UMBC’s Inclusion Council is a diverse group of UMBC community members that works to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at UMBC. Council members provide guidance to university leaders, serve as ambassadors for DEI issues across campus, and make recommendations for advancing social justice work at an institutional level.
UMBC announced the creation of a new Inclusion Council on June 30, 2020, and immediately began work to identify short- and long-term goals and recommendations. The Inclusion Council works closely with the Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) in an advisory capacity and also strives to create a space for community discussion of DEI issues.
Members of the Inclusion Council membership are a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, who bring unique perspectives and insights to the university. They work on a broad range of issues including curriculum, faculty and staff diversity, intersectionality, and restorative practices.
Currently, the Inclusion Council works on two central and connected issues to build a stronger and more inclusive UMBC community:
Retriever Courage
The Inclusion Council is honored to be a steward of the Retriever Courage work, which represents the university’s commitment to addressing and ending sexual violence on our campus. Founded in 2019, Retriever Courage was created as a result of the brave activism of our community members who shared their stories and demanded that the university do better. The work included cross-campus teams of faculty, staff, and students. Today, we continue to take action by learning together, developing a productive dialogue, and creating a coordinated campus response to incidents of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence—a response that is proactive, caring, and inclusive. Learn More.
Retriever Rise
For more than a year, 10 working groups, made up of over 150 students, faculty, staff, and alumni, compiled a series of recommendations on how the university can advance its mission of social justice. Retriever Rise represents the implementation of these recommendations—a process that will involve all of the campus divisions and will be led by community members of the Inclusion Council. We recognize that this work is never complete and never done in isolation. Retriever Rise is committed to highlighting existing work, engaging constituents across campus in efforts, and creating spaces and systems to identify work that still needs to be done. Learn More.