Equity on Campus
The University of Toronto Students’ Union advocates on your behalf to the University of Toronto administration and all three levels of government. To support our advocacy efforts, we endeavour to involve you—our members—in campaigns that reflect the interests of students.
Along with advocacy, the UTSU strives to take action to make your campus a more inclusive and equitable place for all students, especially those who may come from marginalized communities that are traditionally overlooked by post-secondary institutions.
On this page, you can learn more about each of our current campaigns and how to get involved with each.
For the UTSU’s published research reports and policy proposals, click here.
For more on the UTSU’s lobbying and advocacy efforts, click here.
To start your own initiative on campus with UTSU support, click here.
The Equity team has been working on projects with the campus police, sexual violence policy, equity based groups outreach – such as Youth Policy Forum (YPF), Prevention, Empowerment, Advocacy, Response, for Survivors (PEARS Project) and Sexual Harassment Assault Resource Exchange (SHARE Project). We aim to widen our horizon to reach a larger audience to address the topic of equity amongst the university community. Our goal is to understand what equity means for everyone so that we can provide appropriate resources within our diverse student body.
The Equity team also ensures that we acknowledge Indigenous land before any event, to stand in solidarity. Access our land acknowledgement here.
For more information, please contact Vice-President Equity, at vpequity@utsu.ca.
Equity in-Take Form
The VP Equity In-Take Form is for students or clubs to report incidents where they were subjected to discrimination, harm, harassment, or other violations of equity policy happening in the UTSU Student Life portfolio (clubs, outreach, events, etc;).
Please note, this form is not for administrative complaints or duties — this form is only for issues relating to equity (i.e. instances where power dynamics relating to a protected ground such as race, gender, disability, etc. have resulted in inequitable treatment of a person or group). Depending on the severity of the matter, ULife and other resources may be used to investigate the matter.
We will be in contact with the student or club who filled out the form. For each incident, please fill the form only once, and we will reach out as soon as possible.
You can learn more about the UTSU club guidelines on our Start a Club page.
Equity Training
The purpose of our equity training is to ensure that UTSU staff, Board of Directors, and members – as well as UTSU-recognized student clubs – understand what equity means, and how to apply this knowledge in every given situation. Whether that means facilitating or organizing an event, during meetings, or even between causal conversations between co-workers, classmates and friends
We also want to engage in topics of equity as often as possible, as these tools are oftentimes not offered in school. We believe that equity training will be a great incentive for students to consider the different injustices and inequalities each and every individual might face both in and outside of campus
Here are some documents available to learn more about how to teach equity and incorporate equity in every event.
Equity 101 – An Equity Guide
This guide is the fundamentals and basic knowledge of equity that we hope all students at U of T will learn.
The components addressed in this equity guidebook will be used in our big annual event Xpression Against Oppression (XAO). We will be presenting these basic equity guidelines in a video format, to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
UTSU EDI Policy
The EDI policy offers a clear definition of equity, diversity and inclusion in the UTSU environment. The document also outlines our actionable commitment to uphold the values of equity on campus
This policy is built from the bottom-up, with a community-based approach to discuss the importance of equity. The purpose of this policy is to illuminate and amplify the work of equity-based groups on campus.
Advancing Equity in Education Guide
Advancing Equity in Education Guide aims to better educate our students about the interconnectedness of equity and social justice both in and outside of campus. This guide will be a useful resource to help students easily find equity-based courses in their programs, so that students can integrate equity into their university experience.