Everybody’s Business: Inclusive Excellence as a Prerequisite for Transformative Leadership in Higher Education

Discussions about race, identity, and equity are often touted as the prerogative of people of color. Historically underrepresented groups are asked to lead and be responsible for all discourse on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—especially at postsecondary institutions. For instance, DEI offices have held a storied history throughout higher education. Some institutions named the first spaces offices of multicultural affairs, which served diverse student populations at predominately white institutions decades after the controversial Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Supreme Court decision. Other colleges or universities created these offices (or even just a senior diversity officer position) in response to recent national calls for justice for people of color (e.g., after the extrajudicial killings of Trayvon Martin and George Floyd). DEI should not be the sole responsibility of one person or office. Instead, as diversity officers maintain, all people must be committed to the pursuit of inclusive excellence—that is, an explicit commitment to DEI and equity mindedness. It is core to an institution’s function and is part of administrative structures and practices; recruitment, admissions, and hiring; and colleges’ and universities’ curricula and co-curricula (Williams et al., 2005, p. iii).