[notes compiled by M. Rock]

Attended: Jason Burrow, Wylie Chen, Peter Gilke, Lisa Frankel, Dave Hubin, Jessica Billingslea, John Riordan, John Mosley, Mia Tuan, J. Shiao, Missy Rock, Laura Blake Jones, Troy Franklin, Mike Eyster.

Meeting Minutes:

1) Introductions

2) Miscellaneous note: Get Jessie Wofsy in touch with Provost Mosely about a model for Response Team at Arizona State University similar to the proposed idea for the Bias Response Team for the U of O.

3) Create a Work Group to continue the Diversity work started by the Summer Internships.

• (Mosley) it is not normal practice to give course relief for professors for this type of work. It is not the intention to continue w/ the paid internships. One option would be to give credit, therefor the advisor role could be worked out better. Another option is to have an internship and thus the $ come out of a certain office that it would work under.
• (John) however, the point is not to get locked down to the agenda of one specific office.
• (Missy) Need to keep working out of a central location/ centralize the effort… it is good to have it coming out of the President’s Office. Also, the $ compensation for time might be necessary b/c credits don’t always compensate for time – plus after 18 credit hours, you have to pay per credit. Also becomes an access issue to those that need to work for the $, but also regarding it being strictly work-study, not everyone interested in this work has work-study.
• (Mosley) The new budget model can give tuition remission for credits over 18 if necessary.
• (Hubin) Instead of trying to just continue, look at the successes and try to figure out how to continue the successes rather than the specific internships. How do we tweak the existing structure to recreate the successes?
• (Wylie) What is seen that creates the hesitation to continue the internships?
• (Mosley) We need to keep the effort going, the question is how?
• (Hubin) We want to continue the effort, but don’t want it to look like it is an "in group" pushing it forward.
• (J. Shiao) We are discussing 2 distinct things. (1) How will we present the work done. (2) Will/can the internships continue the work [we need to outline the pro’s & con’s of different models of how to continue the work the interns started].
• (Hubin) We should shift to the Diversity Agenda b/c our goal is not to extend by position the "loaned executives" or internships but the diversity agenda.
• (Mosley) Biggest challenge is to broaden the campus understanding and acceptance of this agenda.
• (John) comes down to PR (public relations) – how do we get the info out/ communicate?
• (Mia Tuan) Going back to the concern raised at an earlier Steering Committee Meeting, how are we going to reach the "middle majority"? This is a teachable moment… how do we present this to everyone? Much of this is related to safety – a commitment to having a safe campus… but there are differences between short and long-term safety. We will still have a crisis every so often, but what we do then is of concern. Reminded of the Chinese character for "crisis." It is composed of two characters put together. One means "danger" and the other means "opportunity." We should turn our crisis times into the opportunity for a teachable moment.
• (Lisa Frankel) seconds what Mia said. Also, we need to identify standing committees and student bodies to have them get involved and hand over some of the "control" to get more buy-in. Need to go through established channels.
• (Missy) But, we need a group to push the agenda forward in these channels, etc…
• (Hubin) Are standing bodies appropriate for dealing with these? If not, why? We need to list the pro’s and con’s of what has happened and what/who should have dealt with it and why they haven’t/ hadn’t.
• (John) Maybe we need something new – not something different – but something to push the envelope for change.
• (Jessica) Addressing the middle majority, we do need to go through due process, but do we address it by giving them the topics to push them forward?
• (Gilke) Some issues do fit into the existing structures and some don’t.
• (Wylie) It’s hard to give it up to people who may not understand the issue enough to push it forward.
• (Lisa Frankel) There is a balance/ tension between activism and institutionalization.
• (Mia Tuan) What is our intent? The person who made the inflammatory remarks in the spring – created a teachable moment. But that didn’t happen and now there is no telling what could happen with this student, or in general. Creates anxiety.
• (Wylie) gave an example of something that happened at orientation. A white female incoming student made a comment to a black male student regarding his high test scores and GPA. The comment was along the lines of - wow, that’s pretty high for a black person. Point being, from the moment that students step on campus they are creating and being part of the community. Freshman could have an added orientation on diversity issues, but it needs to be an institutionalized routine. Send a message to foster a better climate.
• (Mosely) We can’t be prohibiting naïve comments. We’re going to get students from all facets and values of society…
• (Missy) But we can turn these incidents into "teachable moments." Need to have the University be a place to foster understanding and be equipped to take advantage of these opportunities for "teachable moments."
• (Laura Blake Jones) we need to start "institutionalizing [the] activism"…. Pairing people with channels. We still need people to coordinate the effort.
• Institutionalizing the Steering committee? Diversity internships?
• Can the work be taken up by the President’s Council on Race (PCR)?
• Can we change the PCR?

Should work on a proposal regarding how to continue the diversity work – first step… what should be covered in the Proposal:

1. To whom it should be presented
2. What tasks need to be done?
3. Cost/Benefit analysis of the SDI’s
4. Status of the Coordinator
5. Student Compensation
6. Workload
7. How does it fit into the big picture?
8. What is the relationship with standing bodies?

FAC, OMA, Student Life, President’s Office, ASUO, Interns, Student Senate, University Senate.

[Steering Committee page]

[Diversity Initiatives page]