People, Equity & Inclusion

By Kate Hargreaves 

History tells us that the bigots never win. 

That’s what gives Windsor high school teacher and Faculty of Education alumnus Walter Cassidy (BEd ’00) hope in the face of what seems like an uptick in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiment. 

“As long as we know our history and we know that we’ve been through this before, we’ll get through it,” Cassidy says. “We always do.” 

By Kate Hargreaves 

From academic advocacy to community engagement, Dr. Sean Horton’s work is consistently imbued with a focus on equity and inclusivity. 

These efforts will be recognized by the Windsor University Faculty Association’s (WUFA) Status of Women, Diversity and Equity Action Committee as Horton is awarded the 2026 Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award at an award celebration on May 27. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

What is the role of education in repairing injustice, and how does a gender transformative approach align with these aims? 

Guest speaker Dr. Karishma Desai will deliver a lecture titled “Gender Transformative Education: Potentials and Possibilities of a Feminist Reparative Education” as part of the UWindsor Faculty of Education’s invited speaker series on June 4 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

Hundreds of future Lancers gathered at the University of Windsor May 7 and 8 for the 24th annual African Diaspora Youth Conference. 

Secondary students of African descent from Windsor, Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area, Guelph and Georgian Bay got to experience the UWindsor campus first-hand, participating in a variety of activities, workshops and keynotes across two days.

By Lindsay Charlton

What began as an icebreaker — picking up a marble for each statement that applied and weighing how light or heavy a bag felt — opened a frank discussion about power and privilege.

“The best assumption is usually that if you are coming from a dominant background, your bag is lighter,” School of Social Work professor Dr. Riham Al-Saadi shared. “This led to emotional reflections from those with lighter bags and conversations about what they can do to support.”

By Lindsay Charlton

Which perspectives in academic publishing are amplified — and which are overlooked?

In its latest issue, the Journal of Critical Race, Indigeneity, and Decolonization (JCRID) highlights decolonization and marginalized voices while advancing what the editors call “knowledge globalization.”

“We tried to spread the geographic tentacles of this edition,” said chief editor Dr. Festus Moasun, a professor in the School of Social Work. “We included articles from Africa, South Asia, as well as North America.”

By Kate Hargreaves 

With age comes a wealth of lived experience and a lifetime of growth and knowledge.  

Barriers created by a lack of accessibility, adaptability and connections in our homes and communities can, however, sometimes make the aging process unnecessarily challenging. 

By Sara Elliott

Bird enthusiasts will have a chance to learn how Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe language, describes birds and their roles in the natural world at an upcoming campus event. 

The session, Birds of Anishinaabe Aki: Ecology & Language, will explore Indigenous knowledge systems and the ecological connections between language, land and biodiversity.  

By Kate Hargreaves 

Courtney Gilmour (BA ’12) is a two-time Juno-nominated stand-up comedian, a voice on PAW Patrol and a recent addition to the cast of Trailer Park Boys.  

She built that career the hard way — starting with zero comedy experience on a Windsor stage she had no business being on. 

By Sara Meikle

The sound of prayer will rise before the first argument is made.

When the Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Moot takes place at Windsor Law from March 13 to 14, the proceedings will begin with ceremony — a welcoming to the territory, a call to the ancestors and a powerful affirmation that Indigenous Peoples are still here and Indigenous laws continue to live.