Brave Space: A learning environment that allows learners to engage with one another and have conversations about social issues with honesty, sensitivity, respect, and generosity.
Cultural Competence: "Cultural competence is having an awareness of one's own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is the ability to understand the within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the between-group variations that make our country a tapestry." National Education Association
Diversity: the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization. Merriam-Webster
Equity: justice according to natural law or right; specifically : freedom from bias or favoritism. Merriam-Webster
Gender Bias: unfair difference in the way women and men are treated. Cambridge Dictionary
Hate Crime: any of various crimes (such as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (such as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation). Merriam-Webster
Implicit Bias: a term of art referring to relatively unconscious and relatively automatic features of prejudiced judgment and social behavior. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Inclusion: Inclusion is involvement and empowerment, where the inherent worth and dignity of all people are recognized. An inclusive university promotes and sustains a sense of belonging; it values and practices respect for the talents, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of living of its members. Ferris State University
Intersectionality: the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups [Kimberlé] Crenshaw introduced the theory of intersectionality, the idea that when it comes to thinking about how inequalities persist, categories like gender, race, and class are best understood as overlapping and mutually constitutive rather than isolated and distinct. — Adia Harvey Wingfield Merriam-Webster
Microaggressions: a comment or action that is subtly and often unintentionally hostile or demeaning to a member of a minority or marginalized group. Merriam-Webster
Oppression: unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. Merriam-Webster
Privilege: a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor. prerogative; especially : such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office. Merriam-Webster
Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Merriam-Webster
Resilience: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Merriam-Webster
Safe Space: a place (as on a college campus) intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations. Merriam-Webster
Social Justice: a state or doctrine of egalitarianism. Merriam-Webster