Diversity and equity are values most organizations desire to uphold, but at times they struggle to understand how to measure and track progress towards these objectives. Through ESI’s Equity and Inclusion practice area, we marshal our analytical expertise and real-world experience to add quantitative substance and strategic nuance to diversity analyses in a wide range of sectors.
For this Present Value post, ESI Principal Lee Huang speaks with Kevin Covington and Dr. David Eric Thomas on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion within higher education.
Kevin Covington is the Assistant Director of Retention and Outreach with the Center for Access, Success and Achievement (CASA) at Villanova University. CASA aims to recruit, retain, and graduate underrepresented, first generation, and Pell Eligible students through holistic support in a culturally diverse and academically excellent environment. Mr. Covington’s work with African American men and boys extends beyond higher education. He is the former Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on African American Males of Philadelphia as well as a member of the Black Male Development Symposium’s Executive Board and has served on former Mayor Michael Nutter’s Youth Violence Prevention Collaborative.
Dr. Thomas is a passionate educational leader having nearly 20 years of progressively responsible experience in K–12 and higher education sectors. His career has focused on creating and maintaining healthy, innovative, and rigorous educational environments with high expectations for all learners; creating equitable communities and educational options with and for the underserved; and fostering within others the skills, wisdom, and fortitude needed to become leaders of their own lives and communities.
Huang: What do you recall from your own college experience that was inclusive or not inclusive?
Covington: The UCEP (University Community Education Program) assisted students with advising, tutoring and life skills. I saw myself reflected in the staff there, and it was like I was being helped by my family and neighbors back home. I don’t believe that I would have excelled at college or earned a degree had it not been for this program.
Conversely, what didn’t feel inclusive to me during my undergraduate years was the lack of student programs and groups geared toward students of color. This difference was magnified during the weekends and especially during sporting events. There were many things to do and places to go for white students but not for students of color. Oftentimes, students of color need to have spaces where their identities are well represented to feel safe and comfortable.
Thomas: My undergraduate experience was spent between two starkly different institutions. While both would be classified as PWIs (predominantly white institutions), one was a large public state assisted institution while the other was a small, private, religiously affiliated liberal arts institution. Being a member of these two very different communities as a young, impressionable adult afforded me an early opportunity to discover and begin to build upon my inner ability to navigate systems and organizations that are overtly and covertly, intentionally and unintentionally, knowingly and unknowingly non-inclusive.
I am the son of two strong and confident parents who instilled in me and my brother a level of innate courage to make a mark in life wherever it leads. Perhaps because of nature and nurture, I processed these non-inclusive undergraduate experiences in a way that made me stronger and resolute to foster inclusive communities for all in my current work in higher education.
Huang: Why are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion such important values to uphold on campus?
Thomas: Upholding the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion benefits all members of a campus community.
Campus communities that do not embrace the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion work in contrast to fostering a society where those rights are endowed to all equally created human beings.
If we as a society are ever truly serious about ridding ourselves of the stains of racism and classism that remain as bedrocks of America so that we can truly make our country the “land of the free” for all, we can no longer politicize these values, but rather must adopt them as essential to the undergirding of free, intellectual, and respectful discourse that has been happening every day for centuries across the campuses of institutions of higher education. There’s no better place to do this work in America than our Nation’s college and university campuses.
Covington: In the absence of genuine DEI initiatives, there can be a perceived hierarchy of community members where all voices may be heard but not given the same level of consideration. DEI initiatives, if implemented throughout the institution, can work to eliminate this hierarchy and demonstrate to all members that everyone is valued and has a place at the table.
Huang: What is the ROI case for DEI in your field?
Thomas: Valuing diversity, championing equity, and practicing inclusivity fosters an environment where all members of a community, including those from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities have a valued voice in the community and are heard, equitably resourced, and supported at all levels, and at all times. Such an environment can positively impact upon a student’s experience increasing the likelihood of that student to succeed, return each year, graduate, and give back as an alum.
Covington: For students, the benefit can be a better prepared person who understands the value of DEI and how to seek and work with those who are different than themselves and can bring a different perspective to problem solving, project management, and building relationships.
Huang: How do you approach your work in a way that advances Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
Covington: As a man of color and a former first-gen student, it is imperative that I reach out and support students who may find college difficult to navigate and unwelcoming to them as students of color. Though the times have changed since I was a first-year student, the challenges continue and are often too similar in nature.
Thomas: I am intentional about building bridges and establishing relationships with others who have a different lived experience than mine and encourage staff, faculty, and the students we serve to do the same. It is in those relationships where my own biases have been most challenged, and my sphere of understanding and tolerance has broadened.
Champions of DEI, particularly at institutions of higher education, must be champions in all environments and at all times for the greater good of those we ultimately serve – our students.
“DEI” has turned into a flashpoint issue in the same year as what promises to be another contentious presidential election. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are, to some, a set of ideals worth striving for in response to historic and present injustices. From this perspective, efforts to block or ban DEI initiatives are anathema, a troubling retreat from recent progress. Conversely, those who support anti-DEI measures do so from a place of exasperation that DEI has seemed to become a sort of pseudo-religion seeking adherence without substantiation or question.
ESI has never shied away from contentious contemporary topics. Indeed, we pride ourselves in always striving to do the right thing in the right way, which in our field means investigating all angles of an issue in an honest and thorough manner. Only in that way can we provide our clients with guidance on where things are going, where things should go, and how we should get there.
From where we stand, DEI initiatives at their best are an important acknowledgement of systemic disparities and a necessary platform for successful organizations, industries, and economies. However, in order to galvanize sufficient support and execute sustainable (and legally defensible) solutions, the burden of proof lies in being thoughtful about identifying where barriers exist, what’s the case for a better way forward, and which proven methods make the most sense.
Over the next few weeks, ESI will be running a series of Q&A-style blog posts in which we elicit the insights of industry professionals on the subject of DEI. Our goal is to join with these thought leaders to provide a balanced and reasoned look into how the challenges of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion play out in different fields. We look forward to engaging with additional voices in other sectors in the years to come.
Lee Huang, Principal | Huang@econsultsolutions.com
Lee Huang brings over 20 years of experience in economic development experience to ESI public, private, institutional, and not-for-profit clients. He leads consulting engagements in a wide range of fields, including higher education, economic inclusion, environmental sustainability, historic preservation, real estate, neighborhood economic development, non-profits, retail, state and local government, strategic planning, tax policy, and tourism/hospitality, and is a sought-after speaker on these and other topics.
