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Tolerance, Respect, and Understanding

As members of a university community, we have a responsibility to advocate tolerance, respect and understanding at a level above that which is minimally required of us by law. While SJSU has largely succeeded in creating a diverse campus community, it must also actively promote a civil campus climate. This may require changes in attitudes and behaviors as we develop our common bonds. Several of the convictions that might help us, as members of an educational institution, create these bonds are:

Respect for the Individual: In recognition of individual uniqueness and value, whether as students, faculty, staff or administrators, it is our commitment to discourage appropriately any actions, behaviors, communication or programs that erode this fundamental concern for the individual.

Commitment to Issue and Problem Resolution: It is the intent of the university to recognize the process of problem and issue resolution as integral to the successful achievement of its mission. SJSU is committed to addressing problems and issues in a responsive, equitable and timely manner.

Open Communication and Feedback: The university endorses and supports an environment of open communication and feedback. In support of this principle, the university will develop internal programs to educate, evaluate and provide feedback to support the growth process, including the growth of community and civility.

UNITY Council

This UNITY Council was developed in December 2008. This council is made up of chairs, presidents or representatives from the existing SJSU faculty and staff associations. The faculty and staff associations (also known as affinity groups) serve as vehicles for campus members to build community around specific issues and identities. By bringing together the chairs and/or representatives of these faculty and staff associations on one council -- the UNITY council -- it will provide a collaborative forum through which campus groups can

• build community with one another;
• inform one another about different perspectives and identities;
• collectively help serve the needs, interests and concerns of our highly diverse community;
• unite individuals to work together toward converging issues for campus members;
• understand key issues of all the associations;
• work for students, staff and faculty members;
• work on specific issues as these affect groups such as the faculty in terms of workload, funding, compensation, teaching load and RTP for faculty members of color and marginalized faculty members;
• focus on student retention and graduation and namely EOP on this campus (remediation issues); and
• inquire about diversity issues of concern to faculty, staff, and students and develop strategies to resolve these issues.

The UNITY Council will be convened and led by Campus Climate Committee Chair Wiggsy Sivertsen and Equal Opportunity Manager Arthur Dunklin. The council consists of the following individuals and association representatives (each faculty and staff association's mission is also designated down below):

• African American Faculty and Staff Association (AAFSA)
• Asian Pacific Islander Caucus (APIC)
• Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association (CLFSA)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty and Staff Association, (LGBTFSA)