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Sent on behalf of the LGBTQ+ Equality Steering Group ( LESG) / Out@UCL & the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team.
There has been some discourse on social media, as well as the media, in relation to UCL withdrawing from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Programme.
It is not uncommon for organisations to opt-in or opt-out of the Diversity Champions. In 2020 UCL’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team reviewed all its memberships and subscriptions in the context of financial savings and uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Last summer, following discussions with the Chairs of LESG at the time, a decision was taken to opt-out of the Diversity Champions programme for one year so that funds could be re-directed to other, internal initiatives.
Over the last twelve months LGBTQ+ Steering Group (LESG) has worked with UCL Arena on the ‘Recognising and including LGBTQ+ identities in language teaching’ toolkit and more recently with qUCL on the ‘LGBTQ+ staff research project’ which will be rolled out shortly. The research project aims to explore, document, and analyse the experiences of LGBTQ+ staff at UCL, to increase our understanding and appreciation of why LGBTQ+ perspectives matter, and how we can learn from them within and beyond the university and to use the data to make recommendations for improving the university experience for LGBTQ+ people. Both are important initiatives and we have welcomed the opportunity to repurpose funds to support them.
As an organisation, UCL value’s the support of Stonewall in helping us to drive positive change by building deep, sustained change programmes for a fully inclusive LGBTQ+ community at the University.
A decision has not been made on UCL’s inclusion in the Diversity Programme for the coming year however our commitment to ensure UCL is an inclusive organisation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer people is unwavering.
Best wishes, Noel
Noël Caliste
Chair, UCL LGBTQ+ Equality Steering Group & Out@UCL
Pronouns: he / they