“I am a human being; I consider nothing human alien to me.”

This line by the Latin playwright Terence from the second century BCE embodies a guiding principle of comparative literature. Inclusivity is inherent to our discipline, which studies the ways that literature crosses and questions linguistic and cultural boundaries. Terence himself began life as a North African slave before becoming a leading literary figure in Rome, and the play in which this line appears is an adaptive translation of an earlier Greek comedy. Embracing the variety of human experience and imagination and their literary expression, the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University has a strong history of and commitment to fostering diversity, cultural competency, and intercultural cooperation through its transnational approach to research, teaching, recruitment, and hiring. We maintain an intellectual environment that supports the endeavors of students, faculty, and staff regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, nationality, immigration status, disability, economic class, or political affiliation. These practices reflect our departmental values of inclusivity, collegiality, and cosmopolitanism.