Diversity and Inclusion

At the Coggin College of Business our pursuit of excellence demands an institutional commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. These are not buzzwords for us. We believe embracing and engaging across differences are key to ensuring our students are equipped with the tools to succeed here at Coggin and beyond.

We strive to cultivate an environment where people of all backgrounds, identities, worldviews, and life experiences feel welcomed and valued. We seek to ensure every member of our community has the opportunity and the resources necessary to participate and contribute. In a business school diversity can be a powerful engine of innovation and growth. This drives us to make the case and build student capacity for harnessing their differences to make a difference in their classrooms, workplaces, and communities.

Reasons to Champion Diversity

1. Moral Case: Every year we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He makes the moral case for diversity in his August 28, 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." We all want to be judged solely on the basis of our talents, our intellects and our abilities. So we must strive to ensure that our academic institutions instill this value in our students and practice that value in our classrooms and in our governing practices. In 1964, when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King further noted, "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."

    

2. Business Case: The Center For American Progress finds that workplace discrimination costs businesses an estimated $64 billion annually. That amount represents the annual estimated cost of losing and replacing more than 2 million American workers who leave their jobs each year due to unfairness and discrimination. Basic economic theory posits that in a competitive market, discrimination in the workforce leads to higher prices for consumers. Moreover, discrimination leads to social disorder, which also extracts an economic cost. A 2013 study by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found, "if the average incomes of minorities were raised to the average incomes of whites, total U.S. earnings would increase by 12%, representing nearly $1 trillion today. By closing the earnings gap through higher productivity, gross domestic product (GDP) would increase by a comparable percentage, for an increase of $1.9 trillion today. The earnings gain would translate into $180 billion in additional corporate profits, $290 billion in additional federal tax revenues, and a potential reduction in the federal deficit of $350 billion, or 2.3% of GDP." Societies that put all their talents to work in ways that maximizes their potential have economies that are more efficient.

    

3. Market Case: Organizations, businesses, and institutions are better off when they reflect the diversity of their constituency. A report by Deloitte, suggests that companies find competitive advantage in diversity because diversity drives innovation and growth. The report states, "Embracing diversity as a way of thinking is the most effective response for business leaders and an important driver of an organization's innovative engine. This means diversity needs to be brought to the forefront of your value proposition and ingrained in the organization's cultural DNA so that it becomes a branded component of how you do business. When an authentic, inclusive culture is at work, a diverse workforce is capable of producing a range of original and engaging ideas that is simply not possible among homogenous employee populations."

Unlock Access and Reduce Barriers

When business schools reduce barriers and adopt proactive strategies for engagement, disadvantaged or underrepresented populations have greater opportunity for full participation in business education and employment.

Develop Skills Necessary for Diverse Contexts

By developing the right skills, mindset, and perspectives, business schools help prepare the next generation of business leaders who can function within diverse teams and distill value from engaging a breadth of expertise, experiences, and mindsets.

Address Global Challenges

Business school research and education have enormous potential to address global challenges, signaling the value of global responsibility and the importance of coming together with diverse disciplines and populations to achieve positive societal impact.