The New School is committed to creating and maintaining an environment that promotes diversity and tolerance and that ensures equal opportunity for all members of the University.  To assure such an environment, the New School provides equal opportunity, which means opportunity without discrimination in all areas of employment and education, regardless of race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, physical handicap, and national or ethnic origin.  The University Committee on Equal Opportunity has the responsibility of formulating and implementing policies and procedures affirming this fundamental principle.

Diversity is especially important to the New School because it is a New York City institution with major commitments to an urban environment characterized by racial and ethnic diversity.  The University also has a special responsibility in the area of affirmative action because of its history of responsiveness to the social issues confronting the contemporary world and to the educational needs of the New York population.  The New School is therefore dedicated to making its educational resources available to everyone qualified to work or to study at the University without discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic background.

In 1997, New School University established an Affirmative Action and Diversity Plan for 1997-2000, which included employment, enrollment, and curricular goals. The Plan also established programs and policies for the University and each academic division. Many members of the University community contributed to the development of the Plan. Those concepts and principles of the first plan have been integrated into a new plan for the coming years. In order to ensure that goals for the new Plan were effective and appropriate, each division was asked to undertake an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the future.

The University Diversity committee serves as a liaison between administration and the broader University community in developing policies and programs to enhance diversity. View the committee's list of members and mission statement online.

See more information online regarding issues of equal opportunity and affirmative action at the New School.