UDEC Minutes
October 25, 2006
9:00 a.m., 01-409

Notetaker: Valene Mathews

Attendees: Renoda Campbell-Monza, Matt Carlton, Liz Cofer, David Conn (Chair), Erin Echols, Linda Halisky,
Devon Hodgson, Brad Kyker, Ramon Leon, Jim Maraviglia, Brian McElwain, Cornel Morton, Cheryl Ney, Jeffrey Sklar, Susan Sparling, Shannon Stephens

1. Announcements

• Meeting times have changed for the November and December meetings. Please refer to the website for the revised meeting schedule.
• Minutes Approval – please contact Valene Mathews at vmathews@calpoly.edu if you have any corrections/changes to the minutes of the meetings.
• Cal Poly is a member the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). Debra Valencia-Laver, Associate Dean for the College of Liberal Arts will represent both Cal Poly and the Chicano Latino Faculty and Staff Association and attend HACU’s Bi-Annual Associate Membership Meeting, October 28 through October 31.
• Jim Maraviglia stated that Admissions is working with HACU and Hobson’s to publish a college bound guide for all new prospective Latino students. The guide will be available in both English and Spanish. Cal Poly is one of the sponsors for the California edition. The guide will be distributed to all high schools in California with 50 or more Latino students. There is a national, southwest and California publication. Jim will bring samples of the guides to share with the Council at the next meeting.

Distributed:
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Dr. Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director, Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley, MA (author)

Events Information

• The Multicultural Center will be celebrating Latino Heritage Month in the month of November. Renoda Campbell-Monza will be distributing a flyer to the Council. Kimberly Romo, KSBY announcer will be coming to Cal Poly to speak and discuss Latinas in a male dominated field. Justin Acres-Jacon, Professor and writer on illegal immigration issues and author of his most recent book titled “No one is illegal” will be coming to speak at Cal Poly.
• November is also Indigenous People’s Month and activities are planned for that as well. In conjunction with International Education, Dr. Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, the Ambassador for the Republic of Zambia, will be visiting Cal Poly from November 13 through November 17.
• CultureFest is on Sunday, November 19th at 11:00am. Culture Fest is a collaborative public festival organized by the Multicultural Center and student cultural clubs. The festival includes many performances, lots of food, and community-building. Culture Fest is not only a public celebration of "differences", but also an acknowledgement of shared elements of the human condition--where the variety of food, dance, song, and language reflect and model all people's desire for a sense of community amidst life's joys and pains.
  Peter Schrag, a lifelong journalist, will be speaking as part of the Provocative Perspectives series on November 16th. The topic will be “The New California: America’s Future?”. He has written about education and public policy issues for more than forty years. His most recent book, “Final Test: The Battle for Adequacy in America’s Schools” has just been issued. Breakfast will begin at 7:30am and Peter Schrag will speak at 8:00am. Please call Liz Cofer at 756-0327or email her at lcofer@calpoly.edu if you would like to attend.

2. Status of Work Groups

a. 1st Generation College Student Projects
The 1st Generation Panel group met with the Dean’s Council last week. Given the limited time available for the students to make their presentations, it is a challenge for them to make the panels spontaneous, engaging, and from the heart. The panelists will be working on both short and long versions. An email address list has been requested and an initial email to 1st Generation students informing them of all the resources and links that are supportive of 1st Generation students will be sent soon. Susan Sparling will be working with Jim Maraviglia on ways to review who is opening the emails and to give feedback on other ways of sending emails to 1st Gen students.

b. 1st Generation College Student Scholarships
It has been decided to make the scholarships available beginning in a student’s sophomore year at Cal Poly, thereby targetting students who are currently attending Cal Poly. Applicants will still be able to have the scholarship for 4 years if they meet the renewal criteria. The renewal criteria will require a 2.5 GPA, a minimum of 36 units a year, and a written essay between 500 and 1000 words, talking about their experiences at Cal Poly. The essays will be kept in a book for new 1st Generation students to access. Linda Halisky has appointed a faculty committee to screen the applicants. There has been a positive response from the faculty in the College of Liberal Arts to help with the scholarships and she is working on fund-raising within the college.

David Conn stated that he will do his best to remind the Deans of the importance of the 1st Generation project and encourage them to ask their department heads/chairs to schedule 1st Generation panel presentations in their departments.

Linda Halisky expressed her concerns regarding the time issue and how this could become a problem if the panels exceed the time that they have been allocated in the department meetings. Susan Sparling and the students will be working on focusing and narrowing the center of the discussion. Susan invited all Council members who are interested in participating in that discussion to contact her.

David Conn suggested that he and Linda Halisky meet with the Deans to discuss developing plans for each college. David Conn also suggested placing something in writing that could be distributed at the panel presentations that would have suggestions on what the departments can do to support 1st Generation students. This would give them concrete and tangible things that they can do to assist the students. Susan Sparling stated that they do have a document, developed last year, that she will review and see if it can be updated for distribution.

c. Mural
Some of the students on the committee have graduated and others have come in as new members. Cal Poly student artists are involved and the Mural committee has invited guest artists for their input. An account has been set up and fund-raising is in progress. The Mural committee is meeting every Friday at 2:00pm in UU 218. Everyone is welcome to attend.

d. Pride Alliance Center
Will Bailey is seeking additional members for the LGBT committee. Valene Mathews will contact Will to make arrangements to schedule meetings for that group.

3. Objectives and Priorities for 2006-2007 - Addition of new “Retention” Work Group
David Conn stated that he has received several responses to his request to form a new work group on Retention. Meetings will be scheduled next week. Retention is a critical issue and is directly tied to the issue of climate on campus.

If you are interested in starting a new work group, please email David your suggestions at dconn@calpoly.edu.

4. White Privilege Reading Group
Devon Hodgson distributed to the Council a paper titled “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Dr. Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director, Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley, MA (author).

Devon stated that, energized by the discussion regarding retention and climate in the last meeting, she wanted to share Peggy McIntosh’s paper on White Privilege. The article was part of the training process for student leaders at USD. Devon stated that after reading it and seeing the effect it had on those students who went through the training, she believes the awareness of white privilege and our own identity as the dominant culture can have a strong influence on climate.

Devon Hodgson introduced Brian McElwain who is new to Cal Poly and is working as a Counselor in the Counseling Center.

Devon had approached Brian based on his past work regarding the issues surrounding White Privilege and identity development. Brian posed to the Council the idea of forming a group composed of Faculty and Staff which would address the issues of White Privilege. Brian felt that it would be preferable to focus on our leaders for this training initially, before we develop any training for our students. Cornel Morton inquired about the possible “Backlash” from this subject matter and whether Devon and Brian have considered how they might respond to those who might question their intentions on this type of training. Devon stated that is why she is bringing it to the Council to receive feedback and advice. Devon would like suggestions on what does work and what can be done to meet the goals and be successful in improving the climate.

Brad Kyker stated that we do have to ask ourselves the question “How do we get those people who actually need to hear this message and need to participate for their own development as professionals to attend?” Cornel Morton stated that there are ways of bringing in faculty by very pragmatic and concrete incentives, and exploring ways to become a better teacher working with students of color would be a way of getting faculty interested in participating. Cornel stated that he would be happy to meet with those individuals who would be interested in discussing this topic further and answer any questions they might have.

Devon expressed that she will keep all conversations regarding this topic confidential; anyone who is uncomfortable expressing his/her view at the Council meeting is welcome to discuss this with her privately. She is eager to hear all viewpoints and any concerns or reservations regarding the White Privilege Reading Group.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 11:00am – 12:00pm, 01-409