Commission on Diversity and Inclusion April 16, 2018 ~ 10:30 a.m. Student Union, Ballroom A. Minutes

Transcription

1 Commission on Diversity and Inclusion April 16, 2018 ~ 10:30 a.m. Student Union, Ballroom A Minutes In Attendance: Edythe Abdullah, Parvez Ahmed, Nancy Broner, Kathie Carswell, Pam Chally, Lucy Croft, Alison Cruess, Mark Dawkins, Jenna DuPilka, John Frank, Joanna Hillman, Rudy Jamison Jr., Aiyin Jiang, Glenda Kelsey, Nina Lee, Kaitlin Legg, Cody Lewin, Chadwick Lockley, Ruth Lopez, Dan Moon, Jennifer Nutt, Curtis Phills. Thomas Pluchon, Issa Ramaji, Tom Serwatka, Justin Sipes, and Sheila Spivey. Item 1 Call to Order Chair Dawkins called the meeting to order at 10:35 a.m. and welcomed everyone. As this was the last meeting of the academic year, he explained refreshments were provided and encouraged members to help themselves, Chair Dawkins advised that co-chair, Tom Serwatka could not be in attendance as he had a meeting with President Delaney. He then noted that there were new members and asked the committee to introduce themselves. Item 2 Approval of Minutes Chair Chair Dawkins asked for approval of the minutes from CODI s February 28, 2018 meeting. Nina Lee offered a motion. The motion was seconded by Dr. Dan Moon. The minutes were approved as presented. Item 3 Campus Climate Survey Chair Dawkins reminded the committee that this ad hoc committee, chaired by Edythe Abdullah, was asked to put together the 2018 campus climate survey. Last month, the committee members were sent the survey to test and provide feedback. The goal is have the survey ready, if Dr. Szymanski approves, to distribute in September. Dr. Abdullah said that the first survey was sent out four years ago to students and faculty to capture the opinions on campus diversity and inclusion. This year, for the first time, the campus climate survey meshes UNF s previous campus climate survey with the HERI survey. Using questions from the HERI will allow us to make comparisons to national data. Using questions from UNF s previous campus climate surveys will allow us to make longitudinal comparisons. Dr. Abdullah then turned it over to Justin Sipes to discuss the feedback received from the survey and the recommendations of the committee. Mr. Sipes thanked the committee for their feedback on the survey and said that they incorporated as much feedback as they could. Some questions were taken from the national survey and could not be changed so we can compare ourselves to other universities. 1

2 Dr. Abdullah advised that it is ultimately up to the new president to decide to disseminate it to the campus community. To that end, we need an introduction as to the purpose of the survey to run it by him. The open ended questions will provide us with great information so we can make good decisions. Chair Dawkins welcomed Dr. Pam Chally, Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Dr. Chally stated that she was happy to be here and her plan was just to listen to the committee discussions. As a wrap up to Item 3, Chair Dawkins said that at this point we re ready to go if President Syzmanski approves the survey to go out in September. It is important to know where we stand as a campus. Not only do we want to compare the results to the 2014 survey but also use it as a baseline for national data. Dr. Lucy Croft suggested it would be helpful to know what key items were implemented as a result of the 2014 feedback. She said for example, CODI is one. Chair Dawkins agreed with that suggestion. Item 4 Update on CODI's Difference Appreciation Initiative Director Alison Cruess said that on April 3 they held Courageous Conversations #4, the topic of which was bystander intervention. The idea behind bystander intervention is when we see/hear troubling or potentially harmful behavior, we have the choice to either interrupt the problematic behavior or remain complacent and allow the situation to escalate. Director Cruess said Dr. Jenny Stuber provided a marvelous presentation and a toolkit for students, faculty and staff to use in everyday life. The format of this conversation was content delivery for 45 minutes to an hour then to break out in groups with table leaders to discuss case studies. The group then came back together, with Dr. Stuber facilitating a discussion of the takeaways. Director Cruess is currently working on Courageous Conversations #5 for the fall and needs suggestions for a topic. She advised that if the topic is broad we seem to get more people who need to be in the room. We will need to make the decision over the summer for topic of discussion. Director Cruess thanked all the table leaders for their time and expertise. Director Cruess shared the Difference Appreciation tracking chart. She asked members if there is something from their area missing from the chart to please let her know. UDAE is holding a retreat on May 17 and is looking for someone to speak 45 minutes to an hour on conflict resolution to about 40 people. On November 8, CODI will present to UDAE about what CODI is doing. Associate Director Oupa Seane has been conducting outreach to high school students in underrepresented churches and centers to let them know UNF is a place we would like them to consider. It was suggested that there are organizations that already cater to minorities so maybe Oupa can also reach out to those organizations and also to the LGBT community. Chair Dawkins asked that if any committee members know of organizations that Oupa could speak to, to please let him or Alison know. These organizations are not limited to race or ethnicity.

