Breaking down barriers

Breaking down barriers

Joseph Pazzano (he/him/they/them) joined Fanshawe in November 2021 as the College’s first Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We sat down with him to learn more about EDI and how it will make a difference to the Fanshawe community.

What is your role as Fanshawe’s Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion?

To me, equity work is about listening, collaborating and acting. Acting is the most important, because social consciousness around EDI is at a level I’ve never seen before. This is a moment we need to seize and these moments in social change don’t come around that often.

One of the most important things I will do—and I will not do this on my own—is create an EDI strategy or action plan for all campuses. I will work with students, staff and faculty to identify institutional and systemic barriers that exist that prevent full participation for equitydeserving groups (people who experience barriers to equal access, opportunities and resources due to disadvantage and discrimination). They might be things that are very apparent to those in equitydeserving communities but may not be obvious to others. In order to truly create an inclusive culture, those barriers must be made obvious to everyone, regardless of their lived experience, so we all feel like we own this journey.

How will equity, diversity and inclusion make a difference at Fanshawe?

There is a lot of data about the benefits of diversity—diverse teams are more innovative and more effective, and there are more reports of physical and mental wellbeing among diverse teams. In diverse classrooms, students feel like they belong, they achieve more and are more receptive to intellectual challenges and collaboration.

The reality is those benefits don’t come to us without hard work. We don’t get these benefits unless folks actually feel like they belong. We need to do EDI work well to unlock benefits. For folks in equitydeserving communities who have lived experience of oppression like racism, colonization, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and sexism, it is important we demonstrate that we understand the importance of learning and acting even if we haven’t lived those things too. Lived experiences matter and we need to be active partners for change.

What drew you to this new role at Fanshawe?

The work of creating a more inclusive community is what gets me up in the morning. Through my own experiences in the 2SLGBTQ+ community and the disability community, I know what it’s like to face oppression. But, I also have a lot of privilege as someone who is white and a settler on these lands. I understand what it is to feel like communities, governments and institutions don’t recognize you and view you as “other.” I also understand that I have an obligation to use the privileges I do have to challenge and disrupt those oppressive systems when they harm others.

Joseph Pazzano (he/him/they/them), Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

What is your vision for EDI at Fanshawe?

This is a chance for us to come together as a Fanshawe community to say, “What does EDI mean to us at the College? What are the barriers, how do we want to dismantle them and how can we be daring?”

EDI is becoming more intertwined with institutional success. If we embed EDI as a shared accountability, work to identify and remove barriers and create a bold vision for what this looks like on our campus:

• We will be a college-of-choice for equity-deserving students;

• We will be a central community hub that’s respected and valued for EDI work, and we can lead conversations and build trust;

• Every student and employee, regardless of background, can feel like they belong and be anti-oppressive agents in their own space;

• Our students will graduate with the EDI knowledge they need to compete and be successful in industries that need improved EDI competencies.