A visiting lecturer discusses that striving for diversity on campus requires inclusion.
As I walked around campus, I notice a number of yard signs in the ground and banners on light poles expressing, “Diversity is y{}u." This campaign requires another important element — inclusion. Diversity without inclusion is ornamental.
Inclusion occurs when university leadership and our Board of Trustees include women, people of color, folks from the LGBTQ community and those who may be differently-abled. Inclusion in the classroom requires faculty of color. We honor diversity only if we advance inclusion.
To do so, we must be “maladjusted” as Dr. King called for in 1957. We cannot be “adjusted” or accepting of such things as exclusion and injustice. We must campaign for fairness, equity and inclusion at Ohio University. That is what Dr. King would want us to do.
Thomas Costello, J.D. is a visiting lecturer and faculty in residence at Ohio University.
