Growing the Roots of Equity: The TREE Model of Institutional Response to COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Feminist scholars have long documented the complex, multiple ways in which academic institutions reproduce gender inequalities (National Academy of Sciences. National Academy of Engineering. & Institute of Medicine, 2007). In times of crisis, institutional commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion may be sidelined (Tulshyan, 2020). Academia must enact responses to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that retain and promote diverse women faculty who are already disadvantaged in their institution. This includes ensuring that structural shifts, such as policy changes, lead to deep, cultural change, embedding equity into the fabric of institutional norms and values. In this article, we outline a model for institutional change-the Thinking Ahead, Resource Provision, Evaluation, Equity (TREE) model-with the aim of informing diversity efforts in higher education more broadly during the pandemic.