Equity, Justice, and Belonging

SDC STATEMENT ON EQUITY, JUSTICE, AND BELONGING

The School of Design and Construction (SDC) is committed to a world of equitability, justice, and belonging. We accept that the creation of such a world is a dynamic, ongoing process which requires continual vigilance and empathy: this is difficult and will take time. We are steadfast in our belief that progress requires an integrated, and just, foundation. We commit to building and maintaining this foundation.

SDC faculty, staff, and students recognize the discrimination and systemic injustice faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and all marginalized peoples and realize that the professional world of design and construction must discontinue actions that foster exclusion and injustice. We believe that Black Lives Matter and we acknowledge that the following groups remain underrepresented in the academic realm of design and construction: BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+ communities, people with disabilities, under-resourced people and communities, women, older people, neurodivergent people, and undocumented people. The SDC is dedicated to a non-discriminatory environment where students, faculty, and staff of all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, places of origin, genders, sexual orientations, physical abilities, ages, and spiritual belief systems feel a sense of belonging, value, respect, and support.

Together, we endeavor in our teaching, research, and service to enrich all places—and our planet. We respond to the climate emergency by cultivating design and construction education, research, and practices that foster ecological consciousness, minimize our carbon footprint, and promote sustainability in its widest sense. We advance the growth, recruitment, and retention of marginalized, underrepresented, and non-traditional students, faculty, and staff in our teaching, our research and scholarship, our hiring practices, and our treatment of one another. We raise awareness about systemic and spatial injustice and the legacies of colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and the anthropocene that continue to undergird the contemporary world of design and construction. We interrogate what aspects of the built environment we choose to study along with how and why we study them. We contribute to a more equitable, healthy, and inclusive world.

The School of Design and Construction is located on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The campus is situated within the ancestral homelands of the Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe and the Palus people—peoples and lands removed by colonialism and conquest. We understand that the policies regarding the dispossession of native lands included the 1862 Morrill Act, which established land-grant institutions in the United States, including Washington State University. While this past cannot be undone, we acknowledge the presence of Indigenous peoples here since time immemorial and we recognize their continuing stewardship of the land, the water, and their ancestors. We commit to listening to and learning from native peoples in this region. Our connection to this place compels us to grapple with and remember our complex histories and we aspire to dismantle systemic injustices and reimagine our relationships with each other, our environment, and ourselves.

Events

  • Design Activism Society Liberative Design Exhibit and Design Justice Workshop 
  • Design Activism Society, in partnership with the SDC Equity, Justice, and Belonging Committee, will be putting on an event titled ‘Towards a Liberative Design Education’ with an exhibition of student work, a workshop and conversation on the book Design Justice and the student experience in the SDC, and a speaker panel from the SDC Equity, Justice, and Belonging Committee. This will take place on Thursday, November 2nd, from 6-8 pm in the CUB Junior Ballroom. There will be food provided. 

Grants

Resources