MSUM Anti-Racism Steering Team
Meeting
October 7, 2002
MacLean 268
Present:
Warren Wiese, Yoke-Sim Gunaratne, Phyllis May-Machunda,
Judy Peterson, Veronica Michael, Steve Pletta, Donna Rosh, David
Crockett, Ron Jeppson, Ryan Sylvester, Tracy Clark, and Linda
Palmer
Absent:
Ben Blair, Charane Wilson, Mary Richardson, Amy Phillips,
Peter Hartje, Aya Reid, Adam Troy, and Abner Arauza
·
Warren Wiese led an introductory exercise to share
personal information and diversity
information. Variety of past and future events discussed related to
diversity.
*10/10 –12 N Student
Diversity Forum, CMU Lounge
*10/10—8:30-10 am Diversity Teleconference, CB103
*10/12—Cultivate Our Cultures, Cultural Diversity Resources, at
Discovery School, Fargo
*10/20—International Student Picnic, 4-6. Hjemkomst Center
*10/25—President’s In-service for Faculty on Diversity
(Jan. 2003—Staff In-service on Diversity scheduled)
*10/29—Daughter of Navajo Code Talker presentation
·
College of Social & Natural Sciences has
developed Cultural Diversity Committee to
develop Cultural Diversity plan for
College, led by Olivia Melroe.
·
Discussion held on next meeting date.
The next meeting
will be November 4, from 12-2
pm
in CMU 203. A
regular meeting date needs to be determined after October 21.
·
The team will
also meet on October 25 for commissioning at the noon luncheon
of
the
President’s In-Service Day in CMU Ballroom.
Warren gave a review of the
October 25 program.
Invitations need to be extended to all team members to
attend the
day. This
group should be available and at the lunch for commissioning,
which will occur
at the beginning of lunch and last for
10-15 minutes. Remember
to register for the day if
possible; if not, register for lunch.
- Request for invitations to be sent out especially to student team
members who would not
have been invited to the workshop.
·
Group discussion of what our commissioning should
look like. We have
10-15 minutes for
commissioning.
-
Phyllis May-Machunda explained what occurred at the TOCAR
anti-racism team commissioning which occurred at Concordia College
and what is proposed for the commissioning which is scheduled for
October 17th at NDSU as part of President Chapman’s
State of the University address.
-
Should include some statement of what the work was about;
meaning of our existence as a working group.
-
Phyllis distributed a copy of the “Birmingham Pledge”
for all to review, stating that NDSU was considering using this as
part of their ceremony. However,
they also expressed some reservations about it since it only
addressed individual rather than institutional racism.
-
Could draw from group vision statements of an anti-racist
institution for ideas for President’s comments.
-
Could develop questions to distribute to the group to allow
for discussion throughout the day’s initiative.
-
Important for the campus community to know the President is
behind this and what the charge is for the group and the campus.
What is the vision, the goals and ask the university to
support this effort and be involved.
-
Suggestion that he talk about how this group is a
“steering committee” and there is further functional breakdown
of sub-units.
-
Suggestion that the President send out a letter that makes
us “official” on campus and who to contact for participation
in this effort. Colleges
will need to have dialog and work on a plan for their unit.
-
Important to be clear that there are two complementary
initiatives (Cultural Diversity Taskforce and TOCAR which promotes
institutional anti-racism) which are not the same and need to
clarify what they are so as not to confuse them or their
respective work.
-
University wide level of work needs to be Anti-Racist.
Cultural Diversity can be more localized and done in
different ways.
-
The President will mention the names of all members of this
group (10-15 minutes).
-
Veronica, Linda, Phyllis, and Warren will meet Thursday,
October 10, 3:00 pm to clarify what the President should address
in the commissioning and share it with the team by email.
·
This group also has the opportunity to visit with
Dr. Tess Arenas immediately following her
closing remarks at lunch up until she
needs to leave for the airport (promptly at 2 pm).
Beginning
team visions of what an anti-racist institution would look like (ideas
and issues from the team):
·
Institution has understanding of what institutional
racism is
·
Recognition that people must address both individual
and systematic racism
·
Acknowledgement of existence of institutional
racism, recognizing that it will always have to
be
addressed
·
Inclusive diversity
·
Ongoing education about racism and anti-racism
·
Development of a common language to talk about
racism and anti-racism
·
Organization has an institutional anti-racism plan,
even at the departmental level
·
Ongoing assessment would feed back into anti-racism
plan development
·
Everyone should feel tied into the institution
·
Safety for everyone
·
People of color need to feel that there is a place
for them
·
Expectations on the campus that the campus is
striving toward becoming anti-racist.
·
Zero tolerance for hate/bias
·
Presence of people of color at all levels
·
Success or failure is determined by only an
individual’s efforts
·
Providing students with information of what happens
to students when racism exists,
psychological effects.
·
Curriculum
development
·
Education of how ethnic identity is formed.
·
How you teach a discipline. Information that you incorporate and be sensitive to in
each
class.
·
Not business as usual; to do this will take extra
effort.
·
Diversity and understanding institutional racism. It
is a problem for everyone and not just
minorities.
·
Always need to be addressed when found.
·
Doing continual assessment
·
Safety for those in process; it is all right to
discuss without feeling oppressed.
·
Spend more time on institutional racism discussions.
·
Review personnel policies, and looking at what needs
to change to make it more inclusive.
·
Better informing and educating, especially those
individuals that display overt ignorance to
the
issues of difference. (not believing they are prejudiced but
display it)
·
Be influential for the life of a student to have a
“Diversity Credential” including class work,
involvement, organizational work, personal values assessment, etc.
·
Training and ongoing development
workshops/trainings. Recognize the turnover of students,
faculty and staff.
·
Make the students arriving feel as comfortable as
possible. Use the variety of student
organizations (OLA, BSA, International Student Club, etc.) more
effectively.
·
Strive for a campus where one’s success is
determined internally, not externally.
·
“Intentional” is important focus for our work.
·
Will need to work on quantifying success with
progress – goals/targets to strive for i.e., 12%
of
students would be people of color – need to recognize when
we’ve moved, or not.
·
Need to allow to evolve as to what we will still
want to do 5-10 years from now. May or
may
not be same issues as what we are dealing with today.
·
Figure out what would make people of color want to
come here? – How do we make that
happen? (students, faculty and staff)
·
Numbers are a huge issue for students. Need to see
themselves when they visit in others’
faces
they see on campus.
·
Same issue with money noted. Bidding wars go on for
faculty and students. MSUM needs
to
figure out what else that we can deliver that might be a deal
breaker; i.e., better
support, environment, good schools, health facilities, low crime,
generally friendly people,
etc.).
·
What will make us stand out as an anti-racist
institution?
·
Need to market better to get that message out.
·
Last hired, first fired is still a problem. What
needs to be changed to alleviate this?
Next question:
What information do we need to know to begin to help us
build this vision and make it real for MSUM?
Next Meeting – November 4, 12:00-2:00.
We will return to the
visions discussion, begin exploring how the sub-units might work,
debrief from the meeting with Dr. Arenas and the in-service, and
begin exploring what our readings might offer us.
Adjourned at 1:45 pm.
cc: Cabinet
