ONE WKU Specific Syllabi Statements

---

Students perform best when they feel a sense of belonging and respect in the classroom, so creating a safe and inclusive spaces for them to learn and grow is imperative – the syllabus is often the first contact they have with the course. While faculty must include the approved language on ADA accommodation and Title IX/ Discrimination & Harassment in their syllabi, Syllabus Information website provides variety of suggested statements designed to provide students information about variety of avaliable resources

 

As part of the ONE WKU Campaign, the inclusion statement below was crafted by members of the DEI Team and the land acknowledgement statement was created by the Jonesville Reconciliation Workgroup. Faculty are not required to use these on their syllabi, but if you have been struggling with a way to word inclusive statements, consider adding one, or both, to your syllabi. They were drafted as a starting place, but feel free to use it as is, or edit as you see fit:

 

Inclusion Statement

Western Kentucky University (WKU) is committed to ensuring all members of our campus community have access to equitable and inclusive learning, working, and living environments. At the heart of our mission, we seek to provide holistic education and employment experiences that prepare students, faculty, and staff to become effective scholars, contributors, and leaders in our diverse and evolving communities. Consistent with our campus purpose statement and creed, this classroom will be a respectful space, welcoming all sexes, races, ages, national origins, ethnicities, gender identities/labels/expressions, intellectual and physical abilities, sexual orientations, faith/non-faith perspectives, income levels and socio-economic classes, political ideologies, educational backgrounds, primary languages, family statuses, military experiences, cognitive styles, and communication styles. If at any time during this course you are excluded or feel a sense of alienation from the course content, please feel free to contact me privately without fear of reprisal.

 

Land Acknowledgement Statement

The history of our community and land gives us the opportunity to recognize, respect, and appreciate our place within that history. Western Kentucky University (WKU) honors and acknowledges the Indigenous peoples’ land on which this University was built. All land in the state of Kentucky was once Indigenous territory, which is why it is our duty to acknowledge that WKU exists on Native land. This particular region of Kentucky was home to both the Shawnee (Shawandasse Tula) and Cherokee East (ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi) tribes.

We also honor and acknowledge the former residents of Jonesville. According to the Jonesville History Project, “Jonesville was a predominantly African American community in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the expansion of the WKU campus. This incident echoed a pattern across the country where the power of eminent domain was utilized to seize property from minority communities for large public works projects under the guise of urban revitalization.”