Faculty Diversity Committee Minutes
March 31, 2000
Members Present: Bernie Bates, Rosa Beth Gibson, Bev Pierson, Jim Davis, Kris Bartanen, Mike
Valentine, Carrie Washburn, Dori Rosenberg, Erin Campbell, David Droge, Kim Bobby, John
Dickson.
Meeting called to order at 2:08 PM.
Minutes of 3/3/00 approved with corrections.
Announcements:
•
Erin Campbell: Will give her senior thesis presentation on her summer research on the end of
integration and bussing in Denver and the effects of re-segregation at Manual High School.
The presentation is on April 11, 2000. The FDC chair highly recommended this presentation
to the FDC.
•
Gibson announced that seats for YWCA annual celebration at Tacoma Sheraton are
available.
•
Bobby announced:
1.
That there will be a public event on May 11th to honor Tom Dixon on his retirement from the
presidency of the Tacoma Urban League.
2. That UPS will host Access to College events on April 1st and April 29th.
3. That the Tacoma School District is supporting Access Programs and MESA (Math,
Engineering Science Achievement) working closer together. Kim hopes to involve our
science and mathematics faculty with MESA.
•
Jim Davis mentioned that the Morris Dees and Rita Brock lectures are available from Media
Services.
•
Washburn announced that the Ad Hoc committee on faculty involvement with Access
Programs was ready to report to the FDC. Droge move to entertain a motion to suspend the
order of the day and to hear the report of the sub-committee that has been working with
Bobby ( Washburn and Bates) on involving faculty with Access programming. M/S/P.
Agenda Items:
Washburn reported that the Ad Hoc committee believes it is important:
• To have regular faculty involvement with Access programs. A Prelude Advisory Committee
model, where the opportunity cycles through the faculty over time, was considered
appropriate.
• To create an Access Faculty Support Committee. The Ad Hoc committee would like FDC to
send out a request to join a support committee to faculty.
Droge wondered if this Support Committee is to be outside the normal committee assignment
structure - is there a possibility that this could be a subcommittee of the FDC, which could also
include people not on the FDC?
Washburn responded that the ad hoc was thinking that a Prelude-like staffing model would be
more inclusive of “new faces”.
Bartanen questioned if the ad hoc considered staffing by invitation rather than by broadcasting for
members?
Washburn admitted that the ad hoc was hoping to discover new faculty interest in diversity issues
– to avoid a support committee composed only of the “usual suspects”.
Droge reiterated that this would have to be a committee outside of the regular standing committee
– an extra, volunteer assignment.
•
FDC refinement to the sub-committees report: It is important that the request be independent
of the normal committee request from the Dean's office.
It was concluded after FDC discussion of the Ad Hoc recommendations that FDC Chair Droge
should inform Terry Cooney and draft a letter for the full faculty stating that:
“Faculty presentations would be an important addition to Access Programs and should be
supported”.
A motion was proposed:
Motion: FDC should send a letter to the faculty asking for volunteers, and nominations of
others, and, with refinement of the subcommittee’s report, the FDC moves to support the
subcommittee’s recommendations. M/S/P.
Other Business:
Discussion of strategies for educating faculty regarding learning disabilities and related areas
continued.
Discussion centered on the lack of information send to faculty in advance of student
accommodation requests. It was agreed that it would help if guidelines (how much extra time is
appropriate, for example) and information about a student’s particular need for accommodation
were provided. Lead-time for requests was also a concern – requests should be made well in
advance of exam preparation. However, it was recognized that various disabilities a student may
be dealing with contribute to an inability to organize or that a condition may escalate to the point
th
where an “11 hour” accommodation is necessary.
Droge reminded us that we still must address another dimension of tolerance issues on campus how do we deal with prejudice and discrimination against people with physical and mental
disabilities?
Business for next time:
Top of the agenda – discussion of Pierson’s email on the University statement on diversity.
Meeting adjourned at 2:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Bernard Bates