IX resources
- Penn State Equity website
Understanding the SCOTUS Ruling on Race-Conscious Admissions
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in “Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina” (SFFA) struck down colleges’ use of race-conscious admissions nationwide. The following resources discuss the ruling and impacts.
- Questions and Answers from the US Department of education (PDF)
- U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Race-Conscious Admissions Nationwide (Chronicle for Higher Education, June 29, 2023)
- Feds Release Guidance in Wake of Supreme Court’s Ruling on Admissions (Chronicle for Higher Education, Aug. 15, 2023)
- Biden Administration response (Aug 14, 2023)
- National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) statement (June 29, 2023)
- Race in Higher Education: Analyzing the SCOTUS Opinion on Race-Conscious Admissions and Charting the Way Forward for DEI Professionals and Institutions (NADOHE, June 29, 2023) Access Recording | Presentation Slides
- Decision Day Roundtable, African American Policy Forum (moderated by Kimberlé Crenshaw, June 29, 2023) Watch the Recording
- Penn State Faculty Senate statement in response to SFFA
Creating a Culture of Belonging in Your Department
As a part of the Chronicle’s Strategic Leadership program, they conducted a webinar via Zoom on June 14, 2023, with Stephanie White, Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, University of Kentucky, moderated Liz McMillen, Executive Editor, Chronicle Intelligence. You can find the recording and Q&A below:
Resources to Help Navigate Challenging Times
Resources from Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (SITE) for Teaching in Times of Conflict:
- Taking ACTION on Disruptions or Microaggressions
- Navigating Disruptions
- Trauma Informed Teaching Practices
- Teaching During Times of Global Tensions and Violence
- Avoiding and Confronting Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
- From the Management Center (June 2020). – While many of these resources apply to supporting and relieving the trauma experienced by Black colleagues (they were developed after the murder of George Floyd), they apply to other groups as well, and offer resources for everyone.
- ERE (Education for Racial Equity) – Education for Racial Equity is a non-profit organization committed to dismantling the global system of white supremacy, and cultivation cultures of wholeness. They offer educational events which inspire personal, cultural and systematic transformation. Guided by the principles of Anti-racist activism, they practice communal healing for collective liberation.
- Ibram X. Kendi’s Anti-racist Reading List
- Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research
Working with White Supremacy & Privilege
- Unpacking White Saviorism by Annie Windholz (Medium) – How white and western society’s desire to help can do more harm than good.
- Me & White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad – Over 80,000 people downloaded her guide to the movement, Me and White Supremacy Workbook in the space of just six months. Me and White Supremacy: A 28-Day Challenge to Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. The book goes beyond the original workbook by adding more historical and cultural contexts, sharing moving stories and anecdotes, and includes expanded definitions, examples, and further resources.
- The 5 Methods of Divestment & Weaponization of White Power & Privilege from Community Ready Corps (CRC) – CRC’s objective is to build or contribute to the self-determination of disenfranchised communities and work towards the empowerment of oppressed peoples.
Note: Resources in this section primarily from “15 Top Questions on Becoming an Antiracist Leader Answered,” developed by TORCH, Dr. A. Breeze Harper & Dr. Keenan Walden.
“I don’t see color, everybody is equal,”
Why this statement can be a hurtful position that does not acknowledge systemic racism, anti-racist bias or white privilege.
- Racism Without Racists? By Thomas Chatterton Williams (The Atlantic 9/20/2011)
- Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi
Resources that respond to: “Don’t All Lives Matter?”
- Diversity & Inclusion (statistics, from McKinsey & Company)
- The History of White People by Nell Painter (2010)
- The built-in biases in economics that feed systemic racism, by Jared Bernstein (The Washington Post, July 7, 2020)
Resources of Support for People of Color & other marginalized groups
- Somatic Abolitionism and Embodied Anti-racist Education with Resmaa Menakem
- The Nap Ministry: Rest is Resistance, founded by Trisha Hersey
- The Minority Experience, by Adrian Pei (2018)
- Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity
- Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Educational Equity Disability Resources
“Awareness is the key to liberation. We can’t get free from something that we can’t see.”
– Lama Rod Owens