For U of T Scarborough’s new Senior Advisor on Equity and Diversity, ensuring an equitable and diverse campus culture is all part of a collaborative process.
“My goal is to promote a culture where all students, staff and faculty can bring their whole self to campus every day and ensure that we demonstrate these values in our classrooms, hiring decisions, policies and student experience,” says Karima Hashmani, who started in the role earlier this year.
Raised in Scarborough, Hashmani says she is excited to be home.
“I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across campus to help celebrate our unique location and heritage. UTSC has the potential to serve as a model campus for championing diversity and inclusion around the globe," she says.
Hashmani has devoted most of her career to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. She spent a decade working in various leadership roles at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) where she worked in Regent Park to amplify the voices of tenants and developed tenant-centric board policies on human rights.
During her work with TCHC, she also developed a workplace diversity policy, training curriculum for staff on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and developed a three-year strategy around diversity and inclusion.
“Working with diverse populations and addressing complex situations of harassment and discrimination based on race, gender identity, disability and other enumerated grounds have prepared me to develop a greater understanding of equity, human rights and systemic change," she says.
“Working with diverse populations and addressing complex situations of harassment and discrimination based on race, gender identity, disability and other enumerated grounds have prepared me to develop a greater understanding of equity, human rights and systemic change," she says.
Over the past several years, equity, diversity and inclusion have become common buzzwords, especially in Canadian post-secondary institutions, but some still wonder about the distinct differences. As Hashmani explains, equity means levelling the playing field.
“We all don’t have the same entry points to opportunities. Levelling the playing field means identifying barriers, trying to remove those barriers and creating intentional opportunities through community collaboration."
Diversity means a variety of differences and includes intersectionality, which is the consideration that peoples' experiences are shaped by factors such as race, sexuality, gender, sex, disability and class all at the same time. Meanwhile, she says inclusion means asking, “do we all feel like we belong on campus as students, faculty and staff?”
To create a more equitable and inclusive campus, Hashmani says conversation is key.
“We need to continue having dialogue and as long as we’re open to challenging conversations, new ways of doing things, moving the needle forward through initiatives and making sure there’s always an equity lens to those initiatives, that’s when we know we are moving forward,” she says.
Although creating new initiatives is part of her role, Hashmani says that more than anything, being proactive helps to foster the best kind of change.
“For example, if we’re missing representation on a committee, we need to be more thoughtful in our design and work towards building better equity tools,” she says.
Hashmani, who officially started on Jan. 8 as part of the Equity and Diversity team, has already met with several students, faculty and staff by attending events such as the Rainbow Tie Gala, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Talk and a Connections and Conversations Open House at U of T Scarborough.
“Everyone has been so warm and welcoming at UTSC, and it has been inspiring to see the work that so many staff, students and faculty have already begun," she says. “I am looking forward to working together and creating a more intentionally inclusive culture on campus.”