This Tuesday, both SAAB and the Faculty (as a whole) conducted a number of meetings with Paul Hanstedt, a General Education (GE) specialist who has worked with colleges throughout the United States and internationally. This is part of an ongoing initiative to consider what General Education can look like at L&C (see recent posts).

I would like to invite the student body to consider notes which I took at Paul Hanstedt’s meeting with SAAB representatives. The intent of this meeting was to explore where L&C currently sits in the landscape of GE nationally and internationally, and to discuss ideas for how it can be reformed. The notes cover general themes of the discussion, but do not include specific ideas—for example, our specific discussion of what role Race & Ethnicity can and should play in GE is not reflected in the notes.

If you are interested in the process, and want your voice to be heard, SAAB Representatives are the best way to get involved. One reason that events like this have included SAAB is to make SAAB reps into really informed students in this whole process. What this means is they are very capable of (and charged with) representing student voices throughout this process.

As always, feel free to contact me at saab@lclark.edu with questions or concerns.

Respectfully,
Aaron Fellows
SAAB Chair

On behalf of SAAB and the Curriculum Committee, I would like to extend my thanks to all those who showed up to discuss General Education at Lewis & Clark on this last Friday, January 22nd. The discussion brought up tons of great points, put some workable ideas on the table, and helped inform SAAB members how to best proceed in the process of GE reform and represent the student body.

Notes from the discussion are available here. The notes are unsorted—just in the order of when they came up in discussion, for the most part. I spent the meeting writing down these points, so my own personal bias may have crept in here and there. If you would like to comment on any of the points or how I transcribed them, you may comment on the form, or email me personally at saab@lclark.edu.

This was the first event of several this semester where students and faculty will discuss how best to proceed with General Education Reform. I, for one, wholeheartedly appreciate the involvement I have seen so far from the student body. To get involved or keep involved in the discussion, get in touch with your department’s SAAB rep! They are one of the best resources available to you.

Respectfully,
Aaron Fellows
SAAB Chair

Dear Students,

No one can deny that we are an avidly self-representing student body, one who takes an active role in shaping our education and our experience at Lewis & Clark. The very existence of our Student Academic Affairs Board is a testament to this—we have a dedicated group of students from every academic department and program, responsible for facilitating student-faculty interaction and representing their department’s interests. This feature makes us unique among colleges. At present, the conversation we are having centers on the General Education curriculum at Lewis & Clark, and I would like to talk to you all about the resources that SAAB can provide in this respect—and invite you to an event. At a minimum, I hope this gives everyone something to think about over the holidays, and that we can come back refreshed and ready to continue to work to improve this campus.

Among other members, SAAB consists of one representative from each academic department and program. Hopefully you know your SAAB representative already, but if you don’t, you can find out who they are here. Talk to your SAAB representative about the structure of your department, courses your department does or does not offer, or any other issues which concern your department individually. Your representative may also facilitate discussions within your department, in which students and faculty can come together to share opinions and examine important issues. With respect to general education, your SAAB representative is a great starting point for examining the values you would like your department to reflect, and what contributions it can make toward general education.

SAAB also has a Chair (that’s me) who sits on the college Curriculum Committee, which makes decisions concerning the structure of the college curriculum, which courses will be taught, and issues of curricular importance. Perhaps you know me, but if you don’t, feel free to get in touch! Talk to me about issues concerning the college curriculum at large (including General Education), or about coordinating efforts across departments or other entities of the college.

Currently, there is a motivated, forward-moving discussion going on about how General Education can and should be reformed at Lewis & Clark. With respect to that, I would like to invite you all to an open discussion, held in the Chapel, at 3 pm on Friday, January 22nd. The event will include a presentation by faculty members about the process and current goals of General Education reform, a discussion of our ideas as a student body, and the creation of a list of the major points which we want to consider going forward. The discussion will be directed at the members of SAAB, who will represent student interests at a faculty meeting in February to continue discussing next steps in GE reform.

To kick-start this discussion, I would like to invite you to submit topics of discussion, questions, and comments via this form, which will be open from now until the event. Additionally, please be on the lookout for intra-department discussions held by your SAAB representatives, which will give you the opportunity to have a similar conversation on a smaller, more personal scale.

Thank you for your efforts as a student body to continually improve this campus.

