Grace E. Harris Leadership Group Presentation: Sandra Fritton and Amy

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Equality VCU

ATTENDEES:

Donna Coghill, Sara Loritsch, Faith Wilkerson, Mike Pisarcik, Lisa Webb, Logan Vetrovec, Kaylin Tingle, Chris Woleben, Jan Altman, Kelly Chroninger, Brie Dubinsky, Jeff Wing

-Grace E. Harris Leadership Group Presentation:Sandra Fritton and Amy

•As part of their program, they do a project of benefit to the university. They are tagging on to the campaign of "if you can play, you can play..." but broadening its scope. They want to institute it as a VCU "if you can ___, you can ___." Implementing first with athletics (if you can play, you can play), and are developing video--highlight at early basketball games. They would like to bring a national speaker to campus, and work with other divisions to incorporate this message into activities in October. They are looking for funding (3,000 - 6,000 for speaker; e.g. Michael Sam, Wade Davis, Jason Collins). On August 20th, the kickoff event for all student athletes they will roll this out--they plan to survey the athletes to determine the current climate at VCU and will hand out wristbands. They will promote this on campus (e.g. posters, etc.).

•Lisa said that once we know what our budget and priorities are, we can then make a decision regarding assistance via funding. We can definitely help with publicity, other assistance in the interim. Dr. Birdsong does support the project (Lisa had mentioned him as a resource).

•Lisa asked what the survey would entail and had wanted to determine overlap with campus climate efforts. Mike verified that it's specific to athletics and won't duplicate efforts.

•Jan noted that October is coming out month, and that would be a good tie in.

•Sara had explored the options for the career center, "If you can ___, you can ___" as pertains to career focus.

•They are working with design folks at Rec Sports (tagline "if you can ___ you can ___ focusing on play, coach, teach).

-LGBTQ Coordinator Updates: Mike Pisarcik

•Mike did two training sessions with division for teaching services and turned out to be 84 people. Introductory, making them aware of LGBTQ experience, inclusion, increase awareness. Mentioned Safe Zone as a resource. Multiple perspectives (person you're helping, your perspective, and outside perspective). Highlighted Safe Zone Plus: skills that involve students (working with students to develop skits). Hoping to have this wrapped up in two weeks--first draft ready then.

•Mike will be training all the residence hall advisors this fall.

•He will be at welcome week and will have a table at the Rams Resources to share information with students that way.

•The Diversity Educator will take a look at broader picture, making things inclusive across the board.

•Mike met with Jan and Dorothy, finalized the survey (anonymous red cap link structure). He will be using this as a basis to determine what LGBTQ resources are needed.

•Mike talked with Dr. Mitchell about adding sexual orientation/gender expression and was told that this would not happen until July 2015. Donna's working group has not met yet, but plans to meet soon to discuss this.

•LGBTQ program for career services:

-10 free conference registrations "out for work" conference, through a grant. Two day conference in DC, and Sara said that she needs to find 10 interested attendees to go. Sara will forward information to the list-serv and students/staff are eligible to accept a spot. Lisa mentioned the social work program--they would have interested students who would benefit from attending. Jeff mentioned that this would be a good opportunity for graduate students, and mentioned Lori Floyd Miller as a point of contact for reaching out to them. Lori usually needs three or four days advance notice before sending out announcements, and the conference is in September. In the conference there will be opportunity to break down into industry pods (e.g. healthcare).

•Mike met with Diane about LavGrad, and the database has been made electronic. They are working on an LGBTQ alumni group, and are looking for alum to coordinate that effort. Donna suggested sending out a call via the list-serv, and Jeff mentioned inviting the students who started the social work group. Donna and Jeff both mentioned trying to reach out to Jeremy Kidd, a graduate of VCU and the SOM. Jeff highlighted the importance of creating this as a virtual group and having someone organize it with that in mind (given that alum are scattered all over). Jeff also mentioned Mike Fuller—he recommended keeping him in the loop regarding our progress on this Mike mentioned that he and Diane will meet with Mike Fuller.

•Mike met with Lisa about Pride and will be working to make sure we are represented at Pride.

•Chris mentioned that Mike gave a fantastic meeting at the Associate Deans at SOM.

-Burnside Watstein Updates:

•The date has been set: October 27, 2014 from 3:00 - 4:30 PM in the Commons

•This event is on Dr. Birdsong's calendar. Still have to email Dr. Rao and Dr. Wiencek and others that we want to make sure have this event on their calendar.

•Lisa put out a call for a team of people to lead the effort:

-Lead the charge on soliciting nominations and reviewing applications

-Using the resource guide/templates

•Kelly did say she would be willing to do Burnside/Watstein as a helper, and Faith volunteered to lead the effort. More committee members are welcome.

-Dale Smith () had also volunteered when Dorothy sent out an email, and he indicated that he’d like to be involved in the process during the Campus Climate working group meeting.

