For all of us, including you

For staff and students who are familiar with the existing Equity Policy – things have changed. For others who might believe it’s just another document satisfying the needs of a few, this affects you. For everyone, this is time to engage.

Ihonuku Tōkeke, Pro Vice-Chancellor Equity, Professor Cathy Stinear calls the new draft policy “ambitious”, “a policy that emphasises respect and is fearless in what it is asking of the University and its community”.

“This policy is important because it brings home the principles and values of Taumata Teitei and talks about the responsibilities and expectations on both the University as an organisation and for each of us as a member of the Waipapa Taumata Rau community.”

The draft document began life as a “blank piece of paper” along with a meeting of ideas and minds between the Equity Policy Review Working Group and the Waipapa Toitū working group. These framing discussions embed an indigenous orientation and way of thinking about relationships, how we work together, and what we value, into the emerging policy.

The working group is chaired by Ahorangi, Professor Robert Greenberg. The group is made up of students, and professional and academic staff with diverse lived experience and expertise.

The first draft was written by the working group and has since evolved with feedback from the Equity Action Network, a group of Associate Deans and Directors Equity and Diversity, and key equity practitioners from Campus Life, Communications and Marketing, and HR. It is soon to be reviewed with the University Equity Leadership Committee, ahead of the wider consultation process.

Robert says it has been wonderful to lead the group tasked with coming up with this new policy.

"We have had lively discussions and feel energised by this draft that commits us to a high standard in the areas of equity, diversity, and inclusion across our Waipapa Taumata Rau community.”

The blank piece of paper and different approach means the new policy is very different to its predecessor. Similar policies from other tertiary institutions typically use the same words and ideas in different combinations. In comparison, the language and content of the new policy carries the unique and distinctive voice of Waipapa Taumata Rau.

The new policy looks to uphold the mana of all, and the draft deliberately doesn’t specify a list of equity groups of people to be recognised while excluding others. As an alternate approach, the new policy is framed by the idea of manaakitanga – the obligation to uphold the mana of others; and of whakawhanaungatanga – the establishment and maintenance of equitable relationships alongside dismantling the barriers of “-isms and -obias” which stand in the way of upholding mana.

“We are asking people to engage with ideas and experiences that are maybe unfamiliar," Cathy says. “That’s okay. What I hope is we’ll all come to realise we are in an evolving environment that is becoming more welcoming, more supportive of everybody.”

Associate Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins, Ihonuku Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, says the new draft policy makes it clear that equity is everybody’s responsibility.

“We are all connected, either by kin ties or by our shared history and connection to this place; by the complex web of relationships across time that locate people and groups in society. The promise of Waipapa Toitū rests on this idea of relationship. When you trace relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand, you can see all that they are: the good, the bad and the ugly.

“You can come to understand the processes by which groups have gained more or less access to positive social outcomes. And by focusing on relationships you foreground a sense of responsibility to others, and to possibilities for more equitable lives for all."

The new policy is a broad, durable, over-arching frame. Associate Professor Jemaima Tiatia, Ihonuku Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, says it is a strong firm document. With the removal of mention of specific groups, Jemaima expects some people may feel less visible. At the same time, she believes the new policy can remove deficit thinking and “put feet to our words” through changing the language, addressing the mentality, attitudes, and the behaviours of ourselves and others.

Developing and redeveloping dynamic procedures which cascade from the overarching policy is a next stage of work – and one which will be comprehensive and ongoing. These procedures will bring the policy to life through actions, including raising visibility of groups in a way which is flexible and which can be easily updated to stay contemporary and relevant in a fast-changing world.

In summary, Cathy says: “We all deserve to be treated well, to be treated with respect and dignity and to have our mana upheld, to be welcomed and to be able to be ourselves and to be really successful as ourselves. That is just a human right. What I hope this policy will do is show us explicitly what we want to dismantle, and what we should be striving for.”