Committee
- Luke Bergmann
- Omer Kazanc
- Andrew Romero
- Elizabeth Shoffner
2015-16 Overview
In 2015-16, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee continued its efforts to support the department in its work to “foster an inclusive and reflexive community by actively working against intentional and unintentional exclusionary practices.” These efforts included prominent events, in the form of department-wide activities, as described below. But they also included many contributions that are less easily enumerated, developing approaches to bring consideration of diversity and inclusion to the fore in a full spectrum of departmental (and extra-departmental) affairs and policy. To take one example, most all members of the Committee attended and participated actively in the regular meetings held by the Graduate School for diversity committees, adding student representation and perspective to those fora dominated by faculty and staff. Indeed, many of the issues the committee found itself taking up involved questions of race and migration, and especially, how these intersect with the experience of being a student at UW.
Events
Title: Workshop and Training for Supporting Undocumented Students
Date: November 13, 2015
Agenda: Members of the department attended a workshop and training session led by Leadership Without Borders at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center. The event provided Geography students, faculty, and staff with information, resources and strategies to support undocumented students at the UW. Specifically, the agenda included: narratives of undocumented students and their families; an overview of the history, policies, and current issues affecting undocumented students at UW; why and how to be an ally to undocumented students; strategies and models to support undocumented students; and discussion as to what we geographers can do.
Title: Film Showing and Discussion: “Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask.”
Date: February 11, 2016
Agenda: Many of those affiliated with the department came together in the evening for activities around a viewing of the film, “Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask.” Key to the experience was the (more-than-academic) responses and discussion after the viewing, which members of the Committee carefully facilitated according to a plan developed out of past experiences.
Additional resources
Leadership Without Borders (https://depts.washington.edu/ecc/lwb/) “Works to serve and empower undocumented students at the University of Washington. LWB offers leadership development resources, college success navigators, the Husky Lending Library, a space for community building, and connections to other campus and community resources.”
Undocu Ally Training (https://depts.washington.edu/ecc/lwb/trainings-education/ and https://depts.washington.edu/ecc/lwb/trainings-education/for-uw-staff-faculty/)