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Campus Commission for Diversity and Multiculturalism 2005-2006 Year End Report June 2006 Vision: "Keene State College will become a center of academic excellence - an academic community where people feel respected and valued. The College will offer strong curricula and co-curricula that excite, challenge, and engage the campus community in the issues of Keene State, the community, and the world. " A Strategic Plan for Keene State College, Giles-Gee, 2006 This vision represents the values of Keene State College and the Campus Commission for Diversity and Multiculturalism. The following report will summarize how the Diversity Commission lived this vision during the 2005-6 Academic Year and our goals and priorities, hopes and dreams for the year to come. The work is described using the four major areas of responsibility, Education, Advocacy, Research and Recruitment and Retention identified in the series of meetings held this spring with leaders of the Diversity Commission, The President's Commission on the Status of Women and Dr. Giles-Gee. Diversity Commission Meetings and Structure The entire Commission met monthly to review subcommittee work, discuss issues, plan events, and to educate ourselves. Some highlights of the meetings include: discussion luncheons with Dr. Ken Hardy, and Steve Wessler, Esq. and a meeting with Dr. Giles-Gee to discuss implementation of the Recruitment and Retention Proposed Work Plan. The Diversity Commission held its yearly retreat on January 27th to review the work, give subcommittee reports and to plan for the future. Special Presidential Advisory meetings included three meetings to discuss the future of the Women's and Diversity Commission and the first of two meetings to review the data on sexual bias and discriminatory harassment and to make policy recommendations. We also met with the President and the cabinet to discuss the findings and response to the report by the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. Subcommittees and ad hoc committees met as needed.
Education Multicultural Seminars September 14th Playing for Peace. Apple Hill Players September 22nd Free to Learn & Free to Speak: The Challenge of the First Amendment on College Campuses. Dr. Mark Timney October 5th Hurricane Katrina: Race, Class and the Media Drs. Chuck Weed, Marianne Salcetti and Dottie Morris October 26th Globalization: Why Now? Dr. Janaki Tschannerl November 16th Difficult Dialogues: A follow up to the Globalization Symposium Dr. Dottie Morris December 2nd Difficult Dialogues Continued Dr. Dottie Morris February 23rd Malawi Culture and Education Andrea Matthews March 23rd Issues in Critical Race Theory & Multicultural Education Patricia PedrozaApril 25th Peoples' struggles to reclaim New Orleans and to Challenge the Upgrade at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Dr. Dottie Morris and Dr. Paki Wieland April 27th What do Keene State College students think about their racial/cultural identities? Dr. Carime Bersh Multicultural and diversity special events organized by Diversity Commission
August 26th Annual Opening Week Campus Wide Diversity Workshop : Practical Strategies to Infuse Diversity into our Personal and Professional Lives August 26 Welcoming Reception for New Faculty March 27th Campus forum on the KSC Campus Climate Report Steve Wessler, Director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. This forum allowed the KSC community to respond to the report on bias and harassment on the KSC Campus which was conducted by the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence from Portland, Maine. May 15th Sixth Annual Diversity Commission Summer Institute: Learning from World Crises: Lessons in Service and Solidarity for our Campus Community. Presenters: Dr. Abigail Abrash Walton, Shirley Ingalls, Dr. Paki Wieland. Facilitators: Dottie Morris and Susan Theberge Multicultural and diversity events organized and/or co-sponsored by Diversity CommissionThese events brought in speakers and performers to give both the KSC and the greater Keene community a wider perspective on social justice, diversity and multicultural issues. Sept. 21st A Day of Waging Peace. A day-long series of talks and workshops culminating in a peace walk and a concert. Root Causes of Conflict workshop led by Diversity Commission Faculty Co-Chairs. Co-sponsored with Mothers and Others Uniting to Create a Non-violent and Just World for ALL Children.Oct. ? The Story of the Weeping Camel. A film shown in the Night Owl Café with comments by Dr. Roland Higgins to complement the Mongolian Art Exhibit at the Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery. Oct. 30th News From Inside Iraq. Presented by Dar Jamal, an internationally-known independent journalist from Anchorage, Alaska who spent 8 months inside Iraq as one of few independent journalists. Oct. 31st The Ibdaa Dance Troupe performance by the children of Dheisheh refugee camp in Palestine. This event kicked off the Globalization Symposium. Nov. 3rd - 5th Fourth Bi-Annual World Affairs Symposium on Globalization: Impact on Peoples of the World. The Diversity Commission faculty co-chairs were deeply involved with all aspects of the Globalization Symposium including:
