Justice, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity

Events

Snack and Chat: What is it like to be me?

12:00 - 1:00 p.m. • JIDE office: University Union, Suite 110

We are welcoming all students, faculty, and staff to bring their lunch and join us at JIDE for thoughtful noontime conversations from individuals about themselves, their diverse cultures, and their experiences at the University. Individuals from the featured community and those simply curious about the community are invited to attend these informal, pressure-free, safe space opportunities.

  • Oct. 8 – Jewish community
  • Oct. 15 – Islamic community
  • Oct. 22 – Caribbean community
  • Oct. 29 – African community
  • Nov. 12 – Asian/Indian community
  • Nov. 19 – Mixed Race community

Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help.” - Jane Goodall

One Small Step

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 • 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. • JIDE office: University Union, Suite 110

A thousand-mile journey begins with one step. The WIU community is invited to participate in a nation-wide drive to increase communication and understanding across boundaries of identity and otherness. Let the world hear your voice and how we can bring about change through one person and one step at a time. Members of the WIU and Macomb communities are welcome. Visit the JIDE office or view the JIDE webpage for more information.

We Can Do Better: An Implicit Bias and Microaggressions Workshop

Thursday, November 7, 2024 • 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. • Capitol Room, University Union

The 2023 webinar by Dr. Jamie Washington, a world-renowned expert on implicit bias and microaggressions, will be the foundation of an interactive and action-oriented session on what it takes to create inviting, respectful, welcoming and supportive professional and personal relationships with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Be prepared to have your mind expanded and your skills enhanced.

National Day of Racial Healing

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

WIU joins colleges and universities across the country with activities, events, and strategies that promote cooperation and healing to overcome racism, bias, inequity, and injustice in our society.

Kinder Mondays: Your Brand Club

Monday, January 27, 2025 • 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. • JIDE office: University Union, Suite 110

Cardi B offered two quotes on fame. “You better realize your worth and stop settling for bare minimum half-way.” “If you want it, and the more you keep hearing you can’t have it, you just go and get it.”

Jay-Z stated “Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself.”

Be a fan and creator of the celebrity brand that is you! Join us for tips on creating and organizing a celebration of you. Stop by the JIDE office to pick up free inspirational merch and swag as a reminder of the star that you are. Be SEEN. Be NOTICED. Be AWESOME.

Ongoing Programming

C.P.R.: Credit, Props & Recognition

Positive reinforcement is the act of rewarding a positive behavior in order to encourage it to happen again in the future. Help us to give C.P.R. to a community and recognition to individuals making a difference when it comes to helping individuals that come from cultures different from their own. Let’s reinforce the good. Send a description of the situation on-campus or in town and if you have their permission, the name of the person, for consideration for inclusion and recognition on the JIDE webpage to JIDE@wiu.edu.

Unfiltered

At Residence Halls: Meetings are being organized with RA’s to host floor/hall meetings with residents.

At WIU QC: Meetings are being planned for the QC Campus.

Honest talk and fearless conversation about what’s going well and what can be done better at WIU. We want to hear your voices unfiltered by organizations, associates, and others. If you are open to a dialogue of mutual respect and inquiry with the goal of moving WIU forward, join us for this meeting.

Warning: If your mind is stuck or closed and you can’t listen to different interpretations and alternative opinions, you are not ready at this time to attend this meeting and we wish you well at a different meeting.

In the Know

Federal Report on Black Girls and School Discipline

Black girls in grades K-12 in all 50 states receive more frequent and more severe discipline in school than other girls according to a September 2024 report by the Government Accounting Office. You are encouraged to review the report to gain a better understanding of the challenges that some WIU students have faced and a better appreciation of their resilience. Let’s use this knowledge to make change and improve our world.

Stereotype Threat

Did you know that an individual may perform at a lower level than of which they are capable due to the fear of conforming to a negative stereotype about who they are and their background? The theory of Stereotype Threat has been around since 1995. A few of the resources available to create greater awareness, reduce its effect, and improve performance in the workplace, the classroom, and personal relationships are provided below:

Opening Books and Minds

A big thank you is given to Randall E. Faust, D.M.A. Western Illinois University Emeritus Professor of Music for his Sept. 6, 2024 donation of the following books to the JIDE Office library:

Wheeler, Rev. Kenneth (2023). US: The Resurrection of American Terror. Precocity Press.

Evangelical Lutheran pastor Kenneth Wheeler takes readers on a seven-decades-long journey that lays bare the terror and pain of being Black in America. From his childhood in the Deep South of Mississippi under the trauma of Jim Crow segregation to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, Wheeler steadily holds up a mirror to a nation drowning in a rising tide of white supremacy. He calls on all of us to turn away from the false idol of white supremacy and reclaim the fullness of what it means to be people created in the image of God. (Description excerpted from the book cover)

Harris, Kamala (2019). The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. Penguin Books.

The daughter of immigrants and civil rights activists, Kamala Harris, recons with the big challenges we face together. Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values as we confront the great work of our day. (Description excerpted from the book cover)

African Americans on the Macomb Police Department in 1961
Macomb Police Officers Bill Thorpe and O.J. Clark

Bill Thorpe (left) and O.J. Clark on patrol in Macomb.

In 1961 William H. Thorpe became the first African American police officer to serve in the Macomb Police Department. Created to honor his contributions and legacy to city of Macomb and located on the 1200 and 1300 blocks of East Pierce Street is the William H. Thorpe Memorial Park.

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