Diversity and inclusion make the University stronger

In her two years so far as Bocconi Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Catherine De Vries has worked to consolidate the university's existing initiatives into a more encompassing overall approach. The goal was to give the existing offer a better overall structure, as well as create new initiatives for areas that were not receiving attention. The team set targets and created a road map to meet them, and now can monitor its progress through a specially created dashboard. "We are not yet there, but we are making good progress," she says in this interview.
A native of the Netherlands, De Vries worked for almost ten years in the UK (Oxford University and University of Essex) until 2018, when she became Westerdijk Chair & Professor of Political Behaviour in Europe at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In January 2020 she joined Bocconi's Department of Social and Political Sciences, teaching European Politics and Public Opinion and Media and continuing her research work.

What was the situation at Bocconi when you started as Diversity and Inclusion Dean in 2020?
When I started the deanship, the university already had diversity and inclusion-related policies and initiatives, but it was not really a coherent program. A lot of diversity issues overlap, and therefore often require an encompassing approach. It was really important to combine the initiatives.
The first three things we did in the two years of the deanship so far -- and we are not yet there, but we are making good progress -- are to map the situation at the university both quantitively with numbers and qualitatively in terms of perceptions. That gave us a road map of what needed to be done. It was very clear there were a couple of areas that required attention, like a program for students who are gender-transitioning, and a program to have better maternity and paternity leave structures. The second thing was that we needed a better organizational structure, so we launched a Bocconi Inclusion Service.
The third thing was to communicate it to the community. We now have a designated area on the website which outlines all the diversity and inclusion things that we do.

In terms of the international context, where does Bocconi fit in? Are a lot of universities doing this?
In higher education, diversity and inclusion is very developed in the U.S. context, and is less advanced in Europe. Bocconi was one of the first universities that created a D&I deanship like in the United States, making diversity, equity, and inclusion into an executive priority. Bocconi has really moved in this space, to make sure we give the best experience to our staff, students, and faculty, but also to teach a new generation of economic political, and social leaders that are sensitive to these issues.

You were named Chair of the Diversity Committee of the European Political Science Association [EPSA) in 2019. Has that experience fed into what you are doing now?
The goal is to make sure our activities and conferences are easily accessible, and that the website is easily accessible. These are also some of the things I am dealing with as a dean. It's about digital accessibility, physical accessibility of space, and providing spaces for people to reach out and share their experiences. It has been a stepping stone for what I am doing now.

Regarding your academic and career path so far, has diversity played a role in your work?
In my own research into far-right politics and populism, I have tried to understand what moves people to the far right, and what makes people hold more egalitarian gender attitudes.
My personal experience of diversity has also played a role. I became a professor at Oxford at a young age, and I was a foreigner and a woman. I have experienced what it is like to work in a traditionally less diverse academy and how that affects you. That experience of marginalization in an organization was an additional spur to become active in this space. This is not a criticism of specific universities. It was that academia used to be quite male. Sometimes I spent a lot of time doing things to show I belonged or to feel fully respected that I could have spent working on my papers or teaching.

Can you give us an example of the things you have been doing as Dean?
I have two examples. The first is to set targets in an Inclusive Gender Equality Plan in terms of increasing the number of women in faculty, or increasing the number of people from international backgrounds, or being more multicultural. After setting the targets, we created a diversity and inclusion dashboard so that we can map and keep track of our progress. That was really important.
At Bocconi, we didn't have a program for students who were in a gender transition. I am proud of our new "Alias" program that makes it easy for a person to use something other than their legal name. You also get a mentor that helps you with things. It is for both students and factuality as well as for staff members.

How can academic organizations recruit a diverse faculty or diverse student body? Is there a secret to it?
There are three things. The first is being aware of implicit bias, or the extent to which you associate characteristics based on attributes that you see. It is crucial when you hire faculty that you make sure that you are aware of these implicit biases. It is also important to signal to prospective faculty that you are a diverse employer.
The second thing is to lead by example. That means having a diversity and inclusion team, and also having women at the top of the university. What so often happens is that minorities internalize stereotypes themselves. It is important to have examples and role models.
Lastly, we try to enlarge the pool of recruits beyond the usual network to make sure you hire openly and from everywhere to ensure that more marginalized groups have a fair chance to get hired.

How does diversity and inclusion make an organization better?
The link between innovation and diversity is well known and has been demonstrated in research.
In higher education, there is an implicit pedagogical aspect. We teach people to be well-thinking and well-rounded individuals that can operate in different settings that can consider different viewpoints, and argue with them in a respectful, logical, and scientific manner. So having people from across the world, having people from different religious backgrounds opens up your way of thinking and looking at the world.