A Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Bergen Community College has a long history of engaging in discussions about diversity and fostering intercultural understanding. To address current equity issues, it is important to recognize and analyze the historic and persistent factors that have created an unequal system in post-secondary education to eliminate racially and socioeconomically-based achievement gaps and empower all students to succeed.

The Equity Council for Student Success is a cross-campus, multiracial/ethnic group formed in 2017 under the auspices of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. It acknowledges the effects of structural racism and systemic poverty and is grounded in the principle of social justice. The Council seeks to ensure that all students receive what they need to be successful through the intentional design of the college experience.

The Equity Council goals are aimed at closing the achievement gaps evident in institutional data and include the following:

  • Advocate for and continue to support faculty members in the use of high impact instructional methods to infuse themes of racial justice and equity in their courses and to employ culturally-responsive teaching techniques in their classes;
  • Provide students, in the classroom and through extracurricular activities, opportunities to engage in dialogues related to racial inequity and topics related to social injustice;
  • Provide faculty and the college community opportunities to engage in conversations related to racial inequity and topics related to social injustice.

For the 2023 – 2024 academic year, the Equity Council is sponsoring Bergen is Reading A Map is Only One Story.