Equality VCU Meeting: August 26, 2014

Equality VCU Meeting: August 26, 2014

Karen Bell

Liz Canfield

Kelly Chroninger

Donna Coghill

Brie Dubinsky

Dorothy Fillmore

Richard Godbeer

George Kelly

Sarah Loritsch

Amy Miller

Wanda Mitchell

Dale Smith

Logan Vetrovec

Lisa Webb

Jeff Wing

Faith Wilkerson

Update on LGBTQ Coordinator Position (Dr. Wanda Mitchell):

●President Rao met with Dr. Mitchell to discuss issues facing the LGBTQ community--he indicated desire to move forward with same-sex benefits and with expanding the non-discrimination policy.

●William Decatur and Madelyn Wessel are looking at policies here at VCU that may inhibit our recruitment and are working with Dr. Rao and Dr. Mitchell on moving forward with the effort in support of same-sex benefits and with expanding the non-discrimination policy.

●Benefits for same-sex couples: Dr. Mitchell acknowledged Equality VCU’s advocacy at the state and VCU level. VCU is not currently legally able to offer same-sex benefits, but this is going to be changing and her office is working closely with Madelyn and William to look at ways to implement this when that benefit may be offered.

●Expanding non-discrimination statement: Will include sexual orientation (per Madelyn and Dr. Rao) and working toward goal of including gender identity expression. There was discussion regarding the inclusion of gender identity, as several members of Equality VCU noted that this has already been approved by the Board of Visitors and Faculty Senate. Dr. Mitchell emphasized that this is her goal and that Madelyn is working closely with her to include this in the updated non-discrimination statement. She indicated that Madelyn is working on the language of the policy, and Jeff asked if Madelyn could come and meet with Equality VCU to explain possible roadblocks to achieving that goal. Dr. Mitchell is moving forward with the goal of gender identity and expression as a protected component of the non-discrimination statement.

●Launching a new search for LGBT coordinator: Dr. McKenna Brown is chairing the search committee. Dr. Mitchell noted that Camilla Hill is serving in a part-time capability to assist them in the interim as they work towards finding a permanent person for that position.

●Pat Griffin is coming back through the Grace Harris Leadership Program. Dr. Mitchell will meet with Pat to review our progress on her recommendations from last year, and will be discussing same-sex benefits and expanding the non-discrimination statement.

●OTHER COMMENTS:

○Dr. Mitchell also noted a goal of gender-neutral restrooms.

○Pat comes in as a part of the "If You Can Play, You Can Play" (IYCPYCP) program. Lisa asked if there would be a public event, and Camilla is fairly sure that there will be an event for students. Equality VCU will have a chance to meet with her, and Lisa recommended asking Pat to consider returning to present to the larger VCU community.

○Jeff asked if Pat will interact with the club sports, and Lisa indicated that they'll be presenting that IYCPYCP project on October 9th at 11:00 AM. Jeff is hoping that there will be an emphasis that the IYCPYCP will apply to club sports just as much as team sports.

○Dr. Mitchell indicated a desire to bring Pat back for a second discussion and that she could spend a half day with Equality VCU to discuss progress.

Non-Discrimination Statement (Donna Coghill)

●Donna said that she and Kaylin worked together to create a summary and they are close to having something they'd like to share with everyone. Mostly they are highlighting Dr. Rao's indicated commitment, and will cite our peers and partners in Virginia universities as examples, and how that goal ties in with our university's commitment to excellence and the Quest for Distinction.

Housing (Dale Smith)

●Dale explained his work with Campus Pride Index Workgroup and noted that he and Jan Altman met with Housing in the summer. Housing offered to start a lavender housing community if the Index Workgroup (represented by Dale and Jan) can show student interest and provide programming in support of the effort. He and Jan will meet with them again in the fall to determine exactly what they need to move forward with the project. ODU did this with a seed group of 18 students, which provides us with a hopeful model for something similar here at VCU, where we will have even more students interested in participating. Faith indicated that she can help Dale send out a Google poll to students to assist in demonstrating interest. Dale suggested also polling students through the MyVCU Portal.

●Lisa said that Camilla asked to announce that housing has allowed same-partner room sharing for employees.

●Jeff noted that the timeline for implementing Lavender Housing could be expedited if we could get housing to agree in fall 2014 that this should happen next fall (2015). We would have to move pretty quickly in trying to establish/demonstrate student interest. Lisa suggested that we work with Dale to get a survey out ASAP so that he would have the data to present to Housing when he and Jan met with them again in the fall. Faith asked the group to contact the Equality VCU email address with any programming they could provide in support of the effort--please email if you can help.

