Skip to content

CEP: Comitted to Equity in Planning

WEBSITE

CEP: Committed to Equity in Planning addresses the lack of racial diversity in the Community, Environment & Planning (CEP) program at the University of Washington. This project produces a formal equity plan for CEP, ensuring that future programmatic efforts touch as many racially diverse communities on campus as possible and establishes CEP students as leaders in social equity and inclusion. This project evaluates the undergraduate experience and addresses issues of race in a university setting. A qualitative survey addressing internal CEP stakeholders found that there is a desire within the program to learn more about racial equity and to increase the racial diversity of admitted students. Additionally, a quantitative comparison of CEP racial demographics to those of the University of Washington revealed that CEP is a disproportionately white program compared to the undergraduate population. An exploration into current diversity plans, definitions of diversity, equality, equity and outreach best practices helped identify how to build an equity plan that incorporates best practices and accountability measures. This plan reaffirms CEP’s commitment to equity and encourages CEP students and alumni to take control of their education, learn about racial equity issues, and apply methods to improve the equity of the only student-run program on campus.