Living Well Together

Making positive change requires that all members of our diverse community feel welcomed into a sense of belonging, common purpose, and shared responsibility to support and enrich each other’s work.

Anishinaabe teachings refer to the gift of Mino Bimaaddiziwin or the Good Life. Given the scale and breadth of York University, with many people engaging remotely or commuting some distance to our campuses, and with 325,000 alumni living and working around the world, we must make a conscious effort to know each other and to build a community reflective of this Good Life. Our students, staff, and faculty have let us know that a stronger sense of connection, inclusion, and wellbeing are among the key changes they are seeking in their daily experience of life at the University. Our alumni are seeking more opportunities to remain engaged with the University. 

Our students, staff, and faculty have let us know that a stronger sense of connection, inclusion, and wellbeing are among the key changes they are seeking in their daily experience of life at the University.

In this UAP we reaffirm our commitment to open, transparent collegial governance and to ensuring that we create opportunities and make space for all community members to have a voice in shaping our collective future. In support of this Priority, we will also: 

• renew our physical environment with inspiring and humane natural and built spaces, including an expanded Joan and Martin Goldfarb Art Gallery of York University within a revitalized Harry Arthurs Common
• enhance our virtual presence to offer compelling and intuitive ways to connect with the University and build a broader, networked community of learning and mentorship
• continue to implement mental health and wellbeing strategies, policies, and collective actions that create supportive and empowering environments for all members of the community
• incorporate accessibility fully into our planning, keeping in mind the requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act for all public and private institutions to be fully accessible by 2025 
• amplify our purposeful efforts to foster dialogue, respect, kindness, empathy, and open-mindedness to diverse points of view by actively implementing the recommendations of the recently released Cromwell Report
• optimize our Libraries as both physical and virtual spaces for scholarship, collaboration, and community building
• draw upon our strengths in the creative and performing arts to enrich social connection and community pride 
• continue our actions to support reconciliation through our Indigenous Framework, including additional Indigenous spaces and art works
• intensify our systematic efforts to embed human rights, equity, diversity, and inclusion training across the University
• deepen our engagement and support for our vibrant network of alumni and donors 
• embrace a culture of service excellence, in which we all are responsible for supporting each other’s success