Graceland University is working to ensure all aspects of the institution engage with intention to advocate for, promote, and sustain a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. All members of our community are encouraged to actively challenge norms, cultures, and structures that foster exclusion, oppression, or marginalization in order to create a culture of inclusion and justice by embracing and learning from a wide spectrum of experiences, ideas, viewpoints, and methods.
Diversity Links
In 2019, a working group of faculty, staff, and students worked together to craft the University’s statement of commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. This statement was formally adopted by the full faculty, administration, and board of trustees in spring of 2020.
The Sustainable Social Justice Committee developed and adopted a lexicon of terms so that all members of the Graceland community had the same frame of reference for terms used when discussing issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Read The Lexicon
In February of 2021, Graceland formed two committees of trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and students to oversee the work of the University as well as make recommendations on how the institution could better improve.
Meet The CommitteesIn June 1972, President Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 into law. Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that has removed many barriers that once prevented people, on the basis of sex, from participating in educational opportunities and careers of their choice. It states that:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, in be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education issued a notice of interpretation clarifying that “[c]onsistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling and analysis in Bostock, the Department [of Education] interprets Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ to encompass discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. (Source – justice.gov/crt/title-ix#Introduction)
Graceland Title IX Coordinator:
Dave Schaal,
Dave.Schaal@graceland.edu
641.784.5106