Dec. 7th Social Justice, Racism and the Environmental Movement. Presented by Winona LaDuke, an Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) tribe member, the program director of Honor the Earth and the founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project. January 17th Martin Luther King Day. A Day of Service. Students volunteered in a variety of non-profit agencies in the community. Co-sponsored by the Office of Residential Life and the Diversity Commission. Jan. 18th Religious Fundamentalism and Tolerance in the Public Schools. The speakers for the panel included Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein, Reverend Sue Phillips, Penny Culliton, Steve Wilber, president of Pride, and was moderated by Ann Miller, Assistant Vice President for Academic Services. It was sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network of Southwest New Hampshire, Parents, Family and Friends of Gays and Lesbians, Pride, and the Diversity Commission. Feb. 22nd Race, Media, and Mass Incarceration. Presented by Dr. Tom Gardner, veteran journalist and professor at Westfield State College. This was part of Black History Month and was co-sponsored by Diverse Voices from the Field, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Diversity Commission. March 2nd Moonlight and Morningstar: A Musical Time Travel Through Black History from gospel through civil rights. This was part of Black History Month and was co-sponsored by Diverse Voices from the Field, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Diversity Commission. March 8th Of Men and Gods. A movie that was a frank look at a largely unexplored area of the daily existence of several Haitian men who are openly gay. Co-sponsored by the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church and the Diversity Commission. March 27th, 28th, and 30th Actions in support of global action against the genocide in Darfur. A variety of presentations and activities to educate and take action to stop the genocide in Darfur organized by a Student Affairs co-chair. Co-sponsored by Residential Life and the Diversity Commission. April 4th The Transgender Experience: Identity, Dating, and a Family in Transition. Presented by Judi and Mikayla Howden. April 5th Three Innocents and a Spirit. A Haitian performance troupe that tells the story of slavery, genocide and healing in Haiti. Co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Diversity Commission. April 7th and 8th Shining a Light on Poverty. This conference explored the effects of poverty on teaching and learning. Co-sponsored with Principals Residency Network. The Diversity Commission faculty co-chairs helped to organize this conference, invited presenters and co-facilitated two workshops. The Diversity Commission contributed funding as well. Multicultural and diversity events supported by the Diversity Commission October 5th and 6th Poetry Reading by Dr. Howard Schwartz author of Reimagining the Bible: The Story Telling of the Rabbis April 26th The Janet Grayson Lecture by Dympna Callaghan author ofShakespeare Without Women, the Feminist Companion to Shakespeare and Feminist Readings in Early Modern Culture. Media Work Represented the Diversity Commission on a frequent basis to reporters from the Equinox and The Keene Sentinel as well as KSC journalism students. Worked with College Relations to publicize events. Recruitment and Retention
Research Campus Climate Focus Groups and Report The ensuing report offered the opportunity to begin an important dialogue on these issues. Mr. Wessler returned and met with the cabinet, the Diversity Commission, and the campus to discuss the results of the report. Cabinet members and Commission members continued the dialogue with a number of groups. The Equinox published 3 front page stories, journalism classes did follow-up research, and the Sentinel also published a front page article which was picked up and distributed nation-wide by the Associated Press. While it is clear that the types of bias-related incidents are not unique to the KSC campus, the report had some profound impacts. Both male and female students reported that while they were aware that offensive gender terminology was used at times, until the report was published and they started listening for it, they had no idea how pervasive it was. The report seemed to sensitize them to the impact of other bias-related speech as well. Several students were concerned that the college would not follow up on the report. The greatest impact reported by faculty was also gender-related. Female faculty continue to report that they sometimes do not feel safe in the classroom or on campus. The faculty sensitivity to and/or awareness of issues of sexual harassment appear to be higher on this campus than others that Mr. Wessler has worked with. While bias-related speech is a broader cultural problem that does not originate at Keene State, it is our job to create a culture here at KSC where this speech is not acceptable. A priority for next year is to work with the Cabinet and other constituencies to follow up on the report with an effective combination of education and training. The Diversity Commission Curriculum Workgroup developed a questionnaire to distribute to faculty to document whether each course addressed diversity in some way and how it accomplished that. The questionnaire was developed in anticipation of the new General Education requirements. The survey has not yet been distributed. See appendix A. Feedback from the CommissionThe co-chairs distributed a questionnaire among the membership of the Commission assessing their satisfaction with their work on the Commission and with the Commission in general. Results generally indicated that members were satisfied with the work of the Commission, but felt like the workgroups as they were configured at that time had not allowed them to be more directly active. While the workgroups had been active and productive in the past, as the work has evolved and grown, some workgroups have completed their tasks and others need to be reconceptualized. Advocacy Safe Zone Project In the fall of 2005 a sub-committee of the Diversity Commission was formed to work on educating the campus about heterosexism and homophobia in order to create and more welcoming environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students. The committee adopted the Safe Zone project which had been used successfully on other campuses. Members of the committee created a curriculum for Safe Zone trainings and initially offered them to