The following are a optional Inclusion Statements to include on your syllabus:
- Michigan State University is committed to providing access and promoting/protecting freedom of speech in an inclusive learning environment. Discrimination and harassment based on a protected identity are prohibited. Please review MSU’s Notice of Non-Discrimination, Anti-Harassment, and Non-Retaliation.
- In this class, we will work together to create and maintain a respectful teaching and learning environment where we engage in conversations that challenge our perspectives and understanding.
- Please let me know if you would like me to use a name for you that is not reflected in the University system or if there is anything else I can do to support your access to this class.
Language that should NOT be included in a syllabus
- Language that appears to promote protected identity-based preferences or otherwise violates federal or state civil rights laws
- Language that appears to restrict First Amendment rights
- References to any “policy” that is not a University or unit-level policy
Also, for your reference:
Religious Observances & Holidays: Michigan State University has long had a policy to permit students, faculty/academic staff, and support staff to observe those holidays set aside by their chosen religious faith.
Links to the policies can be found below:
- Religious Observance Policy (students, faculty, academic staff)
- Support Staff Policy for Observance of Religious Holidays (support staff)
More information about religious holidays and traditions can be found online.
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Statement: Michigan State University is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and, in the context of employment, affirmative action. University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, political persuasion, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, height, weight, veteran status, age or familial status. The university is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In carrying out this commitment, the university is guided by the applicable federal and state laws and regulations and policies adopted by the Board of Trustees.
The university has a comprehensive employment Affirmative Action Plan that includes placement goals for academic and support staff employment and an affirmative action policy for the employment of veterans and persons with disabilities. The Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives oversees the Plan by reviewing individual academic and support staff hiring recommendations, and advises the President and other university administrators on equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion matters.
MSU is committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The university actively encourages applications and/or nominations of women, persons of color, veterans and persons with disabilities.
Provisional Land Acknowledgement: (This paragraph is intended to be read at the beginning of formal events or published in printed material.)
We collectively acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. In particular, the University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Michigan State University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
Visit MSU’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies page for more information on Land Acknowledgements.