Building an Inclusive Community
A message from Melanie F. Hart, Senior Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice and Chief Diversity Officer; Sonya Williams, Vice President for Human Resources; and Rebecca Hunter, Vice Provost and University Registrar
The New School is committed to creating and sustaining a welcoming and inclusive environment for our entire community including students, staff, faculty, and alumni. President McBride’s Framework for Fearless Progress offers a vision for The New School to embrace our past and strive for the future. Included in the framework, the pillars call upon The New School to (i) be known as a preeminent leader for access, equity, inclusion, and social justice in higher education, (ii) be known for our culture of support and service to our students through intentional focus on building a strong sense of academic community, and (iii) be a more integrated university, both academically and operationally, in order to meet its highest ambitions for the future. In alignment with these pillars, we are collaboratively working across the university to remove barriers to access and to redress policies, praxis, and pedagogy that limit full inclusion.
One such effort includes the basic human dignity of our community members to be seen and valued. As such, we are working collaboratively on a number of initiatives, including one to facilitate inclusive identity markers. Students, staff, and faculty who choose to select an identity marker are now able to select the option “X”. You can find instructions for how to select or change your identity markers in MyDay or Banner. Moreover, students are able to select from a predetermined list of pronouns to their student records. Staff and faculty will be able to select from a similar list in MyDay beginning in fall 2022.
While there is still administrative and community-based work involved in this effort to ensure greater inclusion through better integration across systems and data collection processes, we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that the university’s processes and systems do not alienate, marginalize, or harm our community members. Our goal is to support, nourish and facilitate our students, faculty, and staff, and advance a healthy community and sustainable institution.
Please stay tuned for more updates, as well as opportunities to engage in various efforts to create a more inclusive and healthy New School community. We all must be intentional and deliberate in our efforts to be the inclusive New School community that we all deserve.
If you have any questions, please contact one of the following offices.
Students
Registrar’s Office
72 Fifth Avenue, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10011
212.229.5620
Fax: 212.229.5470
Have a question: Contact Us or schedule an appointment via QLess
Faculty and Staff
Human Resources
80 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212.229.5671 (general number)
hrhelp@newschool.edu
General Questions or Concerns
University Ombudsperson
Ann-Lou Shapiro
66 West 12th Street, Room 714
shapiroa@newschool.edu
ombuds@newschool.edu
Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
For questions or more information, contact eisj@newschool.edu
Resources
Below are some resources to learn more about gender, identity, and pronouns, as well as relevant university policies.
Mypronouns.org
What Are Pronouns Video
LGBTQ at The New School
Student Health Services
Title IX