You Are Here:

Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Cultural Consciousness (EEDCC)

EEDCC Home •Social Justice Community Festival 2025 • Social Justice Community Festival 2024 • Volunteer

Current Membership

Co-Chairs:
Michael Mufson (Performing Arts)
Brianna Stanley (Art)

Members:

Krista Carraway (ESL)
Henry Cen (Biology)
Marcela Gamez (Languages & Literature)
Laura Padilla (Ethnic Studies)
Alyssa Vafaei (DRC)

Meetings

EEDCC meets on the 2nd and 4th Fridays from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM on Zoom.

Core Values

As culturally conscious and responsive educators, we promote and infuse diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism for all members of the Palomar College Community. We will listen, educate, and take action to create and engage equity and belonging throughout the college’s systems and practices.

We envision Palomar College as a vibrant community of educators and learners where all members are valued for the unique context and lived experiences they bring to the community. We recognize the harmful past practices in society at large and within our college that have created inequities for our students.

We engage the college community with programs and tools for the college to build and sustain equitable educational systems that create a college-wide sense of belonging for all students and educators to thrive.

Assignments/Responsibilities

  • Engaging Palomar Community on matters of cultural consciousness to include: 
  • Identify and develop opportunities for further implementation and integration of diversity, equity, inclusion and cultural consciousness in the classroom, curriculum, hiring and campus culture, with particular attention to AP3000.   
  • Offer and sustain cultural conscious training programs, workshops, and activities including an annual Social Justice Community Festival or similar event. 
  • Work with Professional Development on planning programs, workshops, and activities that further the college’s  diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, anti-racism and cultural consciousness goals.  
  • Consult with and support the work of the College Chief Diversity Officer 
  • Participate in the process of developing the College equity plans
  • Advise employees on matters of diversity, equity, and cultural consciousness.   
  • Consult with TERB (Tenure and Evaluations Board) on matters of faculty evaluation related to cultural consciousness.   
  • Report to the Faculty Senate and Superintendent/President on primacy issues pertaining to diversity, equity, and cultural consciousness.  

What is Cultural Consciousness?

Paulo Freire’s concept of cultural consciousness is central to his philosophy of education and social change. Freire, a Brazilian educator and philosopher, believed that education should not be about depositing information into passive students (what he called the banking model), but instead about fostering critical thinking and awareness. His idea of cultural consciousness ties directly into this. What is Cultural Consciousness? In Freire’s work, particularly in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” cultural consciousness (or conscientização in Portuguese, often translated as critical consciousness) refers to a deep, reflective awareness of one’s social reality and cultural context. It’s about understanding the forces—historical, social, political, and economic—that shape your life and your society. Key Aspects:

  1. Awareness of Oppression Freire argued that people often live in a state of cultural unconsciousness, where they accept the status quo without question, even if it oppresses them. Cultural consciousness awakens individuals to recognize the inequalities and injustices they face.
  2. Questioning Reality It encourages people to critically examine their culture, traditions, language, and the power dynamics at play. Instead of passively accepting their social conditions, individuals learn to question why things are the way they are.
  3. Dialogue and Praxis Freire believed that cultural consciousness develops through dialogue—open, two-way conversations that encourage mutual learning—and praxis, which is the cycle of reflection and action. You reflect critically on your world, and then you act to change it.
  4. Liberation through Education For Freire, true education is liberating. As people develop cultural consciousness, they gain the power to transform themselves and their communities. Education becomes a tool for emancipation rather than domination.

In Short: Cultural consciousness is waking up to the invisible cultural forces that influence your life. It’s understanding your place in the world, recognizing systems of power and oppression, and feeling empowered to make change.

EEDCC Statement on the Israel-Palestine Conflict in Gaza

The Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Cultural Consciousness Subcommittee (EEDCC) is disturbed and saddened by the current violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  As a committee, we call for an end to violence against innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians.  The Committee understands and sympathizes with the complexity of the issues involved and calls for people of goodwill to find peaceful resolutions to the conflict.  

As part of our mission to “infuse equity and anti-racism throughout our college,” the Committee believes that one can legitimately criticize Israeli policies towards Palestinians without ascribing to anti-Semitic ideology.  Individuals can also condemn the violence of Hamas and other organizations without similarly ascribing to anti-Muslim or anti-Arab ideologies.  The Committee asks that everyone remember innocent civilians are being harmed as we speak and whatever our differences, we all still share a common humanity.