faculty and staff. Everyone who completed the training was given a sticker that is uniquely designed for KSC to put on their door so that GLBTQ students would know that that person was an ally. Two trainings were held fall semester. In the spring the trainings were opened to students and 3 trainings were held, two for mixed faculty staff and students and one for the Pride Organization so they would know what information people displaying the safe zone sticker had gotten. A Safe Zone project web page was added to the Diversity Web Page. Over 100 people have gone through the safe zone training, and stickers are evident all over campus. GLBT students and staff have reported feeling safer and more connected on campus. The project has also connected us more closely with Pflag and others working to create a more open climate for the gay community. One important piece of feedback the committee got from the training is that many people on campus desire to know more about people who are "gender queer" or transgender. In April the Commission sponsored Mikayla and Judi Howden, a transgender couple, to talk about their experience. Although it was in the middle of an extremely busy week in April, the event was quite well attended and went beyond the time originally slotted for it. Priorities: The committee is planning to include more students in the workshops next year. Student government and RA's have expressed interest, and we will continue to do open trainings as well. In addition, since more and more KSC community members are identifying themselves as being transgendered, we are planning to bring in another speaker on transgender issues. Webpage Grafitti 101 Impact Next steps Advising Campus Leadership A series of three meetings with the President and with members of the Women's Commission was held to consider ways in which the two commissions can work more closely together and to explore next steps in the evolution of the work. Responsibilities for both commissions were articulated and rich conversation was shared by all. Appendix A Dear Colleagues: As part of this effort, we have devised a short questionnaire to assess diversity and multiculturalism in the curriculum at Keene State. The questionnaire is voluntary. Our purpose in conducting this survey is solely to gather information that will help us support faculty and students, not to dictate to faculty what they should offer, nor to develop an official list of diversity courses. In keeping with its strategic goal - to support the inclusion of diversity and multiculturalism as a meaningful component of the curriculum of Keene State College - the Commission on the Status of Diversity and Multiculturalism is collecting information on the extent to which diversity and multiculturalism is present in our courses. The outcomes listed in the questionnaire are derived from Diversity Outcomes approved by the College Senate (AY 01-02). Please fill out a questionnaire for each course you deem appropriate for this survey. Course Number and Title - 1. Does this course provide students with a recognition and understanding of the relationship between identity and culture? (Y / N) ______ Check all that apply: __ This course provides recognition that personal identity is shaped by community. 2. Does this course provide students with knowledge and understanding that the world is make up of diverse cultures? (Y / N) _____ Check all that apply: __ This course provides an understanding of the processes by which race, ethnicity, and other categories of difference are socially constructed in the United States.
3. Does this course provide an understanding of the impact of power and privilege on relationships among people and among cultures? (Y / N) _____ Check all that apply: __ This course provides knowledge that unequal power relations contribute to social issues
of bias, stratification, and discrimination. 4. Does this course provide an ability to integrate and apply knowledge of diverse cultural views and perspectives? (Y / N) _____ __ This course provides an ability to take into consideration diverse experiences and
perspectives when developing arguments, hypotheses, and research projects. 5. Does this course incorporate diversity and multiculturalism in ways not outlined by the Senate's standards (i.e., ways not addressed by questions # 1-4)? (Y / N) _____ If so, please explain: 6. Are you interested in developing new courses that have a diversity and/or multiculturalism component? (Y / N) _____ If so, which new courses? How can the Commission assist you in developing your new course(s)? Diversity Commission Questionnaire 1. What are some reasons you wanted to be a part of the Diversity Commission? 2. Has your experience serving on the Commission been fulfilling thus far? Please share any feedback. 3. Which workgroup do you belong to (Curriculum, Outreach, Institutional Accountability, Recruitment & Retention)? What is your level of participation in this group? Please share any reflections on your experience with your workgroup. 4. Where do you think the Commission has been most effective? What are some areas for improvement? 5. Do you have any ideas for future goals or new directions for the group? Next steps to take? 6. Is the current structure of the Commission effective? How so or why not? Suggestions? Appendix c
I. "Crash"-show 3 clips (1-Gun shop, 2-Lock Change, 3-Insurance Office) II. Discussion of clips-how do these characters see each other? How does this transfer to "real life?" How do we treat each other based on how we see each other? III. Discussion of graffiti:
IV. Which of these scenarios would you respond to? Cross the room. Why? How?
V. Skit! VI. What can we do to prevent these behaviors and to take a more active role in our community? What about our language? VII. Graffiti for Good!Outcomes and impacts Education: Impact
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Mission Statement