Welcome to the first installment of our TIP (“Toward Inclusive Practices”) series from the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. In response to questions from our inbox, we’ll bring you answers to some of the most pressing concerns of our campus community. We hope that our TIPs will help you to increase your inclusiveness, on campus and beyond.

Reminder About Respecting Religious Holidays

NC State’s new Strategic Plan: Wolfpack 2030: Powering the Extraordinary includes Goal 4: “Champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being in all we do.”

One way to champion a culture of inclusion is to respect the varying religious practices of our community. As a Wolfpack, we support the right of everyone to observe their faith, and we continually work to ensure that university events do not conflict with religious holidays.

Faculty and staff should do the following to avoid scheduling academic or administrative programs and events on religious holidays:

• Add the Google religious holidays calendar overlay to your own Google calendar so that when you are creating your course syllabus or scheduling an event, you can avoid scheduling on holidays. Refer to Religious and Cultural Holidays for guidelines on how to do this and for additional information about best practices for avoiding conflicts.

We would like to remind our community that many faiths and worldviews are represented among our community, and each deserves respect.

Tips for Upcoming Holidays

As the holiday season approaches, we remind you to consider that you may study or work alongside others who may not share your worldview. We encourage everyone to learn about other belief systems to avoid misunderstandings and strive to be inclusive in the company of others. When in doubt, respectfully ask questions to find out whether and how your fellow students or colleagues of different faiths and worldviews prefer to be included in any holiday celebrations.

From NC State’s Definition of Diversity:

NC State is diverse because it is a community of individuals from varied backgrounds and demographic categories; it encourages, accepts and values a diversity of people and ideas; it seeks to promote an environment where equity, respect and understanding represent the norm in the campus climate; and, it seeks to prepare entrepreneurs who are effective citizens of a global community.