Skip to Main Content

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Feedback

If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions for this guide, please share them with us by filling out this form. (Opens in new window)

Author Statement

Contact Information

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Guide (DEI) is to connect students, staff, faculty and community members to resources related to DEI work that is available throughout Northeastern University Library, Northeastern University, and the surrounding community. 

While this guide is organized by various racial, ethnic, gender, and other identities, we acknowledge that none of these identities exist in a vacuum and a person often has multiple intersecting identities. Intersectionality is a term coined by Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw. The OED defines intersectionality as, “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise.” Visit Dr. Crenshaw's TED bio page to explore her work and learn more about how intersectionality impacts our lived experience. 

We invite you to explore the different tabs to discover more information and resources. Please note it is impossible to include every resource so each tab includes a selected few resources and information available to start one's journey. 

These tabs are meant to start conversations and dialogue across the Northeastern community and beyond to help challenge ourselves and improve our communities. We acknowledge that DEI work and education is constantly evolving and growing. In order to support this important work we will be continually be improving this guide. We welcome your feedback. Please use the feedback box or email us directly with any suggestions or comments. 

Northeastern Resources

  • Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion: Includes information about affinity groups, diversity training for managers and staff, all-gender restrooms on campus, and more.
  • Disability Resource Center: 
  • Latinx Student Cultural Center: The Latinx community at Northeastern University is a familia of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends. Their primary mission is the academic success of our students, they are equally focused on providing a culturally and socially enriching environment for all.
  • Asian American Center:  The Asian American Center is a resource for the Northeastern community to provide space and to support the experiences of our Asian American students. 
  • LGBTQA Resource Center: The LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Asexual+) Resource Center is a place students can come to socialize, relax between classes, study, and learn more about opportunities for students who identify as LGBTQA within the Northeastern Community. There is also a LGBTQA resource library students can use for research or entertainment. 
  • Center for Spirituality Dialogue and Service:  The Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service attends to the spiritual needs of the Northeastern community. The Center builds partnerships across university departments and disciplines—and with religious communities and public service agencies locally, nationally, and internationally—to help students become engaged citizens, peace builders, and leaders equipped to tackle pressing global problems.
  • Center for Intercultural Engagement: The Center for Intercultural Engagement (CIE) strives to create a community that is inclusive of all populations at Northeastern through programs, training, and experiences.
  • John D. O'Bryant African American Institute: The John D. O’Bryant African American Institute is committed to intellectually, culturally and socially inspiring students toward excellence, success, and service. Through programs, resources, services, and activities the Institute fosters a nurturing, supportive and welcoming environment focused on students of African origin.
  • Northeastern Library Archives and Special Collection: The Archives and Special Collections at the University Libraries has a collection of historically significant records of the University. Its Documenting Diversity initiative has focused on underdocumented communities in Boston-- specifically the at-risk historical records of Boston's African American, Chinese, gay and lesbian, and Latino communities.  View online exhibits featuring photographs, documents, and more. 
  • Institute on Race and Justice: The mission of the Institute on Race and Justice (IRJ) is to utilize strategic social science research methodologies to assist government agencies, educational institutions, and community stakeholders in the development of policy changes to advance the cause of social justice. 
  • Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research: Disparities in health and mental health arise and persist as the result of complex individual, societal, and global factors. The Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research brings together faculty and students from across Northeastern University, along with external research partners, to tackle these complex challenges. Their teams draw upon a wide range of research methods and interventions, but share a common commitment to promoting health equity and social justice through high-impact, community engaged research.

Northeastern Library Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Northeastern University Library actively pursues a society free of racism and universally committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Vocal support for social justice is essential but not enough. Commitment to these central values must come in the form of consistent, concrete actions in our daily work as individuals and through large-scale initiatives across the organization in order to improve our library and the communities it serves, within and beyond the university.

Among other activities, we are giving special attention to:

  • An Archives and Special Collections that collaborates on a peer-to-peer basis with social justice organizations in the Greater Boston Area, and that focuses on preserving and presenting the history and culture of groups that are largely underrepresented in university collections;

  • Constantly reviewing and expanding our library's resources to reflect authors and creators from the full breadth of our society and world, and to ensure that we have a collection of books and media that can help students and researchers understand and counteract racism;

  • Designing information systems that encode and support diversity and inclusion, including through our library platforms and projects that involve technical aspects, such as the Boston Research Center

  • Providing a welcoming environment and attracting a diverse staff into what traditionally has not been a very inclusive and diverse field.

We understand that this active stance requires a regular, critical self-assessment and transparency. This statement will be updated with new activities as our library advances toward these goals.

Land Acknowledgement

We wish to acknowledge that this guide was created for the Northeastern University Library in Boston, Massachusetts which is situated on unceded ancestral territories of the Pawtucket and Massachusetts peoples. This guide was worked on remotely, in homes situated on unceded ancestral territories of the Massachusetts, Pawtucket, and Wampanoag peoples. We pay respect to the Elders, both past and present, as well as future generations. 

The state of Massachusetts continues to be home to many Native American people, including the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, who recently had to contend with an appeal by the United States Interior Department in 2020 to revoke the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's reservation designation. This appeal was withdrawn in February 2021. This is only one of the most recent events in a long history of colonial oppression and violence by European Settlers and the United States Government. 

Land acknowledgments are an important step, but are not sufficient. We encourage you to educate yourself and advocate for the Native American community and Indigenous peoples in your area and beyond.

This land acknowledgement was based upon the guidance from the following resources and organizations: 

Boston Arlington Burlington Charlotte London Miami Nahant Oakland Portland Seattle Silicon Valley Toronto Vancouver
Emergency Information | Privacy Policy | Accessibility | © 2023 Northeastern University