SKHS EDII Committee: Terms of Reference

SKHS EDII Committee:

Mandate 

The SKHS EDII Committee has a mandate to foster and develop a culture of critical education—and self-education—and it is responsible for ensuring regular opportunities to discuss and make progress on issues related to equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization in all aspects of our activities as a School. This may involve: reviewing existing policies and procedures to better reflect EDII principles; promoting awareness and educating each other, staff, faculty, students, and the larger community about EDII principles and best practices; organizing and implementing programs, events, and projects that strengthen EDII within SKHS; responding to current events impacting students, staff, and faculty; finding ways to recognize and celebrate the often invisible additional service work and emotional labour that marginalized students, staff, and faculty members contribute to EDII.

Membership              

The EDII committee consists of:

• SKHS Director
• 3 or more faculty members (assigned by the Director as part of the workload assignments)
• Department Manager and Undergraduate Chair
• Academic Advisor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator
• Student Experience Coordinator
• 2 graduate student representatives (chosen annually by the SKHS-GSC)
• 2 or more undergraduate student representatives (chosen by the EDII committee after an application process) [1]
• One staff member for admin support

Term of membership:

• Faculty members serve a 3-year term commencing on July 1
• Student reps serve a 1-year term commencing on September 1
• The Director will appoint a faculty or staff member to chair the committee annually

Responsibilities       

Responsibilities of the Chair

• ensure that the committee’s mandate is being fulfilled
• create meeting agendas and ensure follow-up on action items
• facilitate constructive and effective meetings
• ensure committee members have access to relevant documents, including minutes and resources
• participate or assign a designate to participate in the FAS EDII Council
• regularly report on the activities of the Committee at the SKHS Academic Council and Spring Meeting

Responsibilities of the administrative support person

• schedule regular meetings
• record minutes at each meeting
• distribute previous minutes and other meeting materials to the committee at least one week in advance of each meeting
• support the Chair as needed, for example, in creating meeting agendas, information gathering/ research to inform the work of the committee, and finalizing materials produced by the committee (e.g., copy editing, formatting documents, updating SKHS website).
• provide administrative support for events hosted by the committee (e.g., room bookings, catering).
• ensure that the SKHS website includes up-to-date information about the EDII committee and its activities.

Responsibilities of the faculty and staff representatives:

• review meeting materials in advance of each meeting to be prepared to actively participate in discussions.
• promote EDII and the work of the committee through other roles held within the school (e.g., in classes, on other committees, etc.)
• volunteer as need to support the work of the committee including organizing events, drafting and editing communications and information gathering/ research.

Responsibilities of the student representatives:

• review meeting materials in advance of each meeting to be prepared to actively participate in discussions.
• act as a liaison between this committee and the undergraduate and graduate student communities broadly as well as with each student council specifically (SKHS GSC, PHEKSA and HLTH DSC).
• volunteer as needed to support action items of the committee including organizing events, drafting and editing communications and information gathering/ research.

Decision Making    

The perspectives of all committee members are valued. Decisions are made by consensus. The chair acts on behalf of the committee once consensus is obtained.

Governance               

The EDII committee is a sub-committee of and reports to the SKHS Academic Council. The EDII Committee makes recommendations to Academic Council.

Meetings                  

In person, hybrid or online meetings are held a minimum of 6 times per year, including at least one in the summer term to reflect on the committee’s work during the past year and plan for the coming year.

Review of TOR         

These terms of reference may be reviewed annually by members of the committee at the 1st meeting of the year.

Glossary

Equity is one of the core values of the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies. Following the Queen’s University Human Rights and Equity Office, we understand equity as a guarantee of fair treatment, access and opportunity, which may require differential treatment according to need. We strive to achieve equity by being proactive and taking collective responsibility for addressing systemic discrimination and enacting change across all aspects of our work. 

Equity, and our related values such as empowerment and social change, flow from our individual and collective commitments to recognize and unlearn (often unconscious) patriarchal, heterosexist, fatphobic, ableist, classist, racist, cis-gendered, and colonial ways of thinking and acting, and to work towards the goals laid out in the Queen’s University guiding documents that promote equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization. We understand our Values Statement to be a living document that requires each of us to enact it in our everyday lives in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies.

Diversity refers, fundamentally, to variety. In the context of higher education it describes the deliberate inclusion of people with different experiences, knowledges, subjectivities, and embodiments with the goal of transforming the institutions to which we belong.

Inclusion at Queen’s means that everyone belongs here. As described on the Inclusive Queen’s website, Queen’s seeks to “build a campus that embraces diversity and empowers all members of our community to thrive.”

Indigenization, as laid out by the Queen’s University Office of Indigenous Initiatives, is a process of including “Indigenous ways of knowing, thinking, feeling, and being” in the University. “It involves elevating the voices of Indigenous peoples, elevating traditional, and cultural knowledge, and intentional inclusion of Indigenous ways of teaching and learning to form and create pedagogical approaches.” Queen’s University Office of Indigenous Initiatives recognizes that Indigenization takes different forms, and is an ongoing process without a completion date. For more information and resources, see The Office of Indigenous Initiatives webpage.

Guiding Documents:

Final Report of the Queen’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Task Force (TRC)

Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity and Inclusion (PICRDI)

SKHS Culture of Belonging Report (2021)

Resources

Queen’s Accessibility Hub

Queen’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives

Inclusive Queen’s

Queen’s Human Rights & Equity Office

Centre for Teaching & Learning