Equity-Centered Higher Education Decision Making for Policy and Practice

One of the great challenges that befalls leaders in higher education is to make fair decisions in a system rooted in hierarchy and privilege. When decisions are made, they often use terms such as “fairness” and “equality” to indicate that everyone has similar opportunities and is not inadvertently disadvantaged. Inequality abounds in higher education, and in most cases, we may have equality but certainly lack equity in our decision making, which often benefits the historically privileged and further disenfranchises the purposefully and systemically excluded (i.e., people of color, women, LGBTQIA individuals, people with disabilities, etc.).