Events and Initiatives
The committee has an ongoing commitment to supporting faculty, students, and staff from equity-deserving groups. To this end, the committee works to provide resources and spaces for such groups to thrive, as well as to invite informed discussion about these issues, and to undertake initiatives to measure the climate of our department and to keep all members of that department informed on where we are strong and where we could do better.
The department's IEDI committee is currently getting restarted after a hiatus, and has plans to do much more of substance in the near future.
Some ongoing and recent initiatives:
- Hosted the Canadian Society Working for Inclusion in Philosophy (CSWIP) and Canadian Society for Trans Philosophy (CSTP) joint conference, "Trans/Feminist Philosophy," in August 2024
- Founded a local chapter of the graduate student organization MAP (Minorities and Philosophy)
- Instigated a Social Justice in Philosophy prize, awarded every winter semester to the best essay by an undergraduate philosophy major on social justice-related issues in philosophy (including a $250 cash prize and publication in the undergraduate journal Flora)
- Partnered with Guelph's Sexualities, Genders, and Social Change program and the associated Sexualities, Genders, and Bodies graduate specialization
- Developing a Climate and Diversity survey for department members in order to determine next steps
Some past initiatives and events:
- developed a Best Practices document for the department
- compiled a resources database on climate and diversity issues
- hosted a department retreat and workshop to discuss the climate and diversity issues in 2017
- hosted the CSWIP annual conference in 2019