In accordance with North Idaho College’s Diversity Goal as stated within the Strategic Plan 2016-2020, the Diversity Council will oversee and support diversity initiatives campus wide. The mission of the council is to promote cultural competence and to develop global and cultural awareness among faculty, staff and students campus wide. The council supports diversity awareness with the goal of fostering a campus climate that is safe, inclusive, supports diverse populations (particularly underrepresented and marginalized groups), and promotes equality, ethical responsibility and social justice.
The NIC Diversity Council is affiliated with the North Idaho NAACP and the Human Rights Education Institute.
The Diversity Council will strive to meet each of the following outcomes to accomplish the three main goals of the council.
Diversity Council Goals
- Increase cultural awareness of others by understanding diversity as a complex term that serves to promote equality for marginalized and underrepresented groups.
- Develop and promote an inclusive environment that promotes the free exchange of ideas through respectful discourse.
- Encourage faculty, students and staff to participate in events that promote multiculturalism and social justice.
- Promote events that demonstrate the interconnectedness and interdependence of the global world to bring about global awareness.
- Develop cultural awareness by applying multicultural perspectives to enhance understanding of the needs of a diverse, global community.
- Promote a safe and inclusive environment where underrepresented and marginalized groups are not subjected to prejudice and discrimination.
- Understand and appreciate the values of other cultures by examining one’s own culture and the cultural differences of others as way to promote equality and social justice.
- Support awareness to the ethical responsibility of civic engagement and the important role of citizenry as necessary elements to democratic principles and processes.
Diversity Theme 2022-2024
- The Diversity Council selects a campus-wide common theme to encourage diversity awareness for the NIC community. This awareness is achieved through shared conversations on campus, the incorporation of diversity into the curriculum, guest speakers, panel discussions, a common read, etc.
- Common Ground: Strength, Resilience, and Community is the common theme for 2022-24.
- Creating awareness across campus and providing education concerning the structural causes of discrimination and overall social inequality supports an understanding of diverse populations. The NIC student population and the larger community of North Idaho benefit from understanding a variety of cultural perspectives of underrepresented populations including how strength and resilience impact community and student success.
- Prevent discrimination toward disadvantaged groups who are commonly marginalized.
- Develop a common learning experience connecting community constituents with the goal to help increase student retention and a sense of belonging.
- Strengthen community partnerships with organizations related to multiculturalism to fulfill the college mission and vision of community engagement.
- Encourage cultural competency by educating college community members about the impacts of the common theme as it affects student learning and student success.
- Students, faculty and staff will understand how the common theme influences student learning and student success.
- Students, faculty and staff will understand how the common theme shapes interactions with fellow members within the college community.
- Faculty and staff will be able to identify at-risk populations to connect with institutional supports established within the college community.
- Students, faculty and staff will develop a greater understanding of the structural forces shaping experiences related to the common theme to reduce individual discrimination.
Diversity Council Executive Council
Chair: John Trombold
Vice-Chair:
Administrator: Alex Harris