John Carroll University Division of
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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Volume 2, Issue 1: September 3, 2020 |
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R.I.S.E.* Up Newsletter
*Reinforcing Inclusion through Skill-building and Education
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A Welcome Back... in Strange and Difficult Times
All of us in the DEI Division are glad to welcome our students and faculty back to campus for the start of the most unusual fall semester in living memory.
Between this summer's nationwide uprisings in defense of Black lives, an increasingly acrimonious election season, the new national attention to the urgency of systemic inequality, and devastating economic upheavals, all of it overshadowed by a massive global pandemic, we are beginning our semester amid a huge array of pressing realities. These realities are sure to emerge this fall onto our campus and into our classrooms -- even the virtual classroom. Faculty and staff looking for tools and tips for meeting students' needs, answering their questions and facilitating healthy dialogue on these issues will find help at our first R.I.S.E. Workshop of the year. Read below for more.
For those who were part of our Summer Community Book Read of Dolly Chugh's book The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, we recommend her suggestion that now is the time for us to embrace the "10% Rule" for staying in the work of equity and justice for the long haul. Chugh says that "what we are aiming for is to keep doing 10% more than we were before." She says that for some, that means "10% more mortified," while others will need to aim for "10% more terrified" and veterans in the work may need to aim for "10% more satisfied." She identifies 10% as a target because "it’s enough to make a difference, but not so much as to demotivate us and lead to us doing 0%. Our impact will compound over time so that if many of us sustain this effort, massive societal change is possible."
Things do indeed feel overwhelming right now, but take heart. We are not alone; we are a movement. Our collective work for a more just community and a more equitable world continues with more urgency than ever in these challenging times. We are glad to have you on this journey with us.
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R.I.S.E. Workshop:
DEI Issues in
the Virtual Classroom
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Join Dr. Tiffany Galvin Green, VP for DEI, for a virtual workshop entitled "DEI Issues in the Virtual Classroom" on Wednesday, September 16 from 2:00-3:00 pm. This program is designed to help identify and address DEI issues and needs in our virtual environments this fall. Open to all faculty and staff. |
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Fall Semester Faculty/staff Book Club Read |
We are pleased to announce the first faculty/staff R.I.S.E. book club for the Fall 2020 semester!
Described in the New York Times as "an instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far," Caste describes how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
The book club will meet virtually starting at 11:45 am on the following Thursdays: 9/24, 10/1, 10/8 and 10/15. This program is a "brown bag lunch" meeting. Open to all staff, faculty, and graduate assistants.
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Unity Prayer at the Peace Pole |
Tomorrow, Friday, September 4th, Campus Ministry will host a community prayer gathering on the quad at 12:00 noon at the Peace Pole (just outside the St. Francis Chapel) for all members of the JCU community who are able to attend.
Please join our community in prayer for an end to all forms of division, hatred and oppression.
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First Year Students:
Sign up for a MELT Mentor!
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The Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion invites all first-year students to sign up for the MELT mentoring program. The purpose of MELT (Match, Empower, Learn, and Teach) is to create a caring mentoring partnership between mentors (current sophomore, juniors, and seniors) and mentees (first-year students who are first in their immediate families to go to college, students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and other historically underrepresented students). |
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Coffee with Colleagues
returns for fall
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Back by popular demand, please join faculty/staff colleagues for another Coffee with Colleagues next Wednesday, September 9 at 2:00 pm on Zoom, hosted by Tiffany Galvin Green.
Join us for an informal chat to discuss surprises, new ideas, to share company, consolation and camaraderie. Open to all faculty, staff, and graduate assistants.
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R.I.S.E. Higher: Featured Article of the Week |
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Beyond Compliance:
Advice on Why and How to Make Online Teaching Accessible, Even During a Pandemic
Inside Higher Ed, September 2, 2020
In March 2020, we joined colleagues across the country in dealing with rapid changes to the courses we were teaching and taking. In many cases, instructors had little choice but to default to the same content and course structure that they used in face-to-face instruction, as time pressures precluded the opportunity to engage in careful online course design.
In our experiences -- those of one professor, two instructional support professionals and one graduate student -- we have seen firsthand that the haste with which courses were transitioned online placed one group at a particular disadvantage: students with disabilities.
.... (click below to read more)
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Announcements from our network: |
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Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and Cleveland Book Week |
Save the date!
On Thursday, October 1, WVIZ/PBS Ideastream will host the 85th annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards in a special televised awards ceremony. Learn more here.
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Go LIVE for Equity 2.0
The Greater Cleveland YWCA will sponsor a series of free virtual interviews and discussions with local and national leaders fighting on the front lines for racial equity. The series begins Friday, September 11th at 10:00 am and continues each Friday through October 2.
On October 9 the series will feature a special program with Dr. Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility.
All installments are free and open to the community.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education is hosting a free webinar on Wednesday, September 9 entitled "Structuring a Course so that All Students Participate."
With virtual education continuing this fall, the higher ed community is asking: how can faculty structure classes to encourage everyone to participate and collaborate?
The Chronicle's panel of experts will address the following questions: How can students participate in and complete group work? How can professors engage students in ways better suited to the online classroom?
How can universities ensure that the needs of students of color, first-gen, and lower-income students are being met?
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The Latest in a String of Deaths at the Cuyahoga County Jail
is Lea Rayshon Daye, a Black Trans Woman.
Cleveland community leaders are decrying the death this week of Lea Rayshon Daye, a 28-year-old black trans woman, who joins ten other people who have died in the Cuyahoga County Jail in the last three years.
“Transgender people are being murdered across the United States and the City of Cleveland has one of the highest rates based on our population,” said Maya Simek from Equality Ohio. “The system that continues to fail Black, brown and LGBTQ+ Ohioans is completely inept when interacting with those at the intersection of race and LGBTQ+ identity by not protecting them, especially in state custody.”
The community is invited to join the Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition, The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, Equality Ohio, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless for a virtual press conference on Friday, September 4th, 2020 at 11am. The press conference will be streamed live on social media at @LGBTcleveland @JailCoalition @equalityohio and @clevelandhomeless.
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Other articles we're reading this week:
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