Elliott School of International Affairs officials have again delayed the release of the school’s annual diversity action plan after not publishing the plan as projected last year.
Elliott School officials state on their website an intent to publish an Inclusive Excellence plan each September since 2019 that details annual goals and strategies to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at the school, but officials said they are continuing to “review” this year’s plan after GW released its University-wide diversity action plan last month. The delay marks the second time officials have missed the September launch goal after they did not release a plan for the 2023-24 academic year.
Elliott leaders in January said officials were reworking the contents of the 2023-24 plan after the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to end affirmative action but said they still intended to release one for the 2024-25 academic year. Lakeisha Harrison, the Elliott School’s assistant dean for student services, diversity, equity and inclusion, said the 2024-25 action plan is a “priority” for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and will be released this semester but did not provide an exact date.
“The thoughtful process of reviewing our plan involves many individuals within the Elliott community and has been handled with great care,” Harrison said.
Harrison declined to comment on if the council drafted and reviewed an action plan over the summer and where the council is in the development process. Members of the Elliott School’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council said the Council is meeting for the first time this academic year on Oct. 10.
Harrison said the Elliott School is reviewing the action plan for the 2024-25 academic year in light of the Office of the Provost’s diversity, equity and inclusion plan which officials released last month. The plan includes recommendations made by student, faculty and staff subgroups and comes more than two years after officials conducted a diversity climate survey in April 2022 to improve campus-wide diversity.
The report also lists actions the University has already taken or “plan to explore.” Some faculty said the plan is generic and excluded recommendations like metrics to track the progress of diversifying GW.
The report states that the University has allocated an unspecified amount of new funding for nearly every individual school to create a diversity, equity and inclusion office, with eight schools already establishing one and the College of Professional Studies in the process of creating one. These offices will regularly meet with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement beginning next academic year, according to the report.
Elliott leaders released the first diversity action plan in 2019 and released plans annually through 2022. The Elliott School’s dean; school leaders; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, which includes seven faculty and staff as well as two student representatives, are set to draft and review an action plan each summer, according to the school’s DEI page.
The most recent plan on the website is from the 2022-23 academic year and centers around four goals which include recruiting more diverse students, improving the “climate of inclusion” at the school, incorporating more DEI and social justice into the curriculum and creating infrastructure to prioritize these goals. The 2021 and 2020 action plans included the same four pillars but outlined strategies for achieving them, like increasing funding for diversity fellowships and improving already established resources and events like cultural activities and focus groups.
The school previously listed a diversity statement on its website, last updated in 2016, but the statement was removed sometime after November 2023, according to web archives. The statement read that the Elliott School is prioritizing increasing representation and inclusion of individuals historically disadvantaged in the U.S. international affairs community and higher education.
