BOD: Director of Diversity Efforts

(FAVOUR WORKED ON THIS! Wanted to leave this in here just incase the Greek Community reaches out to you about this, I personally did not work with them at all this year)

“This year I worked with the greek community and their executive’s board on diversity and inclusion efforts through meetings,  and events. If we continue to make steps, and each community meets each other halfway, we can continue to move towards shifting the campus climate. And while I would HIGHLY recommend that you continue this work next year, remember that it is okay to provide the greek community with resources and education but be careful not to overwork yourself or the underrepresented communities.

In the “Greek Initiative 2018-2019” folder on the Google Drive, you’ll have resources, past notes from meetings, and presentations. You’ll also find past resources in the drive under “Greek Community Diversity Initiative”

Few things to keep in mind:

• Joint Diversity Conference with IFC/PHC/UGC/NPHC/ECC/ASUW in late October *
• Recognition Agreement
• Guideline/outline for IFC and PHC Diversity Chairs”

*disclaimer: could be impacted by COVID-19 and transitions to in-person engagement

• See google drive for detailed descriptions, plans, and resources.

JCC Podcast

• Two years ago, JCC partnered with Rainy Dawg Radio and aired a podcast once a week. This was an opportunity for commission directors to highlight their events, programming, accomplishments, and issues within our community. Sahra suggested also doing a collaborative JCC Podcast for Consider the COSTume! Commission directors/constituents loved this.

JCC Restructure

Professional Development

These are all in your job description as well

Women’s Center
D Center
Q Center

Ethnic Cultural Center
Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
Intellectual House
Office of Student Veteran Life
Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS)
Faculty Council on Women in Academia (in the midst of updating their name)
Faculty Council on Multicultural Affairs (in the midst of updating their name)
OMA&D Diversity Council

You should meet with them once (if you want) and then decide what kind of relationship you want after that.  It’s too much to be a liaison to all these entities so you should prioritize the ones that will be most important for your year.

There is no set time for JCC meetings.  Just make sure that you all meet weekly and that you find time quickly so that you can book a room.

JCC General Advice:

 People who should be a part of JCC include:

American Indian Student Commission Director
Asian Student Commission Director and Assistant Director
Black Student Commission Director
Pacific Islander Student Commission Director
Latinx Student Commission Director
Student Disability Commission Director and Assistant Director
Womxn’s Action Commission Director and Assistant Director
Queer Student Commission Director
Middle Eastern Student Commission Director
Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Activists Co-Directors
Student Health Consortium Director

OGR Liaison – Community Organizer *

Student Advisory Board Representative (Vice Chair)
Student Activities Office Adviser (Jon Solomon)
Administrative Assistant to the Board of Directors (they take minutes at every meeting).

There are copies of past Agendas and Minutes in the Google Drive so you can see what we’ve talked about in the past. Mainly, it involves talking about what each committee is up to, community updates, and joint action.

* Last year OGR appointed a liaison to JCC and they were added as an ex-officio (non-voting) member of JCC.
Potential ideas for collaboration would be lobbying and advocating for underrepresented communities at the local and state level.

JCC also has a fund, which is essentially the surpluses of the diversity commissions and SARVA from the past two years.  Since JCC typically underspends its budget, we usually end up hitting the maximum amount allowed to us – 15,000 dollars.  However, this is still a substantial sum available to spend. There is a JCC Funding Request form in the Google Drive, so feel free to look it over and use it next year.  It includes bylaws and how the fund should be used.

The fund should only be used for commission created events involving two or more fund participants, you need two weeks to process the fund (one week for first readings and another week for second readings and voting), and you should consistently follow-up with the commissions involved, the SAO advisers, and the Finance & Budget Director to make sure that these funds get transferred.  Funding proposals are decided upon by you and F&B Director based on the JCC Fund requirements.

AISC puts on the Winter Powwow and plays a heavy role in planning the Spring Powwow and Ravens Feast.  Senate legislation to make the Hec Ed free for the Powwow. I would also reach out to the intellectual house!

ASC has a history of a struggle of power between the Director and Assistant Director so make sure to keep in contact with both them and check in.  You don’t want the roles to overlap and for friction to develop because the position wasn’t properly mapped.  ASC puts on the ASC Talent Show and has the largest number of constituent groups of any diversity commission.  They used to be social-focused, but have since shifted toward advocacy, activist, and identity development-related programming.  ASC usually has the most events and active constituent groups.

BSC puts on Evolve and other student programming every year.  They have more leeway with their budget because they don’t have an immensely large annual event tied to their job description.

SDC programming changes every year.  They work closely with the D Center to put on relevant events.  The events generally include workshops and speaker events.

Latinx Student Commission puts on Dia de los Muertos, the Quinceaner@, the Dream Banquet, and Raza Grad every year.  They have a lot of historical events that are expected by the community.

MESC is the newest diversity commission and will require a lot of attention. MESC and their communities have had a hard time this year navigating the idea of constituency and how all organizations are represented. They’re going to need the most support of all the entities you liaison to. I would encourage you to work closely with this commission to ensure that they reach out to ALL of their constituency thereby fostering a relationship early on.

PISC puts on Pacifik Voices and Pasifik Grad every year.  They have a small constituency so make sure that the PISC Director is training successors for next year.  Their events vary every single year, but Tulili has put a lot of focus into uniting the PI groups. There has also been a shift toward advocacy/activist in recent years.

QSC puts on the QSC Ball, Drag Competition, and Lavender Graduation every year.  Other than that, their events vary depending on community need.  They work closely with the Q Center on maximizing the impact of their events.

WAC doesn’t really talk with its constituent RSOs or the Women’s Center, so its more of a self-sufficient entity compared to the other diversity commissions. It does have the largest constituency group though.  WAC puts on The Monologues every year and usually has the most partnerships with other members of JCC. I would encourage you to reach out them early to ensure they are communicating with other commission directors as they comprise a large part of their constituency.

SARVA puts on Take Back the Night, the SARVA 5K, workshops, and SARVA Month every year.  They’ve worked community and local organizations, but each year looks different.  Some people focus on community building with other victims/survivors, others work on awareness events, and others work on policy advocacy.