Diversity Committee Meeting – Thursday, August 31, 2006
Present at meeting: Shantel Agnew, Kawanna Bright, Cheryl Drain, Linda Flynn, LaVerne Gray, Jill Keally, Thura Mack, Maribeth Manoff, Maud Mundava, Becky Roller, Molly Royse, Rita Smith, Thomas Smith, Gail Watson, Roger Weaver, Jeff French, Sandy Allen, Sara Green, Andy Madson, Jane Row, and Laura Purcell. Meeting Guests: Ann Viera, Margaret Casado, and Tiffani Conner.
1. Farewell to members rotating off & Welcome of New members
Kawanna said farewell to the members who are rotating off the committee, with this meeting being their last. Those able to attend the final meeting were Maud Mundava, Molly Royse, and Maribeth Manoff. Kawanna then welcomed the new members: Sandy Allen, Jeff French, Sara Green, Andy Madson, Laura Purcell, and Jane Row.
2. Announcements & Wrap-Ups
a. Fall Welcome Back Table: Kawanna thanked everyone who participated in putting on a successful Welcome Back event which included music, candy, free water and free information for students on the Monday and Tuesday prior to the first day of classes. Kawanna offered thanks for everyone who donated money for the gift certificates, and also the donations of water, candy and time. The event was very successful as a number of students stopped by for information. Four gift certificates were awarded from a random drawing.
b. Culture Corner – Future theme ideas (Maud): Maud announced that the Fall Corner is in place and open for viewing and use and encouraged everyone to take some time to visit. She thanked everyone who helped with the set up (names available on the Current Corner website). She also put out a preliminary call for ideas for the Spring 2007 corner. Jane Row mentioned that the current university “bridge” initiative is Appalachia as part of the International Intercultural initiative. Suggested that though we did Appalachia previously, we might want to consider doing it again. Kawanna mentioned that Appalachia was previously a summer theme and did not receive as much time and attention in the Corner as a fall or spring theme would.
c. New student organization on campus: Latino American Student Organization (LASO): Kawanna announced that Nataly Sumarriva, co-founder of a new organization called Latino American Student Organization (LASO) contacted her concerning the Diversity needs of the campus. Kawanna explained to Nataly what the role of the Libraries’ Diversity Committee is, but invited her to visit a committee meeting in the future to share information on LASO and also encouraged her to contact the Committee in the future if there was anything that we could help them with.
3. More on Diversity Training – Cultural Competence Experiences from Ann Viera and Margaret Casado
Ann explained that much of what she learned from the training and wanted to share with the committee were the ideas of evaluation, setting ground rules in meetings, and the role of facilitator. She wanted us to know the importance of the training. The theme is Ready for the World and part of this initiative talks about global competencies. Primary goal focuses on the student but creating an atmosphere that welcomes faculty and staff is also important.
Margaret talked about the International Literary Colloquy (Ann was involved as well) – which discussed books on the Mideast. Noted that people tended to monopolize the conversations so you only heard from 3 to 4 people. Thought that the ground rules from the Cultural Competence training could be taken to all meetings so that everyone would be able to talk. Margaret also did Life of the Mind where she facilitated Freshmen conversations. When faculty gathered to discuss the book itself and what they would do in the classes – same faces monopolized the conversations. Ann told Margaret about the cultural competence training. Margaret feels that the facilitation skills would be important. Having ground rules for conversations in meetings is key. Ann took Cultural Competence Express in the Summer – funded by Ready for the World (run out of Nutrition department). Highly recommended the program. Though the main focus was on health sciences for this particular session, there were many things that would work for a number of people in different fields. There are also plans to expand it across campus. One of the first things done dealt with ground rules and a post-it sign with the ground rules was posted on the wall. This made Ann think about her experiences in the Colloquy – There were students and faculty and the faculty spoke across the students. She then Googled and found basic facilitation skills online at www.iaf-world.org. If Ready for the World is doing this then campus wide should do it. Wants us to consider doing the competence training and also do facilitation. Wants us to consider having a cultural competence workshop in the library and then become a leader in this area. Also look at having a facilitation workshop here in the Library. Wants us to contact the leaders of Cultural Competence – Elizabeth Strand and Betsy Haughton, etal. To set up something with the Libraries.
Tom’s comment: pretty familiar with these concepts – presented as part of a feminist- movement concept (understanding that most people who talk are the white guys). Knows that students take facilitation seriously and look at some of the experiences of students as they run their groups and learn lessons from them directly.
LaVerne – facilitated through OED? Ann does not think so. Betsy Haughton has plans to evaluate the program – she has trained the trainers and the attendees fill out evaluations.
Roger: Was this a train the trainers? Ann: NO, their trainer had been trained.
Rita: What do you feel you came out of it with? Do you feel you could facilitate? Ann: Not really – for her personally it was about the process of improvement – had come out of some poorly run things, and it was refreshing. Her biggest problem is cultural competence with the Chinese pathologist in the Ag School – what do I do with them? You come out with a new plan, your own plan.
Kawanna thanked Ann and Margaret and agreed that the Committee would put the idea of the Express workshop at the Libraries and a facilitation discussion on the list of possible goals for the Committee in the future that would be discussed in the coming weeks.
