Postsecondary Leaders' Thoughts on Diversity and Inclusion: Now What?

Leaders of most postsecondary institutions in Canada have stated that their institutions are committed to diversity and inclusion. These commitments are situated in a complex educational climate in which leaders navigate drivers of change such as increased diversity in the student demographic and an increased demand for social justice issues to be addressed. Despite the public commitments to values of diversity and inclusivity, senior leadership in Canadian postsecondary institutions today lacks diversity. Interestingly, public statements of commitment to diversity and inclusivity are made by postsecondary leaders in response to allegations of racism. What do the concepts of diversity and inclusion mean to postsecondary leaders and how are they enacted?

To gain an in-depth understanding of how the leaders make meaning of diversity and inclusivity, this book offers an integrated social justice leadership framework for diversity and inclusivity. This innovative framework provides a way for leaders to think through their and others' understanding of diversity and inclusivity within the varying dimensions in which they practice leadership in postsecondary settings. With this understanding, leaders can broach the social justice issues of colonial knowledge systems, white Eurocentric ways of knowing, power, representation, and implicit bias in postsecondary contexts as they engage leadership practices in ways that tend to equity and decolonial thought.