CSAB Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in ABET Accreditation Criteria

CSAB fully supports efforts to add guidance on diversity, equity, and inclusion to all general accreditation criteria for technical degree programs accredited by ABET. With program criteria, commissioners, and evaluators within all four of ABET’s Accreditation Commissions, CSAB is in the unique position to understand the importance of consistency across the programs ABET accredits.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not discipline-specific principles and should not be applied as such. We believe common language, including the definitions approved by the ABET Board of Directors some four years ago, can and should be used by all commissions, and further, that additional DEI requirements should be added to the general harmonized criteria.

We will continue to push for efforts that promote diversity, equity and inclusion across the computing disciplines and believe that accreditation criteria in this area is essential to elevate its importance across ABET-accredited programs. We encourage all of our programs, commissioners, and evaluators to do the same.

For more information on ABET’s top-level initiatives in this area, please visit https://www.abet.org/about-abet/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/.

Approved by the CSAB Board of Directors on Dec. 4, 2021.