Burnside-Watstein Update (Dorothy Fillmore)

●Monday, October 27th, 3:00 - 4:30

●TeleGRAM notices will go out on September 2, 2014 and the following week, giving the month of September for gathering nominations. Rachel Douglas will chair the selection committee. Catering reached out to Dorothy and Jeff in support of the event. Dr. Mitchell is sending out a letter to the higher administration asking for nominations. Jeff asked the group to add Dr. Melissa Exum to the loop to make sure it's on her calendar--Donna added her to the Google document. Dorothy will also send out a save the date to the Facebook group.

Diversity Open Forums (Logan Vetrovec)

●Two open forums:

○September 17th: The “D” Word: Does Diversity Matter in the Health Profession?

○November 13th: Being Trans: A Patient’s Perspective Dispelling the “Average Patient” Myth with Dr. Tarynn Witten

■Taryn will speak for 45 minutes and in Michael Pisarcik’s absence they suggested including small-group discussion after Taryn has finished talking, and then allowing for a question and answer period. Faith suggested including a representative from the Fan Free Clinic to discuss health disparities.

○

●Logan also asked for suggestions regarding future programming from our group. Jeff suggested a topic addressing how legalizing same-sex marriage will impact our processes (alums can come in and speak). He suggested asking representatives from hospitals, health clinics--what was the impact, what were some best practices? What new opportunities and challenges will we see?

●Dorothy suggested discussing the benefits and drawbacks of LGBT-centered research. She indicated a suspicion of the research, and Jeff noted that Taryn might also be a good person to bring in because she's done research on the history of the practice of collecting data specific to LGBT. Discussion of the malicious previous research, discussion of positive future research projects.

●Jeff suggested contacting Melinda Anderson to get the word out, and Lisa will send an announcement out to the listserv. Kim Joseph in Social Work (or proxy).

Ice Cream Social: September 3rd at 12:00 PM @ Commons Plaza (rainspace in VA Rooms)

●If you emailed Faith for a table, you'll just need to bring materials--she has tables.

OUT for Work (Sara Loritsch):

●Sara met with Camilla this morning to discuss OUT for Work--a September Conference (26 - 28th) in Washington, DC. She noted the conflict with Pride. She has space for 10 registrations (8 students, possibly 2 faculty members). Keynote speeches, career fair--a great and rich experience for students. There will be a panel the second day including employers from different fields (education, non-profit, health care) and she is hoping to bring back additional programming options when she's returned. Camilla will get an announcement out to the student organizations, and we can announce this through our EqualityVCU list-serv. Sara was hoping to get the word out, and Faith indicated that Lauren in OMSA could send an announcement out. The anticipated additional cost would be $154/night for a single room in the conference hotel, but the food is all provided. Brie indicated that she could ask MCV Student Affairs to send out the announcement, especially as there will be sessions specific to healthcare. Dorothy suggested using the TelegRAM. Dale will forward to English Majors. Group asked her to send a generic announcement to the listserv (with conference agenda) and then we can each take it to groups of students we interact with.

Update from Campus Pride Index Group:

PRIDE:

●Camilla is working on this in Michael's absence. Not much had been done prior to Camilla’s arrival, and so although VCU will have a table, we may not have as large a presence this year as last year. We will be reaching out to our group at large for volunteers. We hope to still have Rodney present. Donna and several others noted that VCU’s Family Weekend will conflict with Pride.

MEETING WITH CHIEF VENUTI (Jeff Wing)

●We will forward the Climate Index questions to the group at large (PDF)

●Alex and Jeff met with Chief Venuti and he is interested in creating an LGBT advisory group (3 - 5 representatives from Equality VCU to meet once or twice a semester with him). He is very supportive of the community and would like to be more aware of needs as/before they arrive. He is also going to be on the Governor's task force on campus sexual violence and will be addressing same-sex partner violence. If anyone is interested in working with the police on the advisory group, please contact Alex or Jeff directly and they will place you in touch with Chief Venuti.

Creating Change Request from Alex:

●Alex would like to propose that Equality VCU request funding from the Division for Inclusive Excellence to send a small delegation of students and faculty/staff to the Creating Change Conference in January 2015. The students would be selected through an application process, which would include a specific commitment to bring back what they have learned and take a leadership role in applying it to make VCU more inclusive of LGBTQ students, faculty and staff.

●After discussing this, the group agreed that the request and paperwork can go through co-chairs, who will submit it to the Division for Inclusive Excellence. Co-chairs have asked Alex to provide an estimate of the cost and an optimum number of attendees

AGENDA ITEMS PROPOSED FOR THE NEXT MEETING:

●Faculty resource for research

●Date for Lavender Graduation