Certificate Workshop 1: Being an Ally in the Work of Equity and Diversity Chemistry Department,...

Certificate Workshop 1:Being an Ally in the Work of Equity and Diversity

Chemistry Department, Current Graduate StudentsJason Jackson & Anne Phibbs July 29, 2013

OED Certificate Program

Basic CertificateCore Curriculum (Workshops 1-6) = 18 hoursSupporting Curriculum (Workshops 7-10) = 12 hours

30 hours total

All 10 workshops will be offered fall semester, spring semester and summer

Open to students, staff, & faculty from all U of M campuses

OED Certificate Program

Advanced CertificateCore Curriculum (Workshops 1-6) = 18 hoursSupporting Curriculum (Workshops 7-10) = 12 hoursApplication Component = 6 hoursDialogue Circles (Sept – May) = 18 hours

Dialogue Circles run each fall for the entire academic year; participants who complete the Core Curriculum will be invited to participate in a Dialogue Circle

54 hours total

Open to students, staff, & faculty from all U of M campuses

Learning Objectives

•Understand the Office for Equity and Diversity (OED)’s key frames for approaching equity and diversity work, including how developing allies is critical to the work of OED

•Address the complexity and challenges of “being an ally” around issues of equity and diversity

Learning Objectives

•Recognize the differences between being an ally for self interest, an ally for altruism, and an ally for social justice, per Keith Edwards’ model •Identify what I think about the concept of an ally; recognize how I fit into an ally for social justice model; and identify next steps I can take to grow as an “ally” or supporter of equity and diversity work

Grounding Assumptions for OED Workshops

•The work of equity and diversity is about creating community, which involves building trust through careful listening, respectful disagreement, and taking risks

•We will do our best to be present & minimize distractions

•We respect each other’s confidentiality; pay attention to what is yours to share – and what is not

•We are all doing the best we can

•Growth and learning can be uncomfortable; remember it’s ok to make mistakes - we all doAdapted from Jamie Washington, Washington Consulting Group

Grounding Assumptions for OED Workshops

•Individuals and organizations can – and do – grow and change, but it doesn’t happen overnight

•We always need to practice self awareness: Think about when you’re speaking up; Think about when you’re not speaking up

•This work is everyone’s responsibility; every person is capable of making equity and diversity a core value in their life

•There are no “quick fixes,” and we don’t have to fix everything

•It’s ok to take care of ourselves; practice forgiveness and letting go, so you can sustain yourself in this work

Adapted from Jamie Washington, Washington Consulting Group

AgendaFraming Concepts of Equity & Diversity

Think/Pair/Share: Who am I in the Work of Being an Ally?

Bias/Prejudice/Oppression/Privilege & Becoming an Ally

DINNER BREAK

Scenarios

Ally Development

Next Steps

An Ally is someone who is willing to pay attention to – and take action around - the social, economic & political differences and inequities that attend to people based on distinctions of race, ethnicity, age, class, sexual orientation, gender identity & expression, disability, religious or spiritual identity, and nationality (this is not an exhaustive list)

Framing Concepts

Leverage the transformative power of equity and diversity

to advance excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement

at the University of Minnesota

Mission

We have a responsibility to serve, support, and partner with people and communities facing social, cultural, economic, physical, and attitudinal barriers to education and jobs, to promotion and advancement, and to the highest levels of achievement and success.

We also have a responsibility to address fundamental issues of bias, discrimination, and exclusion.

What do we mean by “equity and diversity?”

People of color, including underrepresented groups and new immigrant populations

People with both visible and invisible disabilities

Women

People of various gender and sexual identities and expressions

First-generation students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds

OED serves and supports the following individuals and groups at the University of Minnesota:

Office for Equity and Diversity

OED also addresses issues of access and climate for individuals who might encounter barriers based on their religious expression, age, national origin, ethnicity, or veteran status.

Framing Concepts

We envision a university where equity and diversity are:

integrated into the work and lives of every student, faculty, and staff member.

recognized as core institutional values, and will inform thinking, policies, and practices throughout the University.

inherently intertwined with academic excellence and the development of leaders for a globally inclusive society.

Vision

Framing Concepts

How we accomplish our mission:

Access and Inclusion

Education and Learning

History and Community

How we ensure that a commitment to equity and diversity will continue to transform us, our academic work, and the University:

Accountability

Leadership

Sustainability

Values

Questions

Leverage the transformative power of equity and diversity to advance excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement at the University of Minnesota

What does this mission have to do with me?

What does this mission have to do with what I do at the university and/or how I interact with the university?

What does this mission have to do with my department? my campus?

Mission

Answer

Every student, faculty, and staff member wants to achieve excellence – to be the best student, faculty, and staff member they can be.

Engaging with diverse and dynamic ideas, worldviews, situations, and communities is absolutely necessary for achieving excellence.

Answer

“A diverse campus provides all its students, [staff] and faculty with access to a greater range of ideas and perspectives, stimulates new directions for scholarship and research, creates situations in which individuals must interact with those who have values different from their own, and encourages more complex thinking as everyone in the learning community grapples with the realities of racial, ethnic, gender, and social histories, stereotypes, and achievements.”

─ Gurin, et al, 2003

Academic Personal

Institutional

Achieving Excellence through Equity and Diversity – three arenas


Academic

Institutional

Personal

We have a responsibility to understand ourselves andour world, through self reflection, on-going education, and

engagement with diverse individuals and communities.

