Dennis Bayazitov | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: More than 1,200 orientation leaders used the Inclusion Lens to plan over 500 events. | Basma Elbahnasawy
The Lassonde School of Engineering has developed a new online tool for student leaders to better facilitate events, with the focus of making students feel more included at York.
One chief objective piloting the launch of the Inclusion Lens was to ensure that the over 7,600 new students felt welcomed by the York community during orientation week. All 11 colleges and faculties at York used the tool for planning, advertising, implementing, and evaluating more than 500 events, led by over 1,200 student orientation leaders.
“The lens originated from the findings of an inclusivity project that Lassonde ran in 2016 in response to misogynistic vandalism that occurred in our school earlier that year,” says co-creator Marisa Sterling, assistant dean of Inclusivity and Diversity. “What we learned was that our community wants to be more inclusive of all peoples, but does not necessarily know what inclusion means and what they can do to help.”
When anyone at York wishes to organize an event, they may visit inclusionlens.yorku.ca, which will guide them through a series of questions pertaining to the planning, advertising, implementing, and evaluating stages of the event, she explains. At each stage, the organizer is provided with suggested actions to take to be more inclusive, as well as links to on-campus resources and definitions of the correct terminology.
Answers go towards coordinating the ideal event that will have maximum accessibility and viability for its targeted demographics.
“Inclusion is one of York’s ‘mission-critical values’—defined as an ongoing exercise of proactively cultivating a difference at York, so that each individual can achieve their full potential and bring their whole selves,” says Michael Charles, executive director with the Centre for Human Rights, Equity, and Inclusion (REI). “Information about how to plan inclusive events was often fragmented within York’s resources. To further our proactive purpose, the Inclusion Lens was created to be an easily accessible ‘one-stop shop’ resource that offers suggestions at each step of the event-planning process.”
As the REI moved forward with plans and programming to operationalize inclusion within the University Academic Plan, partnering with Lassonde to create the Lens emerged as one way to equip York community members with a tool to reduce barriers to create a more inclusive campus life, he adds.
“What’s helpful about it for orientation is that it augments a lot of the good work being done on making the experience an inclusive one. For example, we already have a robust Orientation Leader Contract, and every leader goes through training on inclusivity, active bystander, and mental health,” says Ross McMillan, director of the Student Engagement & First Year Experience with the Student Success Centre.
Sterling clarifies the event-planning process: “During the planning stage, organizers are asked to provide a sliding-fee scale to make the event affordable for people of varying economic statuses.
During the advertising stage, they are asked to consider the meaning of any symbols used in communications to prevent cultural misappropriation.
During the implementation stage, they are asked to ensure a prayer space is available nearby.
And during the evaluation stage, organizers are asked to seek feedback from attendees, the organizing team, and the invited guests to ensure that all perspectives are reviewed.”
Sterling surmises that the Inclusion Lens could be expanded from its initial focus of student event planning to broader events, the teaching environment, and even policy development.
“I see York taking the leadership of defining what it means to be a truly inclusive campus and sharing these learnings across other campuses to help shift our national culture beyond compliance to putting inclusion at the forefront of what we do.”
“I think as more people use the tool, the repository of resources will be enhanced,” McMillan adds. “Ideally, people will see inclusive events and experience design in a more holistic manner.”
