Giving Compass' Take:

• A podcast at EdSurge highlights the importance of inclusive college spaces in order to effectively teach and foster social justice in higher education.

• What does it take to generate an inclusive college space? How is this that much more difficult with most college campuses going online? What are you doing to push for more inclusive spaces across the education system?

• Read about the importance of generating inclusive college spaces in the STEM field.


Race is among the socio-economic forces that 2020 has brought into sharper focus. Current events this year have underscored racial health disparities and highlighted excessive use of force by police against Black people and protests against such violence.

What should faculty who want to teach inclusively consider with all this context?

That’s the question we addressed in the latest episode of EdSurge Live, our monthly online discussion of big ideas in higher education. We interviewed two experts in inclusive college teaching:

  • Chandani Patel, director of global diversity education and training in the Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation at New York University
  • Aurora Kamimura, lecturer in education and fellow in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity at Washington University in St. Louis

Aurora Kamimura: I often think about what it means to be inclusive or to create an inclusive space. And to me the meaning of that truly is about allowing each one in the space—I know we often say a classroom, but right now we're in this virtual classroom space—allowing each person, including yourself, to be seen, to be heard and to be validated for the experiences that they bring to the table. Regardless of discipline or topic, it's important for learning that everyone feel validated and seen and heard individually.

Chandani Patel: I think of it as a foundational framework for teaching in our globally connected society. NYU, for example, has a international student population of almost 25 percent. And so we're thinking through, How can we validate them? And it's, it's hard. It's an ongoing process. And it requires humility and authenticity as we're showing up.

Listen to the full podcast about creating inclusive college spaces with Chandani Patel and Aurora Kamimura at EdSurge.