MSUM Anti-Racism Steering Team Meeting
December 12, 2002
Present: Ryan Sylvester, Steve Pletta,
Donna Rosh, Rose Bakke, Yoke-Sim Gunaratne, Judy Peterson, Ron
Jeppson, Linda Palmer, Abner Arauza, Phyllis May-Machunda, Amy
Phillips, Ben Blair, Warren Wiese
·
Phyllis needs schedules for spring
before break to build schedule for spring semester.
·
Discussions about minutes. They are
valuable and should capture the conversation. Would be good to
have full participation. Phyllis will contact Rebecca to take
minutes at the spring semester meetings. Delete names from most
of the text is preferred.
·
Group went to caucus with people of
color in one room and white people in another to review and
discuss the Power of Analysis of Your Institutions Current Life
and Structure.
·
Amy and Phyllis gave a brief overview
of information (Power 1, 2, & 3) for all, especially those who
have not gone through training.
·
Recommended for large group
discussion.
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Mission does suggest diversity
·
Validating is looking at diversity
through others eyes
·
Most believe any racism on campus is
not institutional.
·
Comfort theme, more for whites; MSUM
reflects white European cultures.
·
Access may be literally denied to
some people of color. It is not always denied; but is also not
encouraged.
·
Racism or personality conflicts was
discussed for some instances.
·
Access may be linked to process:
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Some employees, generally staff in
positions to hire others, have racist actions.
·
More whites are in positions of
power.
·
Culture is linear. Committee,
assessment, etc., all white cultures
·
What to do with students of color
when they get here? Can we provide legitimate services?
·
People of color don’t always have
good role models; white people don’t have to think about race.
·
We are an institution with strong
programs where many students feel comfortable, find niches,
“suburban model”.
·
Many people of color are 1st
generation and maybe financially disadvantaged.
·
A “Big foot” is the decision making
process that include MnSCU and state legislature.
·
Sometimes how you know is who you
know.
·
Generally hire locally (regionally)even
though we did national searches
·
Some people of color are seen as
aggressive and won’t function as part of a team. Can be seen as a
threat to decision making or troublemakers. Cultural differences.
·
People of color need to be vigilant
of the white culture to succeed.
·
Sometimes students don’t know how to
navigate university culture.
·
University doesn’t have a process to
“weed out” those of bad behavior. University needs to make
individuals with racist actions feel uncomfortable about their
behavior.
·
Faculty and students of color are
sometimes held to different standards. Expectations and scrutiny
are different for qualifications and accountability.
·
Some students believe they can
manipulate the system because the system will support them.
·
People of color use personal
experiences; white people generalize because they typically
haven’t been marginalized.
·
No representation of people of color
in Administration, except Ben Blair.
·
No Director in Student Affairs or
Deans is a person of color.
·
If a person of color is too
aggressive or ambitious, they are seen as troublemakers.
·
Over 50 faculty of color; however,
most are international or born outside of U.S. Relates to
different experiences with different awareness of issues.
·
Willingness of those faculty to work
with students of color and be their support network. Done in
recruitment of students and faculty.
·
MnSCU funding opportunities are seen
as deceptive.
·
Rostering system works to
disadvantage people of color.
·
Seniority system promotes first fired
if people of color and not reassigned. Unionization needs to be
thought of differently.
·
Curriculum is “Western” dominated.
·
Hiring in some programs that are
declining with specific cultures, i.e. East Asia studies, no hires
from that culture to speak from that experience.
·
No tenure track faculty in Chicano
studies. Need this to build community in that area.
·
Board of Trustee representation? Are
there people of color?
·
Why things don’t change:
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Regional university (Scandinavian).
People of color don’t really fit here.
-
Comfort, privilege
-
Lack of funding; numbers of people of
color are so small don’t have to serve them.
-
Lack of communication.
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That’s the way it’s always been done.
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Institutions were originally built to
serve “white folks”.
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Cultural diversity has traditionally
been an add on, not part of institutional structure.
-
“Charity” relationships with some
groups.
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If we accommodate people of color,
what does majority have to give up?
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If an initiative fails, we can always
state “we tried”.
REACTIONS
·
Others recall instances that reflect
similar concerns.
·
How do we ensure that students,
faculty and staff feel they can go to someone to report without
repercussion.
·
IFO contract is a barrier, but is
designed to cut horizontally as well as vertically. Need to be
more creative with cuts of staffing that may better avoid people
of color.
·
No faculty are full time in any
multicultural studies discipline.
·
Division not backed up with budget or
staff within academic colleges.
Next meeting will be determined by
individual schedules.
cc: President Barden
Cabinet
