Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee

Mission Statement

GSC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI) works to encourage diversity, achieve equity, and foster inclusion for all MIT community members regardless of their identity (e.g. race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, pregnancy, religion, ability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, national or ethnic origin, employment status, immigration status, or socioeconomic status). It shall also critically consider intersections among these groups to facilitate learning, understanding, and unity.

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GOALS:

Collectively amplify the voices of, and advocate for, underrepresented groups in higher education so that every graduate student has the full opportunity to thrive at MIT
Promote awareness, engagement, and community building around diverse experiences
Keep the GSC, MIT departments and administration accountable to improving the recruitment, retention and degree completion of underrepresented groups via institutional level change

Subcommittees

Department and Classroom Inclusion (DCI)
- Peer-to-peer development initiative aimed at establishing Department Representatives, or conduits, among all graduate departments and programs.
Student Life (SL)
- Community based initiative aimed at establishing Constituency Representatives, or c-reps, among underrepresented identity groups.

2022-2023 GSC DEI Family:

Committee Officers Board

Chair: Kayla Storme (gsc-diversity-chair@mit.edu)
Vice-Chair DCI: Open Position (gsc-diversity-vc-dci@mit.edu)
Vice-Chair Student Life: Open Position (gsc-diversity-vc-sl@mit.edu)
Secretary: Andrei Iliescu (gsc-diversity-secretary@mit.edu)
Treasurer: Mila Lubeck (gsc-diversity-treasurer@mit.edu)

Constituency Representatives (C-Reps)

Women (gwaMIT): Garima Sharma (gsc-diversity-women@mit.edu)
Underrepresented Minorities (URMs): Open Position (LGSA) & Open Position (BGSA) (gsc-diversity-urm@mit.edu)
LGBTQIA+: Jack Forman (gsc-diversity-lgbtq@mit.edu)
First Generation: Open Position (gsc-diversity-firstgen@mit.edu)
Disabilities: Leticia Mattos Da Silva (gsc-diversity-disabilities@mit.edu)
International: Open Position (gsc-diversity-intl@mit.edu)
Religious Life: Elizabeth Choe (gsc-diversity-religion@mit.edu)

Projects and Programs

General Upcoming Events

Day of Action for Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice – October 6th, 2022

The GSC is working with other grad student governments and unions in the US to organize a national Day of Action for abortion access/reproductive justice in early October. This coalition is called the Graduate Student Action Network (GSAN) – https://twitter.com/GradAction.

Anyone interested in collaborating on making this event happen at MIT should contact gsc-vice-president@mit.edu.

Class Action First Gen Summit – November 5th, 2022

MIT is hosting the 10th annual Class Action First Gen Summit on November 5th, 2022. First-gen students and their allies come together to identify problems, discuss grassroots solutions, share what’s working on their campuses, and discover solutions and create change.

For more information, please visit this website. If you have questions or want to be involved, reach out to Adj Marshall (writeadj@mit.edu).

Graduate Student Food Resource Fair

In collaboration with the Food Security Action Team at MIT, the GSC DEI Committee will be distributing non-perishable food and personal hygiene products at upcoming Graduate Student Food Resource Fairs to improve food security among graduate student populations on campus. Graduate students who attend this fair will also receive resources on budgeting, nutrition, and recipes! The next event for Fall 2022 will be announced soon.

For more information regarding food resources on campus, please visit this page.

DEI Departmental Recommendation Scorecards

The GSC DEI Committee recognizes the significant work being done across MIT towards building an equitable, diverse and inclusive community. To further this goal, GSC DEI has developed DEI Departmental Recommendation Scorecards to help students and other department members track progress of implementation of DEI recommendations, use as an accountability tool, and encourage the sharing of ideas across campus.

We initially collected lists of recommendations presented across a majority of the departments at MIT. These initial recommendations were made by students to their department administration in response to #ShutDownStem discussions that took across MIT on June 10, 2020. Recently, the recommendations were standardized to facilitate better comparisons between departments.

You can view your department’s scorecard here.

If you have questions or want to update your department’s scorecard, please contact gsc-diversity-officers@mit.edu.

Graduate Enrolled Student Survey Data Request Form

The GSC DEI Committee works with MIT’s Institutional Research office to make data from the Graduate Enrolled Student Survey available at the departmental level. We connect graduate student groups to MIT survey data and gather graduate student input to improve surveys. We also conduct our own research through interviews and town hall meetings to collect graduate student experiences and stories that might not be captured in surveys. Our goal is to advance data-informed and student-led dialogue and action within departments around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

TO REQUEST DATA, please fill out the Survey Data Request Form.

If you have any questions about the request form or process, please email us at gsc-diversity-dci@mit.edu.

How to Get Involved

For any general questions regarding DEI or how to get involved, please contact us at gsc-diversity@mit.edu