Response to the Joint PhD KOJO Institute Equity Assessment Report

In 2022, the Joint PhD Program in Educational Studies contracted the KOJO Institute to examine our practices relating to equity, diversity and inclusion. Particularly, they were contracted to “help [us] assess [our] starting points, develop a coherent plan to deliver equitable outcomes for faculty, staff, and students, and build a culture of inclusion within the Program.” We particularly wanted to understand the nature of any experiences of discrimination across all 3 universities. We also wanted to identify how these situations could be addressed and how to support students.

Kojo conducted focus groups and interviews with students, faculty and staff, as well as a student survey. Two key themes emerged – interpersonal racism and systemic racism. KOJO highlighted areas where the Joint-PhD Program could take further steps toward building a sustainable culture of equity through their recommendations for Addressing each of these themes.

We believe the KOJO study provided the opportunity to document the organizational change(s) necessary to bolster our commitment in dismantling Anti-Black and Anti-Indigenous Racism, supporting Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Indigeneity & Decolonization, Anti-Colonial work and Social Justice so that those values are robust, meaningful and substantive in our Joint PhD Program. In addition, we are guided by the James Banks (1989) Social Action Approach to Multicultural Reform and the Adaptive Stage of the Richardson and Skinner Model of Institutional Adaptation to Student Diversity (1990).

The model calls for our institutions and programs to:

• Adopt a proactive approach to ARE, EDI, ID and SJ that gets to the heart of the Joint PhD Program; where we take a painful gaze at the issues, challenges and barriers faced by Black, Racialized and Indigenous members of our community;
• Structure educational practices, curriculum content and teaching practices to provide non-traditional support for non-traditional students in our program;
• Be sensitive to student experiences, particularly those most likely to be marginalized in our Joint PhD Program, especially those who are underrepresented in education and academia;
• Provide intensive faculty involvement signalling fundamental change to our organizational culture

See: Banks, J. A. (1989). Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum reform. Trotter review, 3(3),5.

Solomon, R.P. (1996) Creating an Opportunity Structure for Blacks and Other Teachers of Colour, in K.S. Brathwaite & C.E. James (Eds) Educating African Canadians, 216-133. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co.

The initiatives identified in the KOJO Institute’s Report are not merely isolated incidents but are deeply embedded within the structure, institutions, and systems of our organization. Addressing them requires a transformative approach, aligned with the Banks (1989), Richardson and Skinner (1990) and Solomon (1996) models, which advocate for change at the leadership and administrative levels—targeting the core of the institution itself. What is critical is to ensure consistency, so that this cultural shift becomes ingrained and sustainable within the program.