3 Item 5 Presidential Diversity & Inclusion Award Dr. Curtis Phills, chair of the 2018 Presidential Diversity & Inclusion Award committee, thanked the committee for their work. It is a great opportunity to recognize people who are doing great things. There were 51 total nominations Of these, 26 were unique Of the 26 unique nominations, 12 were for faculty members, 9 were for staff members, 4 were for students and 1 was a combination student/staff member. The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the Commission on Diversity & Inclusion (CODI) by the end of May. The committee has reached out to the people who were nominated to send in materials, then they will schedule interviews, and finally make a decision in May. The committee will be given prior notice of the recipient selected, so they can provide their comment. The recipient of the Presidential Diversity and Inclusion Aware will be recognized at the fall convocation. Item 6 Underrepresented Faculty Recruitment Update Chair Dawkins said that we talked a great deal at our last meeting about the recruitment of underrepresented faculty, an area we continue to try to improve. CODI is planning the University s participation in two upcoming faculty recruitment conferences. They are: The 2018 SREB (Institute of Teaching/Mentoring) is October (Thu-Sun) in Arlington, VA The 2018 McKnight Conference is November 2-4 (Fri-Sun) in Tampa, FL Chair Dawkins is working to involve the deans on a type of rotating schedule so we can have a dean attend these conferences. Additionally, we are seeking one faculty member to attend each as well. If you are interested and available on these particular dates, please let him know. Sometimes we can t get faculty, so if staff are interested in attending, please let him know. Chair Dawkins welcomed Chair Tom Serwatka to the meeting. Item HEED Award Application Director Cruess said that the last three out of four years, UNF has won the HEED award. The one year we didn t win is because we didn t apply. She provided links to the application and responses are due by June 1. Even if members can only provide input for a couple of the questions, you input is needed. She asked members to encourage participation from this departments, colleges and divisions. Full application Faculty-focused application (subset of above)

4 The month of June will be spent compiling the needed information and submitting the application (due June 30). Chair Serwatka advised that Melonie Handerson has been instrumental in the past in compiling all the responses for the application, however, she has other duties now and will be unable to do that. If you know of anyone with organizational skills who can assist in this endeavor, please let him or Alison know. Item 8 Announcements for the Commission Chair Dawkins invited members of the committee to share any information from their areas relating to diversity, inclusion and equity. The following items were shared: Kaitlin Legg, from the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Resource Center shared recent and upcoming events as well as remind the committee about the preferred name policy. The Intracultural Center for Peace is looking for mentors for First Time in College students. Kathie Carswell, from the College of Computing, Engineering & Construction, gave a recap of events for recruiting minorities, including the Introduce a Girl to Engineering event. Nancy Bronner, from One Jax, said they just held their Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner with one of the honorees being President John Delaney. They are starting conversations called Community Desserts which is an off shoot of Community Suppers. On May 1, they will hold their next Civil Discourse event. Joanna Hillman, from the Women s Center, said they hold Friday Lounge on Friday afternoons where students meet to talk about any topics. This Friday is the end of year celebration. Jennifer Nutt, from the Student Union, said she can help others market their events, whether the events are held in the Student Union or not. She would love to highlight the different events on campus, so please reach out to her. One example is advertising on the digital boards at the Student Union, of which there are 60. Rudolph Jamison, from the College of Education and Human Services, stated that Rodhey Hurst will host a walking tour at the Center for Urban Education and Policy, Bldg. 57, Suite 1070, on Thursday evening ( ) from 6:00p-8:30p. While not an announcement, Sheila Spivey had a recommendation for the Committee. She suggested that it would be nice to have some type of way to track hate and bias incidents that are happening on campus. It would need to be a formalized tracking system and be systematically used. Dr. Serwatka said that the President would need to approve it. Item 9 CODI Conversation Director Cruess Introduced the topic of "faceless intolerance" for discussion. She started off by listing events that have happened on campus that were brought to her attention. Intolerance is the unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own. Faceless is the sneaky, underhanded component added to the picture. Is there anything the University or CODI can do to ease faceless intolerance? This was followed by a robust conversation by the committee. Some of the comments included:

5 Cover every kind of identity. The University can put up positive statements. We are UNF - professors, students, FTIC. We can t eliminate hate speech but can send a different mindset - we take great pride in our diversity. Come up with campaigns that celebrate our differences. Make sure their space reflects that we value diversity and inclusiveness. UPD was reported to say campaigns like that spur people like that to do more. Reclaim your space. Think about what type of campaign would be most effective. UCF &FSU have done campaigns of diversity. Power of Me and PSAs that play at events and games. The collectiveness of us. FSU had support from the top of the administration and has really been pushed as one of the defining features and branded on their website. They made a conscience decision not to use diversity and inclusion but we. People are feeling more embolden in their hate speech. Hate speech is protected by the 1 st amendment. Us represents America (session theme in last week s Generation W conference) Not just marketing but incorporate programming around that in a sustainable way so that it becomes part of our culture. Need a representative of UPD to CODI. Swastika on campus is a threat. It says we are here. Need Clery Act warning as ongoing and serious threat. What rises to the level of threat? As a student, I was not even aware that these things are going on. I like communication with students if these actions are ongoing. There is a lot of miscommunication. We need to know what to report, how, when. Ties back to Sheila s recommendation to have a place to report this. If system is put in place we need to provide a response. What support is available? Campaign needs to be ongoing and provide the answer to what does it mean to be respectful to others. Dr. Serwatka will follow back up with Dr. Phills on what rises to the level to issue a Clery Act warning. Item 10 Next CODI Meeting Date Chair Dawkins said the committee will meet once over the summer. Alison will send a Doodle Poll out before the end of the week to determine the best date and time of the summer meeting. He thanked everyone for coming today and encouraged them to help themselves to any remaining refreshments. Item 13 Adjournment Chair Dawkins adjourned the meeting at 11:55 a.m.