-Priorities for 2014/2015:

•SPEAKER PANEL:

•Lisa noted the Speaker's Bureau/Panel as a priority (RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT)

-Donna confirmed her interest in coordinating the effort in support of a speaker panel/list of available speakers for various on-campus events. Lisa and Donna also discussed the request for a list of faculty members who would serve as research consultants for students interested in a particular topic. This would allow faculty members to facilitate connections between students and EqualityVCU. Donna mentioned that there are two librarians (John Glover and Donna Coghill) dedicated to the research-end of that equation, but that faculty members would be a great resource in helping with the project itself (methodology, implementation). John Glover and Donna are the two LGBTQ research specialists and it was discussed that we might wish to advertise or highlight this.

-Donna has offered to spearhead the speaker panel effort. Mike offered to work alongside her in that effort. Donna noted that we should use this as a way to start putting together a broader list of speakers so we do not always approach the same people. It may also be beneficial in future efforts to get a group together when we need a panel (e.g. identifying a representative from athletics, etc.). Jan asked if this was under the broader umbrella of resources. Donna mentioned we will be looking primarily at VCU or perhaps the Richmond area--what do we have HERE that we can utilize. Jan noted that we may wish to loop in faculty members who do LGBTQ research.

•It was suggested that we identify people who wish to serve in the following capacity on the list:

-Speaker, Panelist, Researcher

•It was suggested that we include allies in our list as well, or make a list of allies across campus available. Donna mentioned listing the Safe Zone list (e.g.: if someone has completed the training, they would be listed an ally).

•Jeff mentioned alumni as well. If we are reaching out to external people, alum may be more willing to come back gratis to serve as a speaker or on a panel.

•Jan noted that we can continue to partner with Grace E. Harris, and Jeff mentioned the Emerging Leaders Program as a resource--we could partner with them on projects in support of the speaker series.

•Logan mentioned that students on the MCV campus are eager for a panel on medical topics/medical professionals. Lisa and Logan are going to run two open forums a semester:

•1. Meeting with your inclusive excellence representative

•2. Trans* Panel

-Jeff noted the possibility of recruiting an alumni group to speak to students at MCV regarding what it’s like to be a practicing physician/professional in various types of clinical settings (addressing the climate in private vs. hospital clinics, etc.).

•GENDER IDENTITY AND ITS EXPRESSION IN NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY:

-Lisa would like to offer this as a priority. Donna noted that while she appreciates that it's a priority for VCU leadership in 2015 (as Mike had mentioned earlier in his overview), we would like to have someone from the administration meet with us to explain WHY it is happening in 2015 and not now (as this effort has been delayed several times). We can plan a special meeting to discuss this. Donna noted that we are losing faculty (both potential and current) as a result, and it’s had a significant impact on recruitment and retention efforts. Donna and Kaylin will meet to start work on this.

•CLIMATE AND THE CLIMATE INDEX:

-Jan asked if we can make the work of the Climate Index a priority for the upcoming year. She noted the amount of work involved and the need for assistance from the broader committee. It was agreed that this has an impact on everything we do.

-Climate Index results should be a blueprint for how we will proceed and go forward. Jan explained that we are working on setting meetings to address areas we are deficient in. Jeff mentioned that residence life and some of the trans* issues are main priorities because they were areas we needed to make significant improvement in. Mike indicated that he believes new questions will focus on trans* and gender expression.

-Jeff explained that we spend one year collecting information, and then another year revisiting the data to make improvements. He believes this will help us drive an agenda as a group.

• Jan mentioned that Alex and Dale have developed a survey to determine what courses are being offered currently, as part of the work for the index, and we will use this to get a sense of what opportunities exist and where there is interest to grow/develop new courses. Dale has offered himself as a resource to help faculty members work on integrating LGBTQ content into a course.

-Review of EqVCU Mission, Vision, & Goals (after priorities)

•After a review of the mission statement, it was decided that we will change "Chief Diversity Officer" to "Vice President of Inclusive Excellence," and replace "office of diversity and equity" with "Division of Inclusive Excellence." We will restructure the way we list allies (formerly LGBTQQIAA)--we will drop the final “A” and list allies specifically in these areas.

-Other Business:

•Reviewed changes in leadership for the new year. Current Co-Chair Donna is stepping down, and Amy Miller will be taking a new role as Co-Chair in Donna’s place. The group thanked Donna for her years of service, including her time as Co-Chair. Brie is starting a new role as Secretary and Kelly is now our Social Media/Communications liaison. Donna will be working on collecting leadership history with Dorothy and Kelly. There is an open spot for Treasurer, and we have an open call for that role.

•Last Saturday in September is VA Pride (9/28/14). It is moving to Brown's Island this year and happens to coincide with VCU Family Weekend who will feature this and other local events on their calendar and website.

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