Glossary and Resources

Reflecting the mixture of differences and similarities that we find in the world and acknowledging the related tension as we strive to develop more inclusive and high-performing environments.

The principle of creating full access and removing barriers to participation. Equity
is fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent the full participation of some groups.

Implicit or Unconscious bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect one’s understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These are often unrecognized and may not align to one’s declared beliefs and values. Social psychology: refer to this as ‘implicit bias’ – researchers who spearheaded this were Greenwald and Banaji (1995)

Actively making people feel welcomed and valued. Inclusion is retention.

At WGU Labs, we use the term “intersectionality” when speaking about the experiences of people who have multiple, overlapping, and intersecting identities (e.g. a person who identifies as a woman, African American, and lesbian; or a person who identifies as non-binary, LatinX, and first-generation student).

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Kimberle Crenshaw, a lawyer and professor at Columbia Law, coined the term “Intersectionality” to offer a frame for talking about “the fact that many of our social justice problems, like racism and sexism, are often overlapping, creating multiple levels of social injustice.” We must also recognize that there are differences in the types of social injustices people face – for example, sexism has different injustices than racism – however, this does not mean that one type of injustice is greater or lesser than the other; we must look at the ways they interact together. Using Dr. Crenshaw’s definition as our guide, we recognize that to gain a holistic understanding of a person’s experiences, we cannot simply look at the individual pieces of their identity as singular or mutually exclusive if we truly hope to understand their experiences.

Micromessages are small, subtle, unconscious messages that are sent and received when communicating with others. Micromessages can be either positive “micro–affirmations” or negative “micro–inequities” that communicate value to an individual. Micromessages are relayed through not only words but also nonverbal communication, contextual cues in the classroom and school, and written feedback.

The best practice when it comes to race, ethnicity, and nationality is to ask people how they self- identify rather than assigning them a specific identity. Many of the terms listed below are still not representative of the full human experience, and should be used with caution.

DO NOT use race or ethnicity as collective nouns, only as adjectives. Example: Do NOT use the blacks, the hispanics, the asians
Instead use: Black people, Asian faculty, Hispanic students, etc.

DO NOT hyphenate national origins.
Example: Do NOT use Japanese-American, Native-American, African-American Instead use : Japanese American, Native American, African American, etc.

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