The Fight Continues

1
The Fight Continues

• Updating, discussing and strategizing the ongoing
  negotiations

2
Multicultural Housing

• Students
• Special Interest housing that pertains to culture
  should be changed to on-campus cultural housing
• Want it to be removed from the regular housing
  pool (i.e. permanent)

• Bollinger
• Guarantees current special interest housing for
  cultural groups will be made permanent for next
  year
• Wants to begin serious conversation about nature
  of such housing and its future

3
Multicultural Housing

• Where they dont line up
• Still not specifically cultural
• Guaranteed only for this year
• No agenda for direction of serious conversation
• Doesnt guarantee it for groups that didnt have
  it last year
• Update
• There has been no conversation between student
  negotiators and administrators on this issue

4
Office of Multicultural Affairs

• Students
• (2) Long term implementation of mandatory
  anti-oppression training
• (5) Use the current IRC building to house the OMA
• Create that space by moving ICH residents to a
  currently available brownstone
• (6) House the CC and SEAS Deans of Multicultural
  Affairs, who would
• Administer the Universitys policy on diversity
• Advocate for student groups and students
  individually
• (7) coordination and conflict mediation between
  students and between students and administration
• (7) Inclusion of physical safe space within OMA
  which would provide a centralized venue for
  students as a community and as associations to
  organize

5
Office of Multicultural Affairs

• Bollinger
• Offer support and advising for student groups
• Initiate and support cultural programming
• Act as advocates for needs of minority
  populations
• Facilitate peer mentoring programs among SOC
• Provide diversity training to constituencies
  within CC/SEAS
• Closely associated with Division of Student
  Affairs to avoid isolation

6
Office of Multicultural Affairs

• Where they dont line up
• No Multicultural Deans, only the firm support of
  the Deans of the College and SEAS
• No building change or mention for ICH, no
  conversation about it between us and
  administration
• No clear path of resolution or protocol to follow
  for any bias-related incidents
• Provide diversity training ? Mandatory
  anti-oppression training

7
Office of Multicultural Affairs

• Update
• Doesnt have real power or authority of
  discipline
• No place for student groups to meet or closed
  spaces for individuals to meet with OMA staff
• Understaffed, too many other responsibilities,
  Office has no time to do what it was created for

8
Core, Faculty, and CSER

• Students
• (1) A class to be implemented into the Core that
  speaks to the issues of power, oppression,
  racialization, and the ideology of gender within
  US history and western philosophy
• (1) Create a faculty blue ribbon panel that
• Assesses the Core and makes recommendations as to
  how the goals of the above class can be
  implemented within Core instruction
• Includes equal number of tenured supporters and
  critics of the Core

9
Core, Faculty, and CSER

• Students cont.
• (8) CSER and IRAAS reform
• Faculty and administrator committee to
  investigate autonomy in hiring
• Support CSERs request for additional faculty
  lines
• Support CSERs desire for research arm
• Follow up on University promise of funding for a
  CSER Resource Center

10
Core, Faculty, and CSER

• Bollinger
• Do more toexamine faculty composition and
  structure of our curriculum
• Noted existence of a committee of facultythat
  has been examining these problems whom he will
  meet with to strategize on
• Increasing the racial and gender diversity of
  faculty
• Increasing the representation of issues of
  multiculturalism in our curriculum
• Examining undergraduate curriculum how it can
  serve multicultural student body more effectively

11
Core, Faculty, and CSER

• Where they dont line up
• Doesnt address specific class proposal
• Doesnt address forming a specific faculty
  committee to evaluate the Core on diversity basis
  (no blue ribbon panel)
• Doesnt address increasing funding and power for
  CSER (including follow up on 1996 agreements)
• Update
• Vice-Provost Howard deals specifically with
  faculty hiring and how to diversify the faculty
  little has been done because she is new to the
  position, but she has no power outside of hiring

12
Items Completely Ignored

• (3) Transparent Policy
• The means of allowing students to follow the
  progress of proceedings
• (6) University Vice-Provost of Multicultural
  Affairs
• Oversees creation and implementation of policies
  for all students of all schools of the University
• Currently, Provost Howard only has jurisdiction
  over faculty hiring, and it is not university wide

13
Items Completely Ignored

• (9) Committee on Diversity, the means for
• Continuous assessment of undergraduate climate
• Addressing any bias-related incidents/concerns
• Policy making for handling bias-related incidents
• Ensuring power behind policies
• Includes President and Provost
• Includes students and faculty
• Includes experts who can make recommendations
• Ensures that these issues stay at the forefront
  of their attention

14
President BollingerI hope to have a series of
more specific proposals on these and other
matters as we continue with the help of our
students and faculty.
15

• Despite this statement, this semester there has
  been no effort on behalf of President Bollinger
  to meet with us again and address these issues
• Many of these issues may have been discussed
  among administrators or other parties, but most
  of them have not been discussed with students
  involved in the negotiations

16
Vice Provost of Diversity Jean Howard

• Her responsibilities
• Asses the number of minorities within various
  departments
• Examine various faculty recruitment programs and
  determine the best for Columbia
• Convince university that her job is worthwhile
  and that it is not affirmative action
• Needs to build allies before she can advocate for
  us

17
Meetings with Vice Provost Howard

• Diversity Training for Faculty
• New faculty
• New chairs of departments
• Search committees for new faculty
• Will look for ways to implement DT of current
  faculty
• Wants to establish faculty committee that reviews
  the inappropriate behavior of faculty members
  (sexual, degrading remarks, etc.)

18
Meetings with Vice Provost Howard

• She is in the position for 3 years, then someone
  new will be chosen BUT
• If she is too successful, her position may be
  considered obsolete and eliminated
• If she is not successful enough, her position may
  be considered ineffective and eliminated
• Has no control over the Core, and told not to
  deal with it or student issues

19
Meetings with Vice Provost Howard

• Has no jurisdiction over OMA in any way
• Does not want students on the hiring committees
• The run-around One student told by President
  Bollinger to take an incident to VP Howard, yet
  she has been told not to deal at all with student
  affairs
• Changes in the Core MUST come from central
  administration

20
Meetings with Vice Provost Howard

• The short and sweet
• She has no authority over anything but hiring,
  and she is only hired for a 3 year contract.

21
Meeting with Prof. Okihiro of CSER

• Priorities
• Securing more faculty positions for CSER and more
  people of color University wide (no Native
  American faculty in the who U.)
• Securing tenure and hiring power for CSER, IRAAS,
  etc
• Research facility was promised as a condition of
  his moving to Columbia that Butler would house an
  Ethnic Studies Reading Room
• No reading room in Butler
• Trying to start one in CSER but needs the funding
  and resources

22
Meeting with Prof. Okihiro of CSER

• Things for us to be aware of
• People within CSER still not convinced on the
  necessity of Native American Studies
• Faculty in IRAAS somewhat resistant to merging
  with CSER or creating closer ties
• Outside administrators hostile to CSER/IRAAS
• Structural impediments of hiring

23
Where do We Go From Here?

• Ideas for change
• Weekly Core meetings
• Teachers meet weekly on upcoming topics we need
  to work on including the diversity aspect
• Talk to people responsible for various majors and
  talk about increasing diversity in specific
  majors
• Work on getting non-students of color involved,
  especially through bridging the gaps to Hillel
• Asking for an annual University lecture (similar
  to the CC Lecture) that address issues of
  diversity, etc
• Re-evaluate and identify our priorities from
  proposal