Students sitting on and in front of large open book

Here are some definitions that the individuals on the grant are using to guide their practices. DEI is always changing, thus the definitions below are subject to change, addition, or removal to best support our community. The definitions below do not reflect CUNY Queens College, but solely reflect the HHMI IE3 grant.

  • Diversity: the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.
  • Equity: Relating to fair access, opportunity, and advancement for all groups of people.
  • Inclusion: the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of other minority groups.
  • Belonging: A sense of fitting in or feeling like is are an important member of a group or welcomed in a space.
  • Justice: the quality of being just, impartial, or fair.
  • Ally: Providing advocacy to a marginalized group of people; this can include marginalized groups that one does not belong to but supports through advocacy.
  • Disability: a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.
  • Pronouns: a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this ).
  • Neurodiversity: the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population (used especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorders).
  • Microaggression: a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.
  • Ableism: discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.
  • URM: an acronym representing “underrepresented minority,” referring to someone whose racial or ethnic makeup includes: African American / Black. Asian: Filipino, Hmong, or Vietnamese. Hispanic / Latino.
  • Cultural appropriation: the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.
  • Accessibility: the quality of being easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, use, or understand