Diversity and Inclusion

University at Buffalo, Department of Philosophy
Statement Regarding Diversity and Inclusion

We in the Department of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo are committed to promoting and sustaining a diverse and inclusive environment for our students, staff, and faculty. Such a community is one where all of its members feel respected and welcome, and is therefore crucial for intellectual freedom and academic flourishing

We understand a diverse and inclusive environment to be one in which people are not discriminated against on the basis of features such as race, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability status, class, veteran status, or age. It is, furthermore, an environment in which increased representation across these variable group identities is strongly encouraged. Philosophy in particular has a history (both distant and recent) of being dominated by white, male, straight, cis-gendered members of the Anglo-European upper class. We are committed to changing that narrative in ways that are more inclusive and representative of the populations we serve.

This commitment involves (but is not limited to) the following actions:

• We will not tolerate hateful or disrespectful speech or actions.
• We will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or exploitation.
• We will encourage students from traditionally underrepresented groups to feel welcome and engage in our classrooms by using inclusive teaching strategies. These include: assigning the work of authors from historically marginalized groups, offering students a variety of ways to approach and participate in our classes, explicitly addressing diversity and bias, welcoming individual mentorship and advising meetings, and encouraging students to listen to and learn from each other.
• We will employ inclusive hiring practices.
• We will welcome and listen to any concerns about how our teaching and our degree programs are meeting the needs of students from traditionally underrepresented groups.

In doing this, we hope to increase the numbers of underrepresented and historically marginalized groups among our students, staff, and faculty, as well as improve the state of the intellectual community for everyone involved.

In the ways that we interact with everyone across the UB community, each member of our department has an indispensable role to play in fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. This falls on all of our shoulders equally, not just those of the existing underrepresented students, staff, and faculty. We recognize that creating a diverse and inclusive space is hard and ongoing work. We are therefore committed to doing that work in the service of our ideals.