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Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Function Statement

Whitworth's Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion works to collaborate with all areas of the university to promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusion for our community. This involves working with offices and departments throughout our university to critically examine our institutional culture, policies and practices for ways that we are perpetuating social inequities, restricting access for a diverse community to flourish, or creating environments where people are not treated with full dignity or do not feel safe to be their authentic selves. Through education and training we work to 1) raise awareness regarding structures and systems of oppression and marginalization, 2) foster a community that welcomes and supports cultural diversity, and 3) provide opportunities for our community members to build competencies to continually develop and implement equity-minded policies and practices in all areas of our university. We ground our work in our Christian mission and aim to integrate it throughout our university by forming partnerships with faculty, staff, students and our external community, recognizing their role as co-creators of knowledge and institutional change.

Headshot of Micki Abercrombie-Donahue

Micki Abercrombie-Donahue, Ed.D.

Interim Chief Diversity Officer

mabercrombie-donahue@whitworth.edu
509.777.4603

 

Values & Principles

  • Dignity, respect, and just treatment for all people regardless of social or cultural identity.

    • We recognize that all people are created in God's image and are committed to fostering a community where all people are valued and treated with equal dignity and respect.  

  • Understanding social oppression and critical self-examination.

    • We acknowledge that human suffering and social injustice is pervasive and seek to understand and uncover structures and systems that perpetuate social oppression and marginalization, and the ways those systems have influenced us individually and institutionally.  

  • An authentically diverse community unified in love.

    • We carry out our Christian and educational mission by welcoming people from different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. Instead of viewing our differences as liabilities and something to eliminate (e.g., via assimilation), we aim to promote a loving community where our cultural and social differences are utilized as assets, and people can bring their full authentic selves to all areas of our university.
    • Drawing on the wealth of a diverse community will often involve disagreement. We embrace disagreement as an essential means to fulfilling our educational mission and to collaboratively address the needs of our world. We aspire to engage in disagreement that is grounded in love and respect and, carried out in ways that are sensitive to power dynamics and does not marginalize people. 

  • Active inclusion and equitable collaboration and co-creation.

    •  We aim to draw from perspectives and experiences that have been historically marginalized and actively work to create space and opportunities for empowered and meaningful co-creation. Social and institutional transformation requires actively dismantling barriers (e.g., racist structures or other systems of oppression) to the full participation of all people and people groups who teach, learn, and work at Whitworth. 

  • Critical self-examination and commitment to restoration.

    • We are committed to continually monitoring our own culture, policies, and practices for disparate impact and inequities. We aim to foster a psychologically and physically safe environment for all people so that people can pursue their education or work without bias, discrimination, or harassment. We are committed to providing restoration to those who experience unjust treatment and harm and understand that reconciliation should never be coerced and requires safety for those who have been harmed. 

Theological Grounding

Our Work
Campus Climate & Demographic Data
Bias + Harassment & Title IX
Upcoming Events
Resources
Student Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office
University DEI Statements & Documents
Diversity Cabinet & DEI Student Advisory Group