Notes - Approved

Meeting Notes

NAME OF COUNCIL/TEAM: Disproportionate Impact: LGBTQIA+ (2020-2021)
OBJECTIVE OF MEETING: Discuss comments on the report, select student quotes, and select key recommendations for the report.
DATE OF MEETING: 11/16/2020 TIME: 10:00am		LOCATION/ROOM #: Zoom CALL-IN NUMBER: CALL-IN CODE:
FACILITATOR(S): Emilie Mitchell & Roger Davidson
ASSISTANT: Mary Goodall
MEMBERS PRESENT: Christopher Collins, Bee Curiel, Roger Davidson, Alejandra Garcia, Mary Goodall, Joshua Johnson, Jennifer Laflam, David McCusker, Emilie MITCHELL, J, Christopher Nguyen Pheneger, Mario Rodriguez, Sara Smith, Corey Winfield,
INVITED GUEST(S):
SUPPORTING RESOURCES (ITEMS READ IN PREPARATION FOR AND/OR BROUGHT TO MEETING):
Attached Files: LGBTQ+ DI Report v3
UPDATES AND BRIEF REPORTS:
Topic	Person(s) Responsible	Notes
ACTION ITEMS:
Question	Person(s) Responsible	Notes and Decision(s)	Next Steps
Review and comment on compiled draft (v3)	Everyone	0
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Question	Person(s) Responsible	Notes and Next Steps
Discuss the comments/suggested edit to the draft Discuss draft/edit cycle Remaining mindful that our completed (final) out the door draft needs to be completed by our final meeting on December 7th.	Everyone	-Adding a paragraph to explain our use of the acronym LGBTQIA+. -Need to clean up the citations to use APA throughout. -We discussed the use of 1st person speak v.s. 3rd person. -Clean up the rationale on the recommendation that speaks to who this team's work is targeting. -Define QTBIPOC
Review the results of the student surveys and pick quotes we wish to include in the report	Everyone	The team has reached out in many forums to compile a group of students for a resource panel, however the number of LGBTQIA+ students that are also students of color was too low to give us the feedback that we wanted. We may be attempting to have one last push and extention of our due dates.
ITEMS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION:
Topic		Contact Person
-Ability to use quotes from the Pride Center survey as student responses in this report? -Can we extend past 12/7 if the Charter mentions our work ending in late February?
OTHER INFORMATION: It was expressed by team members, that there is some frustration and anger that the timeline and processes we have been using have not allowed for the inclusion of student voices of the most impacted members of the community. Additionally, those who have been most responsible for the work of including these voices, are also the most impacted by these timelines. Whiteness was named as an oppressive barrier that was impacting our work. In the words of bell hooks, Whiteness is “a state of unconsciousness, often invisible to white people, which perpetuates a lack of knowledge or understanding of difference, which is a root cause of oppression.” It “operates as the unmarked norm against which other identities are marked and racialized, the seemingly un-raced center of a racialized world. Therefore, while whiteness is invisible to whites it is hypervisible to people of color” (Rasmussen et al., 2001, p. 19). In “white supremacy culture” Tema Okun identified ways that Whiteness can show up in organizations. This document can help White people to whom Whiteness may be invisible, to recognize aspects of Whiteness at work in their organizations. She describes two characteristics that were very impactful on our work in our team, in the section “sense of urgency”: • continued sense of urgency that makes it difficult to take time to be inclusive, encourage democratic and/or thoughtful decision-making, to think long-term, to consider consequences • frequently results in sacrificing potential allies for quick or highly visible results, for example sacrificing interests of communities of color in order to win victories for white people (seen as default or norm community) The sense of urgency to complete the report by a certain date was leading to the creation of a DI report in which the voices of QTBIPOC students would be very underrepresented. Multiple team members stated that additional time to reach out to and communicate with QTBIPOC students was necessary. Additional time would help us to adhere to the CRT tenet that, as we state in the DI report, “holds that the experiences of people of color are valuable and valid pieces of knowledge that can be used to counter or subvert dominant narratives and to highlight the ways oppression manifests in the everyday lives of people of color.” At least one White member of the team recognized prior to this meeting that Whiteness was negatively impacting our team and did not discuss it with the team leads. This was a failure on their part that negatively impacted those in the frontline of capturing these voices. People of Color, often women, femmes, non-binary, queer, trans, People of Color, are too often asked to do the work of educating White people about race, racism, and Whiteness. By not saying anything to the leads, they were put in a position where they once again had to do the labor of educating the people who benefit from Whiteness, about Whiteness. White people, when they recognize Whiteness at work in their teams and organizations, should be raising their concerns with their White colleagues. It is incumbent upon White people to continue to critically evaluate the role that they play in perpetuating the system of white supremacy. To ensure that our actions as leaders, colleagues, educators, and practitioners reflect our expressed rhetoric of inclusion and race consciousness. The Project Team Charter identifies 2/28/21 as the last day to draft the report, we have decided to meet on 11/23 to identify a new timeline and work process.