The Right Way to Engage with Your Institutional Heritage
This resource provides step-by-step guidance to assist colleges and universities in their efforts towards institutional reckoning and healing.
Faced with increasing pressure from students, alumni, faculty, and staff, colleges and universities must fully engage with their institutional heritage—a process through which institutions acknowledge and redress their role in certain populations’ historical and ongoing oppression. In addition to redressing past harms, confronting historical legacies of oppression builds a stronger foundation for all diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice efforts moving forward.
Despite a foundation of work, however, there is no clear roadmap to contextualizing and implementing change based on historical legacies. To help, EAB has developed this guide to assist colleges and universities in their efforts toward institutional reckoning and healing.
Read on to learn more, or download the full tool as a PDF.
How to use this guide
Consider the questions below as you decide where to begin or to go next. Based on how many times you say ”no” for each section and the needs of your institution, select an area to begin working on. Then click on the corresponding link to continue to a detailed step-by-step guide and suggested resources to apply this framework on your campus.
Reckon
Explore and acknowledge historical harms through defined and resourced research initiatives
- Does your campus understand the importance of engaging with institutional heritage?
- Are there key stakeholders on campus who present roadblocks to change or resist institutional heritage and DEIJ work?
- Do campus leaders feel comfortable holding conversations about institutional heritage or other DEIJ efforts?
If no, review: A guide to securing buy-in
- Has your institution documented its involvement in historic systems of oppression?
- Is the history of harm and its continued impact widely discussed and understood on campus
If no, review: If no, review: A guide to historical storytelling and collective memory projects
Build
Form healthy and collaborative relationships with harmed communities
- Have you identified specific harmed communities?
- Do you understand the needs of those harmed communities?
- Does your institution have existing partnerships with those communities?
If no, review: A guide to building healthy relationships with harmed communities
Transform
Redesign harmful legacy policies and practices that continue to perpetuate racial oppression
- Is engaging in institutional heritage work part of your broader, long-term strategy?
- Does your campus have a formal plan outlining actionable next steps?
- Are there accountability mechanisms to ensure institutional heritage work is being accomplished and achieving the intended result?
If no, review: A guide to setting long-term strategy and taking action
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Learn how you can get access to this resource as well as hands-on support from our experts through Strategic Advisory Services.
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