Joint Statement from Capilano University on the Scarborough Charter
In recognition of Black Excellence Day on Sunday, January 15, Capilano University, the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU), the Capilano Faculty Association (CFA) and the Movement of United Professionals (MoveUP) have issued the following joint statement regarding CapU and the Scarborough Charter:
As a university, CapU is striving to build more inclusive campuses and learning locations that provide supportive environments where members of the CapU campus community feel engaged, respected, valued and included. The Scarborough Charter is one of many lenses that we are using to reflect on the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) commitments at CapU. As part of that work, we are taking a thoughtful and deliberate approach to consider how initiatives to redress anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion can be adopted and implemented meaningfully in the University’s operations and everyday interactions, with the goal of joining the community of post-secondary institutions that have become signatories.
Together, CapU, the CSU, CFA and MoveUP, agree to the charter’s four principles, as outlined in the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education: Principles, Actions, and Accountabilities, and remain accountable to the University’s EDI initiatives and human rights commitments that support:
BLACK FLOURISHING
Universities are central to enabling the just, fulsome realization of human potential and thriving. They can play a pivotal role in redressing anti-Black racism by removing structural barriers to equity, inclusion and social justice, with full recognition of intersectional identities, while advancing the innovative research, critical thinking and engaged dissemination of knowledge that foster substantive equality, human dignity and sustainability.
INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE
Equitable inclusion is critical to excellence. Universities can advance inclusive excellence through their ability to educate and to innovate; to be alive to complexity and proactive in the face of crisis; to foster fundamental questioning through rigorous, respectful engagements across difference; and to enable societal transformation.
MUTUALITY
Mutuality recognizes that universities are connected to their communities locally, as well as nationally, regionally and internationally. Supporting a positive, interactive relationship with Black communities entailed by mutuality includes the special role universities can assume in Black community economic development, notably as anchor institutions and local employers.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability involves a commitment to ongoing and sustained education—including self-education—and to courageous, concrete outcomes built on deeply consultative processes. Accountability includes acknowledging, respecting and acting responsively in the face of Black life, in its full complexity and intersectionality. Universities must move beyond mere representation and take responsibility for supporting fulsome, transformative inclusion across university structures, policies and procedures.
CapU pledges to continue our conversations and collaborations to create a vibrant learning and working environment where members of the Black community can start to see themselves represented in the interactions, culture, spaces, leadership and curriculum at CapU.
Sincerely,
Submitted by: Communications