DIVERSITY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Wednesday, September 27th Minutes

Attending: Carolina Sanin, Tara Blackwell, Virginia Breen, Jim McElwaine, Shaka McGlotten, Rochelle John, Erik Connolly, Evan Bittel, Peter LaMantia and Hilary Blackman.

Chair: Jay Minh Alt

The meeting was called to order at 3pm.

1. The committee re-introduced themselves and welcomed four members- Hilary Blackman (Admissions) and Peter LaMantia (Institutional Research) who were unable to attend the first meeting and Erik Connolly (student) and Evan Bittel (student) who just joined. Erik and Evan are students appointed by the PSGA.
2. Jay had the committee re-review the minutes from the September 13th meeting, which were distributed via e-mail earlier. No revisions were made and the committee approved the minutes.
3. Jay noted that his concern with the diversity initiatives committee is that its members would be the only diversity advocates on campus- or at least the primary individuals who pushed diversity focused initiatives. In an effort to possibly involve others in the discussions, he distributed background information on Chancellor’s Committees at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The committees were focused on specific populations that could be characterized as under-represented in terms of higher education. The populations are Blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Disabilities, LGBT and Women. Jay contacted the co-chair of the Women’s committee who responded in excellent detail the logistics of not only her committee but also of the other committees as well. Jay suggested that our committee explore implementing a similar type of structure here at Purchase so as to maximize community input and participation.
4. Shaka mentioned the grant that the PAC received pertaining to African Diaspora programming. Jim said that he could gain some additional information on this grant, as the committee was for the most part unaware of the details.
5. Jay stated that continuing the discussion on the four points developed at the first meeting was needed. Specifically, the group focused on the second point, “collecting current programs and services that focus on diversity and multiculturalism”. Hilary mentioned that Admissions had several tools that she had used to do something similar and agreed to share these with the committee. Rochelle also mentioned that EOP by sheer nature of their service had several examples. Virginia suggested that we inventory the student clubs and organizations as a starting point. Erik shared that in his role as a peer education programmer in the apartments much of his programming efforts focuses on multiculturalism. Jim stated he could conduct outreach to faculty in the arts.
6. As it pertained to the third point, “data analysis, specifically looking at available data from Institutional Research on such items as a comparison of retention of students of color with the overall retention rate,” Peter shared that he could produce trend reports broken down by whatever categories we desire, so as long as we give both ample notice and time to complete this work.
7. Jay shared that student input is an important element that the committee should consider. Often, students will share concerns that they are having with him- due to the nature of Jay’s position in student affairs. Having a formal reporting structure is very necessary. Carolina stated that programming is an important element in this effort. Shaka and Rochelle recommended that all first year seminars have a portion of their syllabi dedicated to promoting a diverse environment and how to participate positively in it. Evan continued on that thought and suggested that orientation and RA-vue would be good venues to include this promotion/topic. Jim shared that the most powerful suggestions are those that are student induced and produced. Citing Erik’s programming as an example, similar efforts that promote diversity coordinated by students are an important element that needs to continue. Hilary and Virginia then stated that institutional themes that include diversity awareness are the necessary starting point. Shaka added on that institutional commitment beginning at the highest level creates environments for student contributions.
8. Hilary stated that we the committee should take some time and look at the website, which shows that we are doing a fair amount already in terms of institutional commitment as noted in the strategic plan and our mission statement.
9. Jim recommended that we invite Dennis Craig and Brian McCurdy to a meeting to discuss their visions as it pertains to their offices.
10. Jay shared that because the committee only meets six times for the semester and twelve times for the year that work will need to be done between meetings. As chair, he will spearhead initiatives and topics for discussion. Communication via e-mail will be important and hearing everyone’s feedback is very necessary. From now until the next meeting, expect a good amount of e-mails with internet links to programs and services used by other institutions, sample reports and proposed steps for our committee. He apologizes in advance if they seem plentiful, but his main goals are to be productive and create a system where everyone feels that they can contribute to the direction of our efforts.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00pm. The next meeting will be Wednesday, October 11th at 3pm in the same location.

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DIVERSITY DEFINED

OBJECTIVES

MEMBERSHIP