LGBT Issues Committee meeting summary

The LGBT Issues Committee met yesterday, March 17, 2010.

The committee discussed a list of action items to pursue in the coming year. In part, the action items are based on last month's meeting with Vice Provost for Diversity Damon Williams. A key item, as identified by the committee, is to take another run at an MIU proposal for LBGTQ Faculty Line/Certificate support. The current academic certificate offered for LGBTQ Studies does not have a full, dedicated faculty position. Therefore, faculty teaching classes as part of this certificate program must accommodate it either by the approval of their home departments or through an overload situation. Either way, this is not a good situation in terms of maintaining the certificate program's viability. It is expected that there will be a third round for MIU proposals sometime this calendar year.

The committee chairman reported that Vice Provost for Diversity Williams has now agreed to field the inclusivity survey that has been conducted on many other UW System campuses. This is a positive step in identifying issues of tolerance, inclusivity, and attitudes toward race, gender, sexual identity/orientation and other related issues.

The LGBT Issues committee expects to be included in meetings during the final round of reviews in the search for a new Director of Admissions.

Student groups are continuing to work with University Housing to develop a plan for gender inclusive housing that would allow for roommate situations to be based on gender identity.

Former LGBTQ Campus Center Director Eric Trekel has moved into a temporary position in the Dean Of Students' office and will likely be leaving UW at the end of the semester. Robin Sereno is now serving as acting director of the center.

The LGBT Issues Committee will hold a joint meeting with the University Committee on Women's Issues on May 12th.

LGBT Issues Committee chairman Thomas Armbrecht will be teaching n France for the Fall 2010 semester, and will then be on sabbatical for the Spring 2011 semester. For this reason, the committee is now looking for a new chairperson to take over for Professor Armbrecht at the end of this semester.

--Dave Wilcox, graduate student representative to the LGBT Issues Committee

LGBT Issues Committee meeting summary

The LGBT Issues Committee met this Monday, February 15. Highlights of the meeting are as follows...

• UW Madison is hosting the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgendered Ally College Conference this weekend at Monona Terrace. Details are available at www.mblgtacc.org.
• Point Foundation Scholarship, the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students of merit has announced the opening of its 2010 application season. Students who will be enrolled in the 2010-2011 school year are eligible to apply for the prestigious multi-year scholarships. Details: http://www.pointfoundation.org/instructions.html
• Committee chairman Professor Thomas Armbrecht presented the committee's annual report to the University Committee and the Faculty Senate earlier this month. Key recommendations included full funding of a faculty position for the LGBRT Studies Certificate Program (which serves an average of 25 students per year), University participation in formal LGBT admissions recruitment fairs held in the Midwest, the formalization of a faculty/staff mentor resource for LGBT students, among others. Feel free to contact Dave or Elliott for a full version of the annual report.

Additionally, the committee spent a productive hour meeting with Vice Provost for Diversity Damon WIlliams. Dr. Williams reviewed the committee's recommendations, discussed some strategic ideas for moving the recommendations ahead, and offered some valuable perspective on his ongoing efforts to improve diversity programs and address attendant diversity issues on campus. Dean of Students Lori Berquam also participated in the meeting as a regular member of the LGBT Issues committee.

The next committee meeting will be held in March, most likely on a Monday at 2:30. Exact date is still to be finalized.

--Dave Wilcox (Graduate student representative)

--Elliott Rezny (Undergraduate student representative)

LGBT Issues Committee: Approved Campus LGBT Reccomendations

As has been explained before, The LGBT Issues Committee is in charge of creating recommendations for the university. We don't have actual decision making power, just the ability to advise the campus' governing body. Throughout this year we drafted a report that builds on a recurring 3-year report that the committee has been doing for a while. I am very proud of the report we've drafted; It represents everything we have the advisory ability to change for the better. While the full report will be published online by the committee after it is presented to the university's governing bodies, I will post the executive summary for the purposes of this blog. Please check back for the link to the actual document when it is published by the university for more details.

Executive Summary of LGBT Issues Committee Recommendations, presented 4-08:

1. We recommend that the Vice Provost for Campus Climate and Diversity assume campus-wide oversight of LGBT Issues and report annually in December to this committee on the initiatives undertaken and results achieved campus-wide in this arena.
2. We recommend that the College of Letters and Sciences provide the following new support for the LGBT Studies Certificate Program:
1. A 100% budgeted faculty line in LGBT Studies with a tenure home in any appropriate are
   
2. A 15% increase in funding for the undergraduate advisor position in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies in recognition of that position’s responsibilities for advising LGBT Studies Certificate students.
3. We recommend that the College of Letters and Sciences Office of Student Academic Affairs work with the LGBT Studies faculty to solicit increased First-Year Interest Group opportunities dealing with LGBT themes.
   
