Anti-Racism Consultation Committee
Executive Summary of Minutes
April 25th, 2016 | 7:30-9:00pm EDT
In Attendance
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 LewisKulin; Kai Lynch; Emely Velez
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.
a. What data do we wish to collect/monitor to understand our progress toward
the anti-racism commitment?
b. Clarifying how SSW community members may join the ARCC.
c. Clarifying the role and relationship of the Anti-Racism Task Force to the ARCC.
i. 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.
d. Developing an action agenda for 2016-2017.
e. 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.
f. Understanding the Critical Conversations facilitation model: A discussion about
the model and how it works.
3. Follow up from petition items: There is additional information regarding three of the
petition items
a. 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.
i. 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.
b. 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.
i. We are mindful of the need to involve all instructors in the development of
this feedback mechanism rather than pushing it on them.
ii. This summer, how can students bring feedback questions into the
classroom?
1
iii. Given there has been a clear student voice to request feedback
1. 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.
2. 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?
c. Item 11: Smith curriculum will demonstrate value for diverse and multimodal ways
of knowing by including non-peer reviewed materials such as blog posts, multimedia, poetry, and visual media to include authors, and creators of knowledge who
are not based in traditional academic institutions.
i. 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.
ii. 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.
iii. The midterm feedback tool can also provide information re: what other
materials could be helpful to include.
iv. Can we provide student testimonials re: what they gain from having a range
of material from different perspectives and voices incorporated into the
classroom?
v. 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)?
4. Transparency and communication to the SSW community
a. We have identified the following activities to provide information to the SSW
community:
i. Providing agendas and executive summaries of our meetings on the website
and linked in the Buzz.
ii. Hosting a Town Hall early in Term 1.
iii. Create a Play Back option where information is provided electronically with
an open comment period so that feedback can be incorporated.
iv. Tabling with materials: organize tables in the dining hall and Seelye to
provide information, conversation one on one regarding ARCC and its work.
v. Utilize some of the Friday’s Dean’s open hours to discuss ARCC with have
ARCC members in attendance.
5. Syllabi Update Survey: see above 3.c.i
6. 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.
2