Whitworth has long been an institution that advertises the value of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Within the university’s DEI page, they say their intentions are to: “1) raise awareness regarding structures and systems of oppression and marginalization, 2) foster a community that welcomes and supports cultural diversity, and 3) provide opportunities for our community members to build competencies to continually develop and implement equity-minded policies and practices in all areas of our university.”
They also say they hold five main values in relation to DEI:
- “Dignity, respect and just treatment for all people regardless of social or cultural identity.”
- “Understanding social oppression and critical self-examination.”
- “An authentically diverse community unified in love.”
- “Active inclusion and equitable collaboration and co-creation.”
- “Critical self-examination and commitment to restoration.”
More information about these values and the Christian foundations behind them can be found on their webpage.
Forrest Buckner, the dean of spiritual life and a campus pastor, gave a clear definition of what DEI means to him. “When I think of DEI, I think of practices that help bring us together, help overcome barriers that prevent people from flourishing. Often, barriers that are unseen by those who are the majority culture,” he said.
Kendra Guttridge, a 2023 Whitworth alumnus, is the Coordinator for the Multi-Cultural Leadership Program (MLP), which she says stems from the Act Six program on campus. Each year, the MLP selects a group of students who can prove their leadership potential, especially across differences such as cultural backgrounds, as well as academic competence, according to Guttridge.
DEI is important to her because, as a biracial student, Guttridge remembers feeling less connected to a cultural community, and finding the ability to celebrate her whole identity and be validated in that through people at Whitworth, especially at the Intercultural Student Center (ISC), where she now works.
An important question to consider regarding this topic is not just how much Whitworth says they value DEI, but how well it’s being lived out on campus.
Whitworth University asserts itself as a university associated with the Presbyterian church. The Presbyterian Church of the USA (PCUSA) put out a statement on their continued support for DEI in February, wherein they say that their church, “remains committed to diversity and representation as stated in our hiring policies and demonstrated in our employment practices” due to the support they find for those principles throughout the Bible.
Whitworth’s chapel staff professes the same on their webpage, in which they say, “Creation is intensely diverse, and God loves everything in it.” As she considers her time as a student here, Guttridge feels that more diverse representation in the professors and leadership of Whitworth would be beneficial.
“I think a lot about [the] representation of students, seeing people who look like them at the front of the classroom or at leadership at the university,” Guttridge said. “It feels really crucial and I think that it’s missing amongst our campus, professors and leaders.”
To her, there are ‘pockets’ of good, diverse communities around campus and she desires to see that more widespread.
Tommy Chase, a second-year health sciences and theology major, is also a Campus Ministry Coordinator (CMC) on campus. He recognizes that he doesn’t directly benefit from DEI initiatives on campus, but does recognize that his coworkers do. “I do know we have a really diverse staff in the ministry team… and I have many coworkers on the campus ministry team that function as people who can bring diversity to ministry events and on the campus and are very inclusive in the way that they invite others to join in,” he said.
The training process of the CMCs is something in particular that Chase mentioned as having an emphasis on inclusion, even for students who aren’t Christians. “There’s also a portion of the CMC training [that] is focused a lot on just providing [a] relationship. Being a resource and being an inclusive leader is a big part of it,” Chase said.
A first-year theology major, Shayley Taylor, says that DEI is something Whitworth promotes a lot, especially to incoming students, and to her, this is very much wrapped up in our university’s Christian identity, which can come with high expectations. “I think [Christianity] is a lot of where Whitworth finds their identity… and I think sometimes it’s unfair for people to expect more of Whitworth in that regard [DEI] because they’re Christian,” Taylor said.
Jude Ruetschle, a senior and the Spiritual Life Coordinator on campus, has a job which he says focuses on “being a spiritual voice in ASWU” as well as being involved in campus ministry and keeping those two aspects of our community connected to one another.
Ruetschle agrees that DEI and Christianity can tie together very easily. “If we are to honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity, that necessitates living as Jesus did, and we feel that the values of DEI are a reflection of the sort of life and ministry that Jesus lived, the way that Jesus functioned around other people.”
Buckner pushes back from the idea of Christians staying within their comfort zone with people. “We’re meant to be a part of the world in such a way that we can engage. And then in that engagement, we learn from people who are different from us, and we hopefully provide good, helpful input into the people around us as well. But it’s two ways.”
Ruetschle says that this is shown in the Bible as well. “If you look at the Christian scriptures, the narrative of Scripture is one of a love that is so faithful and vulnerable that it moves towards people. And it is constantly defying boundaries and expectations and moving outward to meet more people to embrace more people into the community,” he said.
One of the high points in Whitworth’s work in DEI, for Taylor, was her experience with Bucs Bridge as a first-generation student. This support came with coming to campus a week early, which Taylor greatly appreciated. “I love how Whitworth does that, how they’re intentionally supporting people who may have had that support at a different university,” Taylor said.
Ruetschle also points out that platforms like the Diversity Monologues are important in how they seek to be “empowering voices.” He said, “We can spend all day in the upper echelons of the institution talking about DEI. But until we invite actual student voices to chime in, to share their experiences, we’re not really practicing the empowerment of voices, the uplifting of those that are most affected.”
However, Ruetschle also pointed out that there is room for growth in how we engage with students who are not Christian. “We don’t have a lot of spaces for students who understand spirituality in a different way to navigate their spirituality and community,” Ruetschle said, and he didn’t hesitate to take some accountability for that as well. “I’ll admit, I actually probably have not done a great job at creating those sorts of spaces within my position, and that’s something I would like to improve on,” he added.
Taylor is also hard of hearing, and when she did Running Start at Eastern Washington University, she noticed that all professors always had microphones, so she didn’t have to ask for accommodation in that matter. At Whitworth, that wasn’t the case, and Taylor feels that Whitworth may be missing the mark in that regard. A full article focused on the matter of accommodations at Whitworth can be found on the Whitworthian’s website.
When considering how to improve the ways Whitworth is enacting DEI values, Chase encourages students to step up individually: “I think it’s important to encourage students to diversify their social resume. I think having a diverse group of people that you are in [a] relationship with is one of the best ways to continue to promote DEI.”
Guttridge brought that idea back to her Christian faith. “I hope we aren’t ever afraid to talk about how we are different. It’s important, it’s beautiful and that is a gift from God. I believe so strongly in it because of my Christian faith and because I believe God created us differently, beautifully and we’re diminishing the artistry in God’s creation, if we try to make ourselves all the same,” Guttridge said.
Ruetschle touched on this as well, by saying, “Irrespective of whether you come from a Christian worldview, I think we just understand in many different disciplines: psychologically, emotionally, artistically, so many different disciplines have affirmed that community is central to human flourishing. It’s about having people that come from a range of experiences and world views and beliefs, and that community is most complete when there is diversity.”
He expanded on that by giving advice to students who wish to have more diversity in their lives, “ask yourself where Christ is moving in someone’s life, not if, but where, and be willing to seek beauty in spaces outside of your comfortable circles. I just think that’s fundamentally important if we are to be the church.”
Buckner advises students to seek out those who are different. “Students can cultivate curiosity and caring relationships. So, you get in proximity with people who have different understandings and different commitments, and just ask questions: ‘What do you care about and why? And tell me about your faith traditions. Tell me about your faith practices and your family growing up.’ Start asking questions.”
