Make (Divers)it(y) happen @ EUR: a plea for urgent action

Erasmus University (EUR) is a university of thinkers and doers that pursues high-quality education and research; a worthy goal. But can a university pursue high quality when diversity and inclusiveness are insufficiently embraced? We do not think so and will explain why. In our opinion, it is about time that we as a university not only think about diversity and inclusion, but also take action.

For many years now, scientific evidence has overwhelmingly shown that leveraging upon diversity increases an organization’s success. An inclusive organizational culture not only ensures that all talent is exploited optimally and gives everyone equal opportunities to maximize their potential, but also stimulates and accelerates innovation. Furthermore, diversity provides the opportunity to develop cultural sensitivity: an undeniable skill in an international playing field. As a knowledge institution, we are obliged to take this evidence seriously and act upon these scientific insights.

Our university strives for high-quality research that is relevant for society. We do so in the highly diverse area of Rotterdam. Allowing different types of people with a variety of experiences and insights to engage in producing this research is a prerequisite for obtaining this goal. Research funding agencies correctly require that research proposals must include diversity in the content and organization of the research. Not only to enrich perspectives and to strengthen the relevance of research but also to gain access to people in our society. The low level of involvement and participation of large groups of people in society in our scientific studies not only affects the reliability of the outcomes (take the example of pharmaceutical research based primarily on male animals and subjects) but also the consequences for our position as a knowledge institute. Can we currently contribute sufficiently to social issues of the 21st century?

In addition, our university is an educational institution. Our goal is to prepare students for the world in which they will act after (but also during) their studies. In their careers they will be asked to work with different people. Leaders of the future are expected to be able to understand and lead society when it comes to building bridges. A diverse student population makes them familiar with this and offers opportunities to get to know each other better, but this alone is not enough. In the actual education that students receive, we must also create space for diversity by demonstrating to students that people’s thoughts and actions can be motivated from a wide variety of perspectives. This requires education in which these differences are exposed. It should therefore be normal for students to be ex-posed to a diverse teaching staff, which is currently insufficiently the case.

Last but not least, we must note that our university is still reproducing inequality. The Erasmus University has the slogan “Diversity and Inclusion is in our DNA“, but top positions are almost exclusively occupied by white Dutch men. In our university, only 11 percent of full professors are women. In strict terms, therefore, the needs and experiences of half of the population are subordinated. And what image do we provide for our students, staff and society at large? The perception that careers, perspectives, and needs of a significant part of the population are just not so important, and that it is not attractive for women to pursue an academic career. This phenomenon is called reproduction of gender inequality. We see the same sort of inequality propagation amongst people who are not white Dutch men, for example ethnic minorities. Should we not strive for our staff composition to be a reflection of the society we serve, and therefore swiftly establish a diversity-policy based on equal suitability to achieve this goal in the long-term?

We conclude that we can only achieve high quality performance in the 21st century if we embrace diversity and inclusion. We do not only need a formal diversity policy that focuses on the organization, but we also need a diversity policy that creates broad-based awareness among staff and students that high quality research and education requires that we let go of the dogma of individual excellence, and invest in collective, inclusive, high quality that has multiple dimensions other than just an “excellent output”. It is the combination of diversity and talent that allows the university to sustainably contribute to complex societal issues. This is because complex societal issues do not allow themselves to be constrained into simple frameworks governed by single perspectives. Addressing the complex societal issues of our time is not a simple task, and therefore actually exactly the kind of task a university could tackle.

The time for introspection and brainstorming for a way forward for the EUR has passed. The time has come for the EUR to make the step of “thinking and doing” to “thinking diversity and doing diversity”. The diverse talent pool is ready to take that responsibility at the core of all activities – in education, research and management of this university. The EUR Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2017-2020 provides a good basis by promoting positive change within our organization at individual, organizational and cultural levels. But if we only think about the urgency of diversity, and not proactively do diversity, then this policy will have no effect whatsoever. Setting “hard” targets can help to change the organizational culture around this policy.

The undersigned are ready take the bull by the horns and take action on the following key issues:

• Redefining the quality of research (staff) within Erasmus University to 21st century standards: This redefinition is direly needed to stay connected with progressive movements such as Science in Transition and innovative research, for example Horizon2020. Researchers: Get inspired by this movement (scienceintransition.nl) and the Horizon 2020 Science with and for Society program of the EU, and provide your input for a new EUR vision on quality of research: What is our definition of academic success?
• The creation of ‘inclusive classrooms’ that provide equal opportunities to excel for the diverse set of students that we serve. Teachers: Look critically at the students in your classroom: do they all get optimal opportunity to excel during your classes? How can you improve? And what do you need to achieve this?
• Strategic HR policy that aims to diversify our staff by means of transparent selection and promotion processes, with the starting point being the added value for the team, and not individual excellence. The current appraisal of quality procedure for scientific personnel is disadvantageous for certain groups at Erasmus University, in particular women. To obtain better female representation in full professorship roles, challenges in recruitment, career progression and talent outflow need to be effectively addressed. HR experts: Support our leadership in the pursuit of a diverse workforce with tools that help to strategically create diverse teams.
• Leadership: Diversification of our leadership is a first important step. Key competencies of our future leaders must be: building bridges within our university and towards society, and a clear vision on collective excellence through diverse teams, networked science and inclusive classrooms. Supervisory Board: applying these competencies to the vacancy for our next rector is an important first step in the right direction.
• Last but not least, we invite our students to take up the diversity challenge as leaders of the future: diversity and inclusion are no longer about minority problems but simply a business case for sustainable success in your education and in your future role in society. Get to know each other and learn from each other, also outside your own inner circle of friends. By doing so, you will notice that fellow students who are seemingly very different from you often also have a lot in common with you.

With this open letter, we therefore call upon EVERYBODY at our university to sign this letter and thereby show that diversity and inclusion is not only a topic on the agenda of policy makers, but matters to EVERYBODY on our campus. We are ready to get to work towards sustainable diversity and inclusion at Erasmus University.

Do you want to endorse this letter? Sign it here.

Hanneke Takkenberg, Semiha Denktas, Liesbeth Noordergraaf-Eelens, Daisy Boogaard, Willem Schinkel, Robin van den Akker, Bregje van Eekelen, Jiska Engelbert, Sanne Taekema en Ashleigh Woodend.