Meeting Minutes
Diversity Committee
Meeting, August 30, 2005
Present: Eleanor Block (Chair), Amanda Clark, Deidra Herring, Beverly McDonald, Duke Morgan, Virginia Reynolds
Absent: Eboni Francis, Linda Gonzalez, Cyndi Preston, Charles Smith
Committee members continued the discussion from the last meeting on possible future programs:
A. Presentation on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) issues-- Duke Morgan spoke to Brett Beemyn, who does a regular program on GLBT issues for the members of Duke's security patrol. As a part of this program, all participants received a very detailed handbook entitled Ohio State H.E.R.O. : hetrosexism, education and reduction orientation : GLBTSS - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services : ally handbook developed and written by Brett Beemyn and Velma Valentine. Brett can do an hour-long presentation that includes talking, handouts (the H.E.R.O. handbook for each attendee), group activities and a time for questions and answers.
Eleanor told the committee members that, in an earlier Diversity Committee survey on possible future programs, the top request was for information on GLBT issues. We all agreed that this topic should be our first program for the 2005-2006 year and then discussed some specifics:
1. possible dates-- mid October to early November. Eleanor found out that the dates that Room 122, Main Library would be available are October 17, 20, 24 and 27 (the week of October 31 is not available because of the Libraries' Book Sale). Duke will talk to Akua Bandele, who does the scheduling, about the availability of Room 210, Main Library on these dates
2. food and drinks-- Will someone provide beverages (the Libraries, perhaps) and food (Duke will look into this)? Also, who will pay for this?
3. evaluation of the presentation-- Is this already done as part of the presentation? Duke will discuss this with Brett Beemyn. If there isn't an evaluation form, should the committee make up a form?
B. Someone to talk about the Somali people and their situation-- Charles Smith had volunteered to look into possible programs. Charles, who could not attend this meeting because he was on vacation, gave Eleanor the name of a contact person (Abdifatah Ali, (ali.103@osu.edu)) at the Somali student organization
C. Someone to talk about Arab/Muslim issues-- Charles sent Eleanor the website information for two groups, The Ohio State University Muslim Student's Association (http://msa.org.ohio-state.edu/aboutmsa.html) and the African Youth League (http://ayl.org.ohio-state.edu/)
D. The video Islamic Art-- Pat McCandless, the former chair of the Diversity Committee, sent Eleanor an e-mail recommending this video as a possible program. Eleanor wants all committee members to look at this video and send comments to her (The specifics are in her e-mail dated August 31, 2005)
This year, the residents are based in two specific departments, FAE for Eboni Francis and MOD for Deidra Herring. Now that the new program has been operating for several months, we need to meet with the residents and their supervisors (Susan Logan from FAE and Marsha Hamilton from MOD) and see how the program is working out-- positives, negatives, changes needed, etc. This will be the topic of our September 13 meeting.
Absent: Eboni Francis, Linda Gonzalez, Cyndi Preston, Charles Smith
Minutes
The minutes of the August 17, 2005 meeting were approved as written.Meeting times
The committee meeting scheduled for December 27, 2005 will probably be cancelled because of the holidays.
Possible future programs
Eleanor wants us to be a committee that has purpose, themes and activities.
Committee members continued the discussion from the last meeting on possible future programs:
A. Presentation on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) issues-- Duke Morgan spoke to Brett Beemyn, who does a regular program on GLBT issues for the members of Duke's security patrol. As a part of this program, all participants received a very detailed handbook entitled Ohio State H.E.R.O. : hetrosexism, education and reduction orientation : GLBTSS - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services : ally handbook developed and written by Brett Beemyn and Velma Valentine. Brett can do an hour-long presentation that includes talking, handouts (the H.E.R.O. handbook for each attendee), group activities and a time for questions and answers.
Eleanor told the committee members that, in an earlier Diversity Committee survey on possible future programs, the top request was for information on GLBT issues. We all agreed that this topic should be our first program for the 2005-2006 year and then discussed some specifics:
1. possible dates-- mid October to early November. Eleanor found out that the dates that Room 122, Main Library would be available are October 17, 20, 24 and 27 (the week of October 31 is not available because of the Libraries' Book Sale). Duke will talk to Akua Bandele, who does the scheduling, about the availability of Room 210, Main Library on these dates
2. food and drinks-- Will someone provide beverages (the Libraries, perhaps) and food (Duke will look into this)? Also, who will pay for this?
3. evaluation of the presentation-- Is this already done as part of the presentation? Duke will discuss this with Brett Beemyn. If there isn't an evaluation form, should the committee make up a form?
B. Someone to talk about the Somali people and their situation-- Charles Smith had volunteered to look into possible programs. Charles, who could not attend this meeting because he was on vacation, gave Eleanor the name of a contact person (Abdifatah Ali, (ali.103@osu.edu)) at the Somali student organization
C. Someone to talk about Arab/Muslim issues-- Charles sent Eleanor the website information for two groups, The Ohio State University Muslim Student's Association (http://msa.org.ohio-state.edu/aboutmsa.html) and the African Youth League (http://ayl.org.ohio-state.edu/)
D. The video Islamic Art-- Pat McCandless, the former chair of the Diversity Committee, sent Eleanor an e-mail recommending this video as a possible program. Eleanor wants all committee members to look at this video and send comments to her (The specifics are in her e-mail dated August 31, 2005)
Mary P. Key Diversity Residency program
The focus of the Mary P. Key Diversity Residency program changed in 2004. In earlier years, the residents were rotated through many library departments to give them an over-all idea of how an academic library operates. The focus was changed last year to allow the resident to work in a designated area that offered hands-on experience. The program would also give the resident a broad overview of the entire library organization and support her/his professional development, both locally and at the national level.
This year, the residents are based in two specific departments, FAE for Eboni Francis and MOD for Deidra Herring. Now that the new program has been operating for several months, we need to meet with the residents and their supervisors (Susan Logan from FAE and Marsha Hamilton from MOD) and see how the program is working out-- positives, negatives, changes needed, etc. This will be the topic of our September 13 meeting.
Survey
We may want to do a survey in the future asking OSUL employees what programs they want us to present.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be held Tuesday, September 13, 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Room 124, Main Library. The topic will be a discussion of OSUL's
residency program.