We also have a responsibility to act as leaders, whatever our individual identities may be, to ensure the University

of Minnesota is an equitable, just, and inclusive

workplace.


Personal

Institutional

Academic

We must create an academic environment where every student, staff and faculty feels supported, challenged, and included.

We must ensure that our research and scholarship reflects diverse ways of knowing, being & experiencing the world.

And we must create equitable and collaborative partnerships to better work together within and outside the University towards shared goals.


Personal Academic

Institutional

We must understand the historical context, including the social, economic, political, and educational inequities, out of which the University was created.

We must engage in continuous institutional reflection and collaboration to build capacity and integrate what we

learn into our culture and infrastructure.

We must hold every part of our institution accountable by evaluating and assessing progress

towards realization of the University’s vision for equity and diversity.

Exercise: Who Am I in the Work of Being an Ally?

Think/Pair/Share:

Consider your own identities, and how those identities affect your sense of

yourself as an ally. That is, with what communities are you most

comfortable/knowledgeable? Are there particular identities and communities with which you are less comfortable

and/or familiar?

Bias/Prejudice/Oppression/Privilege

PREJUDICE: preconceived judgment or opinion; an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge

OPPRESSION: the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner

(from Merriam-Webster)


Institutional Power + Bias/Prejudice = Oppression

Important to understand the difference between individual bias or prejudice and institutional racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, etc.

All people do not have the same ability to create institutional barriers, such as laws, policies, traditions, media images, etc.


Oppression refers to the (historical) institutional & attitudinal barriers that have been applied unequally to the members of one social group over another, for example:

•Jim Crow laws (mandating racial segregation for over 80 years under the notion of “separate but equal”)•Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell military policy (affecting GLBTQ personnel)•Girls & women’s sports participation before Title IX•Lack of access prior to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)


PRIVILEGE: a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor

If members of certain social groups face attitudinal, physical, economic, political, and educational barriers (e.g., people of color), then those of us not facing these barriers maintain rights, benefits – privilege – by virtue of not belonging to certain social groups (e.g, people who are white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied, etc.).


“I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as

males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an

untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come

to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which

I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to

remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack

of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools

and blank checks.”

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By Peggy McIntosh (1989)

Becoming an Ally

No one person is completely marginalized nor completely privileged. In 21st century U.S. society, most of us have complex identities involving both marginalization & privilege.

Allies move past shame, guilt, and blame, working to understand how privilege works in their life, as well as how marginalized “others” are perceived through stereotypes & cultural myths.

Becoming an Ally

Anyone can become an ally to people with less privilege & institutional power, but it first requires an understanding of one’s own social identities.

“Being an ally” is an on-going process that involves self-reflection, an openness to new ideas, a willingness to listen to people’s lived experiences, a commitment to on-going education, and a willingness to take action & take risks.

Becoming an Ally – One Example

In 2007, two students at Central Kings Rural High School in Nova Scotia led half the student body in a protest against bullying. A 9th grade student turned up at school on the first day wearing a pink shirt and was made fun of by a group of older boys who called him gay and threatened to beat him up.

The next day, two 12th graders, David Shepherd and Travis Price, used the phone and internet to rally students to wear pink to school the next day. They succeeded in getting approximately 400 students to turn up in pink.

Said Travis Price, “I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders. Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.”

Price also recalled that when he handed a pink shirt to the kid who had been bullied,his face spoke volumes. “It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.” Apparently, the bullies were never heard from again.

www.theherocc.com/heroes-in-pink

Becoming an Ally – One Example

Because David Shepherd and Travis Price decided to act as allies, the last Wednesday of February is now known as Anti-Bullying Day in Canada. It's also known as "Pink Shirt Day”.

www.pinkshirtday.ca

DINNER BREAK

Exercise:

Scenarios

Ally Development

•Three types (Keith Edwards):

Ally for Self-InterestAlly for AltruismAlly for Social Justice

Ally for Self Interest

•Problem rests with individual perpetrators (e.g., “Any man who hurts my wife or daughter has to answer to me!”)

•Doesn’t see their own privilege

Ally to a person (e.g. friend, relative)

•Motivated by relationship to a particular person

•”I want to eliminate sexism for my daughters.”

Ally for Altruism

•Ally to a particular group (e.g., people of color or GLBTQ people)

•Focus on victims: “I want to help others who are victims of prejudice; ‘we’ need to empower ‘them’.”

•Often feels guilty about privilege & wants to be different from the dominant group

•Does not see how their own privileged identities are part of the system

Ally for Social Justice

•Ally to an issue•Focus is on working

with -not for - members of a marginalized group

•Goal is to empower all of us to work for economic, social & political change

•Committed to addressing how privilege works in their life

•Though affected in different ways, we are all victimized by oppression

•”No matter what my identity, I am part of this system, it affects me, and I can work with others to create change.”

Acting as an Ally: Next Steps

Next Steps Grid

What can I commit to do in one week?

What can I commit to do in the coming year?

How can I hold myself accountable?

Thank you!

Office for Equity & Diversity432 Morrill [email protected]

Certificate Workshop 1: Being an Ally in the Work of Equity and Diversity Chemistry Department,...

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