“My experience is that people often use this as a catch all term to refer to a wide variety of issues related to the experiences and perspectives of people whose identities have been un(der) represented in universities.”

-Conor McLaughlin

“People of color and racial diversity, often presented in a White-Black binary.”

-Alex

“I think it depends on each individual. However, many people hear diversity and immediately think of training that may be required or tedious. I believe this view is shifting, but higher education doesn’t just consist of SA pros. There is a diverse mix of people and roles and we don’t all have open minds related to diversity and inclusion.”

-Nick

“students of color”

-Higher Education Professional

“Typically, and unfortunately, folks use diversity as a catch all to mean inclusion, which is totally incorrect. Diversity is usually spoken about as an “end goal” rather than as part of a larger process to intentionally create a more welcoming environment for these diverse identities.”

-Lindsay

“Structural diversity – meaning the % of representation of an identity group or belief system; in higher education, this most often refers to race and typically uses specific racial categories (e.g. U.S. Census), which can limit how people may identify or who “counts” as people of color.”

-Sonja Ardoin

“In my interactions with people in higher education, when one talks about “diversity” in higher education, I often understand it in visible identities (often surrounded around race and gender). This becomes more typical depending on the context and the situations and how they relate to different aspects of higher education.”

-Karyn Dyer

“I believe race is the focal point of diversity in higher education considering it is a deep issue. Therefore, when diversity is discussed in higher ed normally it is about  numbers of people of color and people of color holding certain leadership positions that white people have always been in.”

-Joshua Davis

“Diversity often refers to racial/ethnic differences, specifically, or target/marginalized groups, generally. Those who hold dominant or privileged identities are not often included when discussing diversity, which further reinforces those identities as unseen, normal, and standard.”

-@nicholasrfranco

“I touched on this above, but I think “diversity” covers a whole host of things. I think it is often used to talk about race–when an administrator, for example, mentions an increase in diversity, they often mean an increase in numbers of students of color. I also think diversity is typically a numbers game–getting diverse individuals in the door but not necessarily thinking about what happens to them when they get to campus. But I also think that many people don’t mean to use it as an elision or empty reference–I think they use it to convey a real concern for and interest in fostering social justice and inclusion in their institutions.”

-Rachel

I do feel it’s an adequate term to use in the field when appropriate. That said, I don’t feel it’s adequate because of how much we use it, and in how many inappropriate situations we use it. It’s lost some of it’s meaning and effectiveness because of that.

-Lindsay

“I believe diversity is adequate some times. Many institutions still have largely homogenous faculty, staff, and student populations and in these cases diversity and diversifying is one dimension of the work ahead of them (it probably is some part of what all institutions need to do, in their own ways). I do not feel, however, that it totally describes all of the dimensions of the work still needed. Diversity can be very helpful to describe SOME parts of the work ahead of all members of university communities, but it is not the only dimension of the work, and so using it as an umbrella term is where my issue with it arises.”

-Conor McLaughlin

“It’s lost some of it’s meaning and effectiveness because of that.”

-Lindsay

“It can lead to very surface level conversations and decision and is focused more on numbers and facades, in my opinion, rather than on actual inclusion, equity, and social justice for all participants in (and outside of) higher education.”

-Sonja Ardoin

“I think “diversity” has been watered down, if that makes sense. The term has lost all intention to make meaning. A quote by Angela Davis reads “I have a hard time accepting diversity as a synonym for justice. Diversity is a corporate strategy.” In higher education, it seems like “diversity” is something to brag about on the surface but not take too much energy, time, and money to invest further in maintaining and celebrating.”

-Karyn Dyer

“Simply put, diversity upholds systems of oppression and privilege by it being so that the privilege get to maintain their privilege. [And,] inclusion is just as bad as diversity for many of the same reasons. We’re including you in what we already have and it is not yours and ours to share and we’re letting you have it is a message that the word ‘inclusion’ sends.”

-Joshua Davis

“Diversity has become a sort of heavy, unlikeable term, I think in part because it is used to really mean racial/ethnic differences and also because it is seen as a chore or nuisance and not as a benefit to an organization, group, or team.”

-@nicholasrfranco

“I think as it relates to our field, diversity just means making sure that our student bodies are diverse. It doesn’t mean making sure that they are inclusive.”

-Bee

“I think in and of itself it is adequate, but it has become diluted to the point of meaninglessness.  Diversity is passive, and I think we’ve past the point of being able to focus on passive measures.”

Brian

“I’m not sure about exact terms, but I do think that more clarity in what we mean when we talk about diversity is important. I also think that terms that are not value-neutral are really important to use. Shaun Harper wrote an article that explores the ways this field often talks about race without racism and the ways that elides racist institutional norms. I think “diversity” does a little bit of the same thing and needs to be replaced (or supplemented) with a term or terms that is not value-neutral and that acknowledges that difference is not always treated justly or equitably.”

-Rachel

“Inclusivity”

-Bee

“Inclusion; Equity; Social Justice”

-Sonja Ardoin

“Representation of identities, multiple identities, racial representation (when people are actually referring to coded conversations on race and ethnicity), gender representation (when people are actually referring to coded conversations on gender identity and expression), “different walks of life.” More over, name the social identities that we are referring to: religious/spiritual identity, ability, age, socio-economic status, generational status, sexual identity, citizenship status, etc.”

-Karyn Dyer

“Pluralism. To me, it implies efforts toward progression to somehow make society more interpreted by a variety of people rather than just one race, sex, class, sexual orientation, religious ideology, ability, etc. as historically held.”

-Joshua Davis

“cultural difference(s), cultural intersections, intersectionality (though this term doesn’t always work in place of diversity)”

-@nicholasrfranco

“First- I don’t think that other words need to be used instead of diversity. There is an incredible need for the definition and education of the word to change. If a word has to be used instead of diversity, it should be difference.”

-Leslie N

“I think diversity means difference, and in a way, that continues to use privileged groups as a point of reference. While I think there may be another term better used, I wonder if there is some benefit of “diversity” in pointing out that underrepresented groups are still seen as being different. In other words, does using a word to connote that marginalized groups are not different (because our cultures should be valued the same) glaze over the truth that they are not seen as such? Similar to being color-blind?”

-Lan Yang

“Multiculturalism, inclusion, social justice, (not instead of but in collaboration with and explanation of diversity)”

-Dar Mayweather