Diversity Committee Meeting Minutes: November 19, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Room 150

Announcements:

• The 2016 meeting dates were sent in an email
• There is a subcommittee for the upcoming Black Issues Conference, they will communicate via email

Lunch and Learn Series:

• In good communication with speakers for Spring
• Possibly join with student organizations such as:
  • Multicultural Grad Student
  • Communication and Information
  • Vol Update
  • Student faith based groups- Megan will send out a list to the group so we can add to it
• Money left in the budget for advertising
  • Look into radio spot on The Rock, in the past a $50 donation
  • Megan will ask for click statistics from past online Beacon ad
  • Lil’a will reach out to the Beacon to ask a student to cover the event for an article

Presentation on the Diversity& Inclusion in LIS conference:

• Keila recently attended the conference and came back with a very insightful presentation including these takeaways:
  • The keynote speaker focused on micro aggressions
  • Diversity in ILS is low compared to the US average with only 11% up only 1% in the past ten years
  • Increased inclusion does not always equal social acceptance based on interviews with members of minorities
  • Analyzing one’s own privilege helps to create a culturally competent professional
  • Cataloging needs to expand subject headings to accommodate intersectionality
  • Always start with questions, not assumptions

How to bring these themes to UTK:

• Strategic Planning and Steering committee is already focused on civility, diversity, and inclusion and is talking to leaders around campus
• A staff/ faculty training session
  • Members of the Administration support this
  • Possible topics:
    • Accessing your privilege
    • Implicit bias
  • Need to make this different than typical HR training
• Target departments individually
• More than one session
• Address rank (faculty vs staff; tenure track vs not; etc)
• Understand these are sensitive subjects
• Make it mainstream
• Outside facilitator

Next meeting: No meeting in December. Next meeting is Thursday January 21 at 1:00pm in room 150

In Attendance:

Anne Hulse
Cathy Jenkins
Keila Zayas-Ruiz
Lili’a Neville
Megan Veneable
Melaine Allen
Michelle Brannen
Regina Mays
Sarah Holt
Seth Jordan
Thura Mack