Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice at Goucher College

At Goucher College, we have intentionally prioritized a focus on diversity and inclusion in our recently completed strategic plan, Cultivating Global Changemakers. We understand that it is imperative as an institution to embrace inclusion, social and racial equity, a culture of respect, and accessibility, in who the community includes, how it acts, in what we teach, and in how we prepare our students for life.

Goucher College
Diversity Statement

We at Goucher College are dedicated to social justice, diversity, and multiculturalism as fundamental components of our mission and ethos. We champion an inclusive community, embrace and respect different perspectives, and value diversity in all its forms and intersections, including ability, age, culture, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, nationality, race, religious and spiritual belief, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Understanding that power, privilege, and other forces of inequality play a role in shaping our individual and collective experiences and identities, we are committed to productive dialogue and meaningful action in addressing our differences. We approach this ongoing work with courage, integrity, care, and respect.

Creating a Welcoming Inclusive Campus for Everyone

Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance

Goucher College is a founding member institution of the Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance, to be based at the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center. LACRELA brings together some of the most highly respected liberal arts colleges in America to collaborate on developing and achieving equity goals and fostering sustainable cultures of inclusion on their campuses.

Hillel International Campus Climate Initiative

Hillel International is partnering with Goucher College on the Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) to review and improve the climate for Jewish students. This survey is a part of the Campus Climate Review (CCR), a toolkit designed to help colleges and universities better understand the campus climate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with a specific focus on inclusion of Jewish students.

Naspa Culture of Respect

Goucher College is a proud member of the NASPA Culture of Respect Collective, a two-year program for higher education institutions to collaborate with peers to improve institutional efforts addressing campus sexual violence. NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education is the professional society for student affairs and is dedicated to integrity, innovation, inclusion, and inquiry. This initiative launched in the fall of 2021 and will incorporate Goucher campus community members at every level.

DEIJ Campus Coordinating Committee

The DEIJ Campus Coordinating Committee ensures that Goucher College supports its mission to become an anti-racist institution by building on the college’s commitment to respect, inclusion, service, social justice, and responsibility.

For Our Students:

Center for Race, Equity & Identity

The Center for Race, Equity, and Identity (CREI) transforms lives through community building, education, engagement, and the exploration of identities. We strive to improve the institutional advancement of all marginalized students, specifically students of color, first-generation students, LGBTQIA+ students, and disabled students/students with disabilities.

Affinity Groups

Goucher College supports a number of student clubs, including Goucher Black Student Union (GBSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Hispano-Americano (MEHA), and Asian Student Union (ASU.) In addition, we offer special interest housing for Black/African American students. A full list of our offerings can be found here.

For Our Faculty & Staff:

Hiring Initiatives

All faculty and staff who serve on search committees must meet for each unique search to review and discuss DEI issues as they relate to recruitment and retention. Committees must submit a search plan that indicates how they plan to actively recruit a diverse pool of candidates. All applicants must submit a statement that is separate from their other materials and demonstrates their ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. During campus interviews, the associate provost for faculty affairs and the director of faculty professional development and teaching excellence discuss with finalists their prepared teaching philosophies and statements with an emphasis on inclusive pedagogy. We continue to review best practices for recruiting and retaining faculty of color on an ongoing basis.

Our Curricular Initiatives:

Race, Power & Perspective Requirement

As part of the college’s liberal education curriculum, students are required to explore ecological, policy, social, cultural, and/or historical dimensions of human relationships to the environment through an environmental sustainability learning requirement and an environmental studies program. Throughout their time at Goucher, students have many opportunities to discuss and explore their own identity, to examine the ways in which race, ethnicity, gender, religion, socio-economic status, and many other markers of identity affect levels of privilege and access to power, and to develop skills in communicating across difference in the classroom and beyond.

Our History:

John Franklin Goucher & Mary Fisher

Dr. and Mrs. Goucher shared a strong belief in higher education for women and world mission programs. They were instrumental in the founding of several schools in Maryland, including Morgan State University, a historically black college located in Baltimore, as well as schools overseas in Japan, China, and India. Dr. Goucher served on the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church and provided much of the financial support for their mission work in Asia.

Hallowed Ground Project

Goucher College has launched the Hallowed Ground Project to further the college’s commitment to study and to recognize the role of slavery and racism in the history of the land the college currently occupies.