Bowdoin College acknowledges the work of its alumni, students, faculty, and staff of the College to further inclusion and belonging. There is more to do in this regard with respect to students, faculty, and staff. Bowdoin must  be an inclusive community, one with a genuine and effective commitment to building a community where everyone has the opportunity to belong and to know that they belong. Bowdoin must also be a community where there is equity in the opportunity to pursue the same successes and outcomes.  
 
Bowdoin’s mission requires the College to prepare students to lead in a world where the demographics are changing rapidly and where individual identities are simultaneously being understood and celebrated—and contested and denigrated. These changes and issues have profound political, social, economic, cultural, and scientific implications. Bowdoin students need the skills and tools to understand differences and their implications in a knowledgeable, authentic, and respectful way. 
 
Inclusion and belonging work at the College involves engaging with challenges and barriers across an array of identities and differences, including gender, religion, socioeconomic status, race, sexual orientation, and ability, among others. This focus does not allow other critical issues to be set aside, and it will inform and enhance inclusion and belonging work more broadly as the College seeks to: 

• establish a culture where everyone has a true sense of belonging and where everyone has the same opportunities to find success; 
• understand the history, context, and lived experiences of all members of the Bowdoin community including those who have been historically not well or not represented on campus, as well as those who are marginalized in other ways;
•  build a shared understanding of the issues and challenges facing those of marginalized identities more generally; and develop the tools to have honest and respectful discussions about these issues, and
• develop the tools to have honest and respectful discussions about these issues.