SIGCSE Board To Create Committee Addressing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Computing Education

June 19, 2020

Recent events have been a painful acknowledgment that systemic racism and inequality are pervasive in society, with significant personal impact for members of the SIGCSE community. The SIGCSE Board has been encouraged by the call to action to increase the diversity and inclusion of computing education conferences, spaces, leadership, teaching, research, and technology. We would like to see the energy and momentum that has arisen in the past few weeks coalesce into structures that can enable significant and permanent change in our community.

As a board, we feel that this issue requires broad participation. We would like to engage the community more holistically by encouraging the formation of a SIGCSE Committee focused on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in computing education. The SIGCSE Committee initiative, established in 2001, encourages SIGCSE members to participate in substantive discussions with the goals of investigating topics in depth and culminating with substantive reports. Our website has more information on the four current committees (https://sigcse.org/sigcse/programs/committees/index.html).

The SIGCSE Board would like to hear from people who would be interested in serving as chair or co-chair of a SIGCSE Committee addressing this topic. The chair(s) would then write a proposal and submit it to the SIGCSE Board. Instructions on the full process of forming such a committee are available on our website (https://sigcse.org/sigcse/programs/committees/create.html).

As a board, we look forward to working with the SIGCSE community and this new committee to create the changes needed to grow and improve our organization. We strive to be a more inclusive organization and serve as a model to other professional organizations on how to fight systemic racism and inequities in society.