Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility - Statement
The Brigham Young University College of Fine Arts and Communications (CFAC) strives to foster and support learning and working environments that promote diversity, inclusion, and accessibility accessibility in concert with the University’s statement on belonging.
To achieve these goals, the CFAC Dean’s Office has established a CFAC Diversity and Inclusion Committee. The committee will support college leaders in the following three areas:
(1) Providing guidance about the recruitment, training, retention, promotion, and support of faculty and staff of color, women faculty, and faculty from other underrepresented groups, recognizing that their perspectives and contributions enhance the quality of our college’s research, teaching, performances, and programs.
(2) Collaborating with faculty members, mentors, chairs, deans, and other college partners to create inclusive learning environments where students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds and experiences can succeed, thrive, and contribute to the aims of Brigham Young University.
(3) Directly supporting the college in its goal to help students become informed citizens — scholars, artists, and communicators — who help our college and the broader communities in which they live become more diverse and inclusive.
In this context, we call on all students, faculty, administrators, and staff within the CFAC to pursue the university’s goal to provide [all] students with “…a period of intensive learning in a stimulating setting where a commitment to excellence is expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued” (see BYU’sMission and Aims). We believe that the human potential described in the BYU Mission and Aims can only be fully realized when each member of our community feels that their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being is valued and nurtured by the whole.
To this end, the CFAC leadership stands firm in its commitment to provide an educational setting in which respect for others is an essential practice.
We recognize that regardless of one’s identities or circumstances, each person can serve as an ally to others. Specifically, we invite CFAC members to enact respect through engaging in intentional allyship by:
- Listening to and learning from others with diverse backgrounds including gender, age, culture, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, physical and neurological ability, learning style, religion, immigration status, and socioeconomic status.
- Speaking out in our learning spaces and our creative, collaborative environments, paying particular attention to marginalized people and attending to their safety and well-being, which has often been unacknowledged.
- Engaging in critical conversations with a willingness to learn and a persistent effort to improve the learning atmosphere for everyone in classrooms, creative spaces, and work environments.
- Approaching learning opportunities with sincere intent and honest acknowledgment of individual responsibility when participating in discussions or actions that require personal stretching to understand.
We summon CFAC schools, departments, and programs to:
- Seek out first-generation students, aiding them in fully understanding the university’s processes and making them aware of the opportunities available to them.
- Listen to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, and physically/neurologically diverse students, faculty, administration, and staff to better understand their experiences in the College of Fine Arts and Communications and develop a better sense of belonging.
- Center and share stories, ideas, and representations of people who may not have been as visible in our arts and communications work previously in order to diversify our artmaking and performance processes and productions and our communications strategies.
- Examine CFAC curriculum, pedagogies, artmaking (as well as the work that happens in our performance spaces), and creative lab environments to root out racism, gender bias, and other forms of bigotry in interactions, processes, policies, practices, procedures, and operations.
- Ensure that faculty and staff are prepared to engage in anti-racist and gender responsive pedagogies in classrooms, labs, and other learning and working spaces.