4. We recommend that University Housing create a residential learning community focused on LGBT themes for undergraduates at all levels on the UW-Madison campus.
   
5. We recommend that the campus secure and stabilize the operations of the LGBT Campus Center by:
   
1. Providing adequate office space both for staff functioning and for private student consultation and discussion;
   
2. Funding the academic staff positions of the Center through 101 monies.
6. We recommend that the LGBT Campus Center (supported by additional campus resources), undertake the following initiatives, in coordination with the Dean of Students Office and the Office of the Vice Provost of Campus Climate and Diversity:
   
1. Develop and supply a comprehensive LGBT brochure (services, academics, etc.) for distribution as part of the orientation program for new students;
2. In partnership with relevant offices, provide a targeted LGBT student orientation program for incoming freshman, transfer and graduate students;
3. In partnership with relevant offices, develop and provide a “senior year experience” program focusing on preparation for job and/or graduate/professional school exploration;
4. Continue to develop the “Opening Doors” mentorship program pairing students and faculty/staff.
   
7. We recommend that the Admissions Office give greater attention to the recruitment of LGBT students by:
   
1. Improving accessibility to LGBT information on its website;
2. Attending national LGBT recruitment fairs;
   
3. Working with the LGBT Campus Center to create a recruiting pamphlet on LGBT life at UW.
8. We recommend that the Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff work closely with the Vice Provost for Campus Climate and Diversity and with the LGBT Campus Center to insure the inclusion of LGBT faculty and staff in the campus’s various recruitment efforts and to provide programs and services important to LGBT faculty and staff retention, to include:
   
1. Continued aggressive leadership in working with the state legislature to achieve domestic partner benefits for LGBT and other unmarried campus faculty and staff;
2. The creation and funding of an LGBT faculty/staff mentoring program parallel to the existing mentoring program for female faculty.

To give credit where credit is due, the people involved in the report in alphabetical order are:

• Daña Alder
• Thomas Armbrecht
• Lori Berquam
• Jeanne Boydston (chair)
• Julie D’Acci
• Justin Hagar
• Elliott Rezny
• Eric Trekell (ex-officio)
• Christina Treviño-Murphy (student alternate)
• Mariamne Whatley
• Tehshik Yoon

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, erezny [at] wisc [dot] edu .

LGBT Issues Committee - 3/3

Much of our discussion was about issues relating to Transgender students, although we talked briefly about the LGBT community in general on campus including students, faculty, and staff.
We discussed basic improvements that need to be made in University Housing to make it more Trans-Inclusive. This would include options for students who identify as transgender and the ability to make this switch in the middle of the year. Unfortunately, University Housing uses only information from the UW system's common application, which is gender-binary (only allows male/female options). I will be drafting a new set of recommendations for University Housing for our report this year.
It was noted that the Registrar's office is very accepting and able to make name and gender changes on official documents.
Justin is working on language to define transgender for the purposes of the university and University Housing.
We discussed the University Housing Viewbook, which is sent out to all incoming students. It has a small section in it that talks about the housing LGBT Liaisons, gives contact information for Eric Trekell, the director of the LGBT Campus Center, and also informs that transgender students can contact the LGBT Liaisons for special housing considerations.
We also discussed possible reasons why so little has been done within the university while there has been a mandate to make all campus policies gender-inclusive (transgender-friendly).

We are basically trying to figure out how to make sure that the policies that are already in place are carried out and how to make the most effective recommendations for the campus.

LGBT Issues Committee

Important Student Input Needed:
We are looking for student input on LGBTQ issues (especially Trans issues) in student housing that should be addressed by the University. Such things may include facility issues or resource issues. Also, we are gathering information to help reassess SOAR and recruitment issues with LGBTQ students. If you would like to contribute, feel free to comment on this blog, or e-mail me at erezny (at) wisc (dot) edu and I will compile them for a report at the next committee meeting. Thanks!

As for a summary of our meeting:
We discussed the need for a report that assessed progress made on campus LGBTQ issues, along with a similar report from Housing. This would allow the committee to better focus on issues that still needed work.
We decided to test out the new Allies program "Opening Doors" for ourselves, hoping that it may be a great way to train students, house fellows, and even faculty in LGBTQ inclusivity.
We also discussed the LGBT certificate program and it's future needs. More information will be gathered for the next committee meeting.

To be discussed next meeting are: SOAR and Recruitment issues, trans-inclusivity, housing issues, and the LGBT Certificate program