4. Diversity Climate Assessment Reissuing? – Tiffani Conner
Tiffani Conner –reintroduced herself and described the first issuing of the climate assessment done by UT in 2001. One of the goals was to rerun it in 3 to 5 years. It is now 2006 and Tiffani is back at UT. She always wanted to stick to the goal of rerunning it for a longitudinal study to see what effects the committee and it’s activities have had on the Libraries. What has changed during the gap?
2 objectives – 1. reissue the survey here and 2. compare the results with results she got from a similar survey she issued during her time at UCONN.
Has 2 requests for the Committee: 1st - Would like to get approval from the Committee to reissue the survey and 2nd - used Survey Monkey which needs a subscription. Would need funds to purchase a subscription – 19.95 month (minimum of 2 months needed) to give people time to respond. Could buy a one year subscription. Wants to use Survey monkey because it is what she used in Connecticut. Jeff French mentioned that the Library already has a subscription to Survey Monkey so that request may already be filled. Tiffani will check with Donna Braquet who originally requested a subscription about the rules of use.
Jane mentioned that she needs IRB approval and Tiffani already has the paperwork ready to go. Roger asked if the Committee would have any input into the instrument. Tiffani initially said no but later agreed that if the Committee had additional questions they would like to see asked, then that was possible. It just wouldn’t be possible to remove or rewrite anything from the survey used at UCONN for the sake of making comparisons.
Target group is the Library – faculty, staff, and students (but not students might be eliminated due to large number of turnovers). Idea is to measure the climate, looking at the climate overall in the Libraries.
The main question was “Is this going to be Diversity Committee sponsored?” Kawanna stated that there were 2 questions at hand
1. Does the Committee want to see the survey first before giving their approval?
2. Will it be diversity committee supported?
The Committee agreed that they would like to see the questions first before offering approval. Many questions on the original survey addressed the Committee, so the Committee agrees it should be involved in some way. The Committee also wants to make sure that if it is reissued, then the goals should be made very clear.
The Committee agreed that it would take a look at both surveys (the UT original and the UCONN version) and make a decision about approval. Kawanna will send out an e-mail with the links to the surveys and ask the Committee to review and send their vote. The Committee thinks this will bring us closure and also give us great information about our activities.
5. Status of Ernestine Bright’s position at the Libraries – Tom Smith
Tom Smith updated everyone on the status of Ernestine Bright’s position as the Libraries daytime housekeeper. Background information: Service Solutions, the company that employs Ernestine lost the cleaning contact at the Libraries and the currently employed staff would have to reapply, in which Ernestine did. Over a hundred members of the staff and faculty signed a collective letter of reference for Ernestine and members of the Administration also wrote letters of reference. However, on Tuesday it was learned through Ernestine that the positions were filled and she was not granted an interview. Tom and many others fear that this may be an issue of ageism and called a meeting to discuss things on the 30th. Letters were also sent to Alan Chesney at Human Resources. Tom reported that earlier that day he spoke with Ernestine and learned that she was given an interview for the position and may have a chance to continue her work. Tom will update us on the situation if any new information is found.
6. A Diversity Committee Book Club?
Kawanna mentioned the idea of starting a diversity book club through the Diversity Committee but for everyone in the Libraries. This idea came from a previous discussion via e-mail with Ann Viera who suggested it. Kawanna suggested that the idea be added to the list of possible future activities or goals and discussed by the Committee.
7. Introduction of Goals discussion for 2006-2007.
Kawanna introduced the goals discussion for the Committee for 2006-2007. The committee will need to take a look at the current goals and decide which ones need to remain and which ones should be removed or revamped. Rita mentioned the importance of matching the goals in the Libraries’ priority action plan and Kawanna agreed that she would take a look at the current one to see what there is related to diversity, though much of it will probably mirror what the Committee has already contributed. Kawanna encouraged everyone to think about the goals and to suggest new goals for consideration. Discussions would be made via e-mail if necessary to finalize things.
8. Introduction of Sub-committee self-selection for 2006-2007
Kawanna mentioned the sub-division of the Committee into two working groups or sub-committees: Outreach and Staff Enrichment. She explained to the new committee members that though everyone helps with Committee activities, due to the size of the Committee it is often better to plan and organize activities in the smaller working groups. Kawanna will send out reminders of the need to select a group and also descriptions of the groups to the members. Kawanna also mentioned that each group would need a convener – someone to call sub-committee meetings, keep track of activities and progress and share the groups activities with the Committee as a whole during meetings. She encouraged everyone to consider being a convener and also suggested talking to previous conveners if there were questions as to responsibilities.
9. Meeting dates for the fall
Kawanna mentioned that the Committee traditionally schedules meetings every two weeks on Thursdays between 1 and 2:30. If anyone wants to suggest different meeting dates or times then they should send those to her as soon as possible so that decisions could be made for the Fall. There will be no meeting on September 14th as there is a Diversity Training program taking place that day. Members are encouraged to attend. The next meeting of the Committee will be on Thursday, September 28, 2006, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm in Hodges 150.
Respectfully Submitted by Kawanna Bright
September 2, 2006