Diversity Team Minutes

January 24, 2017

In attendance: Dawn Nasser, Suzanna Aguirre, Ana Nasser, Dr. Stefanie Davis, Kellie McBride, Stan Oglesby

  1. Coone’s Catalog/shirt: Do we want team shirts so that we are easily identifiable at events (or just to promote diversity)? Suzanna brought the Coone’s catalog and will pick out 2-3 shirts for us to pick if we choose to. We would have to pay for the shirt ourselves and with logo it may be as high as $50. Most people at the meeting today seemed in favor of shirts. Please let me know your thoughts.
  1. Clothesline Project: April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, so we will have The Clothesline Project shirts and information up during the 1st week in April. Please mark your calendars to help set-up smaller displays in each building; we will set-up Friday, March 31 around 2:00-3:00PM. The displays will remain up for the entire week and we will take them down Friday, April 7th! Right now we have a little over 8- shirts, but if you know of anyone that would like to paint one, please let me know; we do have more shirts and paint.
  1. First Thoughts activity: Dawn found some diversity activities online to help spark our ideas and also to potentially use at our events.
  1. PANEL idea: This is a big one and took up most of the meeting (we met for almost 2 hours!). We are in the planning stages of doing a panel series (1 per semester) on “The American Experience in ______”. We will begin by having a small one this semester and relate it to Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence. Dawn will meet with someone from the Rape Crisis Center to get ideas about speakers/panel members. Stefanie suggested we find a nurse who has “Sane Training” (this nurse could also provide valuable information to our nursing students about getting certified). The ultimate plan is to have the topic decided1 semester in advance so that we can invite instructors/classes; this will allow the instructor to include the panel and a write-up in their syllabus. Stefanie will begin speaking with people in her departments; we want the instructors and students to see the benefits that these panels will have! The ultimate goal is to gain understanding, see various perspectives, and provide facts that may not be accessible to people that aren’t submersed in a field. We all agree that we will need to find professional and educated panel members and we need a moderator that can easily handle any negative comments/sway the conversations to keep on point of understanding and knowledge. We do not want one-sided panels!
  1. What do we do with Al??lol.

Though Al was not in attendance, we had to acknowledge that he has been a very valued member (and once chair of the team). He has brought about ideas, created friendships, and opened up the hearts and minds of many. Al will be much missed, but we wish him the best in his retirement! Stopping there so no tears are shed yet. The team will be emailed separately to share plans for a retirement bash.

  1. Black History Month: We don’t want to keep doing the same events that we have the past few years. Dawn will reach out to DACC staff that may be able to help with events/ideas. We will have a few new ideas this year; an agenda to list these will be created once events and ideas are finalized.
  1. Other items/Open:
  2. That cabinet we need to move and I keep forgetting about!!
  3. Food Festival in November went well; we had 24 dishes and 3 student volunteers.