Friday, January 13, 2012

The Committee on Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement 

 The Committee on Diversity and Inclusion began in 2005 and was rekindled in 2011 to address diversity, difference, and under-representation (broadly conceived), both within the Society and within our professional spheres, in order to identify obstacles to the participation of any specific groups in the activities and operation of the Society and its mission, as well as opportunities for addressing such issues. We are concerned about diverse issues impacting professional life and advancement for members of these constituencies across lines of gender, sexuality, nationality, religion, race, class, ability, and ethnicity.


The Committee on Diversity and Inclusion exists to make recommendations to IASPM-US regarding policies and practices that will further enhance the ability of minorities, women, and people of all levels of physical ability to participate in the organization, and in its promotion of popular music scholarship. While the committee was formed in response to the under-representation of people of color and women in the organization, its ongoing mission extends to supporting the full participation of minoritized members in the association.

The Committee seeks to encourage mutual respect and intellectual freedom through the creation of standards for professional conduct at IASPM-US events. We will actively work to make the membership and conference free of harassment, assault, hazing and discrimination.


Our primary goals are:
• To craft a statement on anti-discrimination and anti-harassment
• To create a handbook for the board on practices for adjudicating cases of discrimination and harassment
• To maintain a standing officer who is the first respondent to claims of harassment and discrimination within membership
• To make sure that the IASPM-US conference reaches out to new, multicultural areas of study through the posting of the call to all fields
• To recruit minoritized and underrepresented populations of graduate students, faculty, independent scholars, music journalists, and other popular music researchers to the membership
• To make meeting spaces handicap-accessible and to ensure people with mobility issues are taken into consideration
• To make sure childcare is available at conferences

We have crafted this language, the mission and goals in consultation with a number of kindred service and scholarly committees within like-minded fields:
AAA Committee on Race and Racism
AAA Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology
AAA Committee on Minority Issues in Anthropology
SEM Section on the Status of Women
SEM Gender and Sexuality Taskforce



Approved: June 13, 2011