Campus Community,
As the fall semester comes to a close, I’d like to share the latest diversity and inclusion efforts and accomplishments with you. View past newsletters.
We have continued to build on the work started in response to student discussions at the January 2016 Town Hall meeting.
- The Office of Multicultural Engagement (OME) created The Mosaic Cupboard, which supplies students with toiletries and other essential items. Students can visit ly/mosaiccupboard to submit a request for the items they need. Orders will be prepared and ready for pick up in the OME the following Thursday. The generosity of students, faculty, administrators and staff has made the cupboard possible. You may drop off donations during regular hours (M-F 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) or make a monetary donation.
- Residential and First-Year Programs approved the LatinX house for the 2018-2019 academic school year. The mission of the house is “to create a space that will diversify the community and let all students feel welcomed and supported.”
Additionally:
- The OME received the Outstanding Multicultural Program Award for Hispanic Heritage Month from The Mid Atlantic Regional Conference for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA.org). The programming featured activities from the Center for Public Service, Project Gettysburg-Le¿n, Latin American Student Association, Latin American Caribbean and Latino Studies, Mosaic House and Campus Activities Board.
- Gettysburg College is an official member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Upsilon Delta Citywide Chapter. Students from Dickinson College and Gettysburg are eligible to apply for membership in this NPCH organization.
- Anthony Ray Hinton visited as part of the First-Year Common Reading Program to speak on his experience on death row in Alabama covered by Attorney Bryan Stevenson in his book Just Mercy. The book unveils the broken justice system in the US by covering stories of men and women who have been wrongfully convicted.
- Disability Awareness Month events were held October 25. Two workshops, “Emotional Support Animals on the College Campus” and “The Role Animals Play in our Lives,” were held for students, faculty, and staff. These workshops were followed by “A Blessing of the Animals” conducted by The Rev. Kristin Largen and the return of Dog Days, hosted by Gettysburg’s own four-legged counseling staff member, Zach Cotter, and his handler, Kathy Bradley.
- The Office of LGBTQA+ Advocacy and Education is conducting an internal review to determine key priorities and programming in preparation for the search for a new director in the spring semester.
- Joyce Galanti has joined the Counseling Services staff as Program Coordinator for the Garret Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
- The Office of Multicultural Engagement along with The Comic Book Club, Bookstore, and local business Four Corner Comics held the first ever LincCon Comic and Gaming Convention at Gettysburg College on Saturday, November 3 in the College Union Building. This event brought the campus and community members together around the love of comics, gaming, and all things pop culture. Throughout the day there were host vendors, panelists, demonstrations, breakout sessions and a cosplay costume contest. Institutional highlights of the convention around inclusion included consent reminders, sensory break room, and gender-neutral acceptable bathrooms.
- In September the Interfaith Student Association became a Senate recognized club. This club will work together to hold interreligious events (including educational events) and continue to support religious diversity and inclusion across campus. A grant from the Interfaith Youth Core will provide support for religious diversity events, including training this spring. In November, College Chaplain Kristin Largen took six Gettysburg College students to the Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Toronto. It was an exciting, transformative conference, where they enjoyed lectures, film screenings, and worship experiences, and met interesting people from all around the world who are motivated by their religious convictions to work together for peace and justice.
- On November 2, 2018, students held a vigil to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting on October 27. Hannah Labovitz ‘21 and Sam Pfeffer ’19 invited President Janet Morgan Riggs, Dean Ramsey, Dr. Davenport, and David Bass to speak at the event. Prior to the vigil, the Judaic Studies Committee held a panel discussing anti-semitism.
- The Professional Development Committee offered museum tours to Washington, D.C. this fall. On October 8, faculty and staff visited the National Museum of the American Indian. On December 11, employees will tour the Holocaust Museum. Transportation is provided to and from campus to each museum. Stay tuned for additional museum tours during the spring semester to the Smithsonian Latino Center and the National Museum ofAfrican American History and Culture.
- Voice of a Generation (V.O.G), hosted by Mariam S. Traore '21, airs on 91.1 WZBT Fridays from 5-6 p.m. V.O.G. is a talk show that discusses a variety of issues faced by underrepresented communities on- and off-campus. The goal of V.O.G is to provide a platform for those who feel like their voices aren't being heard by allowing guests to discuss topics/subject matters that people are too afraid to speak about, or just ignore. The program is accompanied by a variety of music from many genres and countries.
- Professor Marybeth Gasman, the Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Education and Director of Penn Center for Minority-Serving Institutions, will visit Gettysburg College on February 21 & 22, 2019 to speak with faculty on the need for diversity in the curriculum. During the visit, Professor Gasman will hold workshops for those interested in diversifying existing courses and expanding diversity-based courses. Her visit is made possible with the support of the Mellon Foundation Grant, Unfinished Work: Diversifying the Professoriate at Gettysburg College. This event was originally scheduled for November 15 & 16, 2018 but was postponed to February due to snow.
Three continued areas of focus for the college are:
- The Campus Climate Study
Recent accomplishments include:
- The College Council pilot program was approved by President Riggs. The purpose of the College Council is to have a cross-constituent group that can discuss issues together and provide advice and recommendations to the President. Two meetings will be held each semester.
- Professor Kathryn Rhett has been named the inaugural Ombudsperson for Gettysburg College and will serve a two-year term.
- This semester’s Friday Afternoon Social Hours (FASH) have been well attended. Co-hosting opportunities were successful as many departments who do not usually collaborate together did so to make these events more inclusive.
- The new, inclusive format of the Friday Forums is receiving complimentary feedback. View the schedule.
- The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
An update: 256 campus community members were issued an IDI assessment during the 2017-2018 school year. Since rolling out the assessment in the fall of 2015, over 1,045 members of the college community (faculty, staff, and students) have either taken or started the process of taking the assessment. If you have not done so already, you are encouraged to take the IDI as a team, group and/or department; please complete this request form to get started
- Inclusion Action Plans (IAPs)
Progress updates of divisional IAPs are being received by the Office of Diversity & Inclusion this semester as Fall 2018 concludes the first three years of our IAP process.
Please be sure to share your own updates with us so we can publish them in our spring email.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
Sincerely,
Jeanne J. Arnold, Chief Diversity Officer
Other notable updates and stories to read:
- John Carlos visits campus to discuss athletic activism fifty years after the 1968 Olympics
- Ivana Lopez Espinosa ’19 discusses role of Senate Diversity Committee, her work researching diversity at Gettysburg
- Tyra Riedemonn ’20 talks about Diversity, inclusion, and difficult conversations
- Emily Vega ’19: Building community, bridging divides
- Gondwe Lecture, October 11
- Trans Remembrance Day was commemorated with a service at the Peace Pole on November 16.
- Ask, Listen, Refer is a suicide prevention online training currently available for students and employees via the Counseling Services homepage.
Have something else to share? Suggestions for information you’d like to see in the next email update? Email diversityandinclusion@gettysburg.edu.
Learn more about Diversity & Inclusion at Gettysburg College