Green Templeton launches #DIFFERENTEQUAL campaign to promote inclusion

Green Templeton College takes pride in our foundational principle: the inclusion of all, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sex and sexual orientation.

On Tuesday 1 December we launched our digital campaign #DIFFERENTEQUAL to signal the college’s commitment to this principle and to promote awareness about racism. The campaign will do this through sharing tangible examples of behaviour (in particular micro-aggressions) that inhibits inclusion and examples of ally behaviour that can counter this and promote inclusion.

The campaign’s imagery – two hands clasped together in a fist – symbolises a firm, uplifting stance and joint action against racism by all (no matter the shade of skin colour). The first image to be shared to social media, seen on this page, features student Ache Atta-Boateng (DPhil Geography and the Environment).

“We hope that the digital campaign will raise visibility and awareness on the issue of Black inequality and that ‘Black Lives Matter’ means All Lives Matter equally. We hope that it will prompt honest conversations (online and offline) on what inclusive behaviour, which is to say behavior that doesn’t communicate ‘different as lesser’, looks like, for members of the Green Templeton community, Oxford’s community, and beyond,” said Associate Fellow Dr Neo Tapela.

The digital campaign is part of a broader Anti-racism campaign, whose objectives are to:

1. communicate Green Templeton’s zero-tolerance for racial discrimination and celebration of diversity,
2. embrace Black members of the community and give visibility to day to day challenges they face,
3. raise awareness on how to promote inclusion, and
4. provide information on responses that can be made in the moment, as well as procedures and supports available at college.

Alongside the social media assets, there will be new permanent physical signage on the main college campus that will help disseminate information on resources available for reporting, for support, and for increasing one’s knowledge.

This Anti-racism campaign is one of ten actions that have been proposed by Green Templeton’s Black Lives Matter Taskforce, through its Equality Action Agenda for Black Lives. Formed in July 2020, this taskforce is chaired by Dr Neo Tapela, and includes Dr Susan James Relly as Governing Body Representative.

The taskforce was asked to develop an Action Agenda that will guide the college’s steps for systemic change to combat anti-Black racism and achieve more equal representation, progression and success for members of the Green Templeton community while at Oxford. In addition to identifying priority actions that are immediate and address change in individual behavior, this Action Agenda includes actions that facilitate changes in the institutional structures and culture. One such action that is already underway is the creation of the position of Black Students’ Representative on the Graduate Common Room (GCR) Committee. Josephine Agyeman-Duah (Jossey) has been elected to this new role and in it she will advocate for issues raised by Black students and coordinate programming that promotes student wellbeing and inclusion.

While its focus is to address anti-Black racism, this Action Agenda is also intended to serve as a platform to build on, to advance race equality, and promote Equality and Diversity more broadly.