Anti-Racism Consultation Committee

Executive Summary of Minutes

April 25th, 2016 | 7:30-9:00pm EDT

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In Attendance

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Kijai Corbett; Joanne Corbin; Rory Crath; Denise Goitia; Dri Huber; Irene Rodriguez Martin; Fred Newdom; Peggy O’Neill; Manuel Ortiz; Denis Vidal; Laurie Wyman; Marianne Yoshioka

Absent

Yvette Colón; Elizabeth Gonzalez; Nina Gonzalez; Gabrielle Holder; Cole Hooley; Katelin Lewis-Kulin; Kai Lynch; Emely Velez

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  1. Welcome, who is on the call, review of agenda and minutes
  2. Our half day meeting (Sunday, June 5th): agenda planning. We identified the following agenda items for our half day meeting.
  3. What data do we wish to collect/monitor to understand our progress toward the anti-racismcommitment?
  4. Clarifying how SSW community members may join the ARCC.
  5. Clarifying the role and relationship of the Anti-Racism Task Force to the ARCC.
  6. Now that the ARCC has become the central body to organize and coordinate activities around the Anti-Racism committee, the Task Force has struggled to understand its role. We will brainstorm what the future of the Task Force may look like.
  7. Developing an action agenda for 2016-2017.
  8. Developing a plan for how we can keep SSW community members informed about the work of the ARCC and introduce new students to the ARCC.
  9. Understanding the Critical Conversations facilitation model: A discussion about the model and how it works.
  10. Follow up from petition items: There is additional information regarding three of the petition items
  11. Item 6: All faculty will be required to attend at least one Pedagogy and Diversity meeting per summer for consultation on skillfully incorporating anti-racism into pedagogy.
  12. As we discussed last meeting, while all faculty will be encouraged to attend P&D, we have committed to training all instructors in the Critical Conversations facilitation model (Kang & O’Neill, 2016). While it is our intention to also train all students and staff, we will prioritize the training of the faculty this year.
  13. Item 7: Administration will work with students to design and implement mid-term feedback form as an “instant evaluation tool” to assess whether anti-racism pedagogy is adequately reflected in each course.
  14. We are mindful of the need to involve all instructors in the development of this feedback mechanism rather than pushing it on them.
  15. This summer, how can students bring feedback questions into the classroom?
  16. Given there has been a clear student voice to request feedback
  17. Can the sequence Chairs and/or course coordinators gather the kinds of feedback questions currently used by some faculty and circulate these questions to their instructional faculty to engage them in discussion.
  18. Can we reach out to student leaders to help us formulate useful questions and get suggestions re: what works and what doesn’t work so that we have good information for next year?
  19. Item 11: Smith curriculum will demonstrate value for diverse and multimodal ways of knowing by including non-peer reviewed materials such as blog posts, multi-media, poetry, and visual media to include authors, and creators of knowledge who are not based in traditional academic institutions.
  20. We sent out a survey to instructors to gather information about what kinds of materials they are using in the classroom that bring in diverse perspectives and ways of knowing. What instructors do is varied.
  21. The proposed research elective to gather and identify these resources did not enroll. Nonetheless Professor Park and Professor Crath will offer this as a thesis option to 4-12 students.
  22. The midtermfeedback tool can also provide information re: what other materials could be helpful to include.
  23. Can we provide student testimonials re: what they gain from having a range of material from different perspectives and voices incorporated into the classroom?
  24. Can the student Curriculum Committee together with E4 create an annotated student database of materials (e.g., what is it, what class it can be used in, and why it’s important)?
  25. Transparency and communication to the SSW community
  26. We have identified the following activities to provide information to the SSW community:
  27. Providing agendas and executive summaries of our meetings on the website and linked in the Buzz.
  28. Hosting a Town Hall early in Term 1.
  29. Create a Play Back option where information is provided electronically with an open comment period so that feedback can be incorporated.
  30. Tabling with materials: organize tables in the dining hall and Seelye to provide information, conversation one on one regarding ARCC and its work.
  31. Utilize some of the Friday’s Dean’s open hours to discuss ARCC with have ARCC members in attendance.
  32. Syllabi Update Survey: see above 3.c.i
  33. Anticipating summer campus climate: Before we table or hold a town hall, it is important to provide an updated communication to the community by May 15 to remind folks about what has transpired, and what the ARCC has been working on over the past 8 months.

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