PRIDE & PREJUDICE

An inside look into CapU’s ongoing EDI struggle

Matt Shipley (he/him) - Culture & Communities Editor

Tara Asadi - Illustrator

Ever since March 23rd, 2022, CapU has been conducting an EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) audit encompassing issues such as institutionalized racism, sexism and LGBTQ+-phobia. Every few months, a mass email has been sent to students and staff confirming that the audit is still ongoing and that the Scarborough Charter is still being considered, but detailed information regarding the audit comes rarely.

The audit is being conducted by Veza Global, a third-party company that conducts various EDI initiatives all over the world, promising to “build team resilience, improve employee retention, foster innovation, and drive profitability.” Interestingly, this seems much more like a system to evaluate administrative and faculty diversity, rather than one that is built to improve the campus experiences of LGBTQ+ students, and this information is confirmed in the mass emails sent to students. Included in the audit’s scope are:

- An assessment of CapU’s employee life cycle, including hiring practices, policies, procedures, and other administration-focused measurements;

- Demographic written assessments, sent to students and faculty in an attempt to gain points of view from all university groups;

- A total of thirty focus groups where students and faculty can drop in online or in person and offer their input;

- A final report, slated for Spring 2023, will be drafted using data collected in 2022 with a focus on improving University EDI practices, hiring methods and employee retention.

There is a conundrum that all universities face in some way or another: one where they have to make themselves look good and market themselves effectively to remain competitive in the university market. Sometimes, the effects of that goal materialize in a performative way — one where the University paints crosswalks, puts up stickers and pushes safe-space messaging while the root cause of students’ woes — LGBTQ+-phobia — festers on within the student body and even on faculty. It’s not to say that queering spaces and other small acts do nothing — but a statement of welcoming is hollow if students and members of faculty do not echo it.

So, what does this all mean? After multiple emails, a queer-crosswalk-unveiling ceremony and countless words about improving student lives and creating a more welcoming environment for all within the University’s walls, many among students and staff are still wary of any EDI messaging from CapU. At the Progress Pride Crosswalk unveiling, Elder Sempulyan, CapU’s Indigenous liaison, spoke carefully about the University’s possible motives behind the crosswalk. “Their actions will determine whether or not they are performing,” they said. Louise Allison, another speaker at the event, spoke gushingly about the importance of queering spaces (e.g. posting Pride-themed stickers or decorations in a room,) but did not respond to a request for comment on whether or not a place of learning and growth such as CapU should be held to a higher standard.

This ongoing audit, while certainly not the be-allend-all solution to everything, has a chance of making a real difference on faculty. In spring 2023, Veza Global will release a summary of the audit along with a list of recommended actions for the University to conduct to improve its EDI dealings in faculty and administration. If professor education and a more student-first approach to EDI practices make the list, it stands to hope that the University may yet follow through on their promise to make CapU a more inclusive space for everyone.