Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

Simpson College is committed to a diverse and inclusive, culturally enriched campus community with many different identities, nationalities, sexual orientations, ethnicities, races, physical and mental abilities, and beliefs. We embrace the fact that diversity improves and enhances the quality of our academic experiences and campus life.

We work to incorporate all representative voices across campus to engage our community with ideas, growth, responsibility, respect, understanding, and appreciation for our fellow humans.

Inclusivity Statement

We, the members of the Simpson College community, recognize as an essential component of its mission and history that Simpson College is committed to creating and maintaining a creative, diverse, just and inclusive community in which all develop their abilities to live and thrive in a complex and interconnected world. Consistent with our educational mission, we recognize ourselves as a community that respects individual identities linked to varying sociocultural characteristics including, but not limited to: race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, first language, religious or spiritual tradition, age, functional ability, socioeconomic status, physical attributes or familial status.

Further, we recognize that diversity of identities exists in a context of differential power and privilege that we as a community must critically evaluate and engage.

At Simpson College, we strive to create a socially just world that honors the dignity and worth of each, and we seek to build a community centered on equality, mutual respect and openness to ideas—one in which individuals value cultural and intellectual diversity and share the responsibility for creating an affirming, safe and inclusive environment. We recognize that our community is most inclusive when all participate to their full capacity in the spirited, and sometimes challenging, conversations that are at the center of the College’s educational mission to develop personal integrity, moral responsibility, social justice, and global citizenship.

Learn more about ways to get involved on campus.

Reconciling Ministries Network Statement

Pursuant with our welcome and inclusion statement, we seek to further embolden our work as an inclusive community by affirming the worth and welcome of every member of our campus community. As a United Methodist-affiliated college, we welcome persons of any—or no—faith identity. While this statement includes explicit language about faith in God and being followers of Jesus, we affirm these words on behalf of the campus community as a way to stand with our United Methodist siblings whose deepest desire is to be welcomed fully into the life and ministry of the United Methodist Church. As a UMC-affiliated college, we embrace this opportunity to lean into our Christian heritage and to join with all members of our community in bold, inclusive witness:

We celebrate God’s gift of diversity and value the wholeness made possible in community equally shared and shepherded by all. We welcome and affirm people of every gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, who are also of every age, race, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, level of education, and family structure, and of every economic, immigration, marital, and social status, and so much more. We acknowledge that we live in a world of profound social, economic, and political inequities. As followers of Jesus*, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of justice and pledge to stand in solidarity with all who are marginalized and oppressed.

*Reconciling Ministries Network is a network of Methodist Christians that recognizes and respects religious diversity, and values and affirms interfaith and ecumenical collaboration and partnerships in pursuit of social justice and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. The Simpson College Board of Trustees approved affiliation with RMN on May 14, 2021.