Respectfully,

Aaron Fellows
Chair, Student Academic Affairs Board
saab@lclark.edu
aslclark.org/saab

Notes from the First Forum

October 2, 2015

Compiled by Nathaniel Hamlett and Carlton Bone

Guidelines 

1. 1 diva 1 mic
2. Move up move up
3. No one knows everything together we know a lot
4. We can’t be articulate all the time
5. Intent vs. impact
6. Expect and accept a lack of closure
7. Practice Self-Care

Acknowledged the limitations of the space (council chambers is a formal setting)

3 minute time limit

Received a lot of questions Surrounding the Reed LC incident

Spent times isolation themes:

1. How can we better demystify rape culture (more about responsible community members than focusing on an isolated case)

Introduction of Melissa Osmond

Tenets of her job:

1) Prevention and Education

2) Response

7 confidential advocates on campus that can be reached out to

Faculty members need to provide support

Cannot stigmatize men and women who have survived rape or sexual assault

To an extent men (the power majority) must be allies and shoulder the burden of a more inclusive community

Acknowledging the normalization of heterosexuality

MALE PRIVILEGE

Realize sense of entitlement

Women cannot be objects of sexual fulfillment/objectification

Coalescence of race issues and sexual issues

Worst mass shooting in the state of OR 9 people dead (Umpqua)

Reference their native origins and their subsequent subjugation

You don’t get to today without genocide

Obama— “sickness of the mind” as well as shooting by men even further white man

Change starts right here

Hold ourselves accountable

Questions:

Mixed feelings on the message of ASLC

Some are glad that what information was said was said

ASLC set one narrative and essentially condemned that student

Decidedly one-sided perspective

Don’t forget the witnesses who were forced to watched their peer exposed to excessive force

Daniela:

ASLC informed nearly simultaneously of the two incidents

ASLC has a prerogative to inform the students of issues of hate and bias Needed to send something to the student body

Acknowledging the history between LC and Reed

Drafted collaboratively by Cabinet

In the future… We are going to ask more

We did a good job with what we had and performed under duress

We can always do more

What are concrete steps that result in an increase in accountability for the ASLC and the administration?

There are spaces where people can go and vent… and these are the student unions

If the ASLC is supposed to report instances of hate and bias why didn’t they address race in the first place?

So much pressure put onto the various student unions… needs to be give and take with other parts of the community

Lack of institutional transparency

Why is it up to ASLC who is comprised of the students to provide the majority of the information?

Wall of bureaucracy shielding us from information

Kathy Title IX coordinator

Title IX is a federal law that provides equal educational ground based on sex, gender, race, or whatever

Tension between letting something be student and ‘not getting things done enough’

A lot we literally cannot share

Everything cannot be shed

Administrators are not malicious… want to foster/foment openness

Ambiguity in what the real relationship between the staff and the student body

Salient separation between students towards administrators

Only time we talked about sexual misconduct was when something went wrong…

We need to create some formal capacity for discourse

More administration representation than just Harold (an Advisor) at ASLC meetings

Someone with the Dean/ President’s Ear

What is LC’s policy when people off campus are confronted with sexual abuse/harassment

Look to possible changes to campus security

FERPA protection of your rights as a student

It is not your right to know the whole story

We must acknowledge and respect varying perspectives

As peers and students we need to be cognizant of the rumor mill —> game of telephone

FERPA applies off campus (the inference being campus safety will help you in a jam off campus?)

Administration isn’t trying to hide… their hands are tied (tricky legally)

If you hear vitriolic things it’s your onus as a student to make sure people are disseminating accurate information.

Students of Reed are highly concerned about the issues of sexual misconduct and the racial components, as well as to how we treat their campus

*Can’t forget it took Reed to got us to acknowledge the racial aspect of the issues. (They had the first race-based inquiry)

Reed wants change and investigation and in-depth thought

At Reed their talks were oriented to a certain extent on excessive force

No public/campus safety person in the room at the time of the discussion we are having right now.

What if this happened on our campus?

There are always people on campus who are concerned with your safety

Problem lies less with transparency but more with trust

Do student trust in the system? Are they wholly advocating for you?

Some faculty (not all) will not go to bat for students

We aren’t sure as to the concrete steps but there is a tangible feel of malcontent

Big issue: The lack of support

Sexual misconduct is indubitably wrong yet…

Students came back traumatized

Didn’t see the Student Gov’t and admin looking to support those students

Individuals are distraught and feel abandoned

Real question: There are all of these supposed faculty outlets but students are still feeling decidedly alone

We are all part of the community and we cannot be afford to be stratified

Everyone needs to be accountable

Neutrality can be negative

This is the first time we’ve met tot talk about these issues

2/3 of my friends have been sexually “abused”

This is a nationwide issue Lewis and Clark is merely a microcosm

These issues are present in our community

Motif of lack of communication and methods of communing

Some faculty did not know what happened as they didn’t get the email from ASLC

Admin was constrained and didn’t feel like they could send that information

Applaud the BSU for acknowledging race in the initial email

ASLC did not acknowledge this;

ASLC is 0-3 and it feels like information has been purposefully withheld from students

Students just want to be aware

Students aren’t informed enough to engage in any discourse regarding the issue of race

Admin are people too

i.e. I am more than just an area director, but a women of color who empathizes with students

Campus Living -à if anyone is there for you its those 5 AD’s and a grad assistant

How do we do something when it feels like we can do nothing?

The weight of the duality of being emotionally tethered but legally bound

No source of objective information from the pio log

We only talk when there’s a crisis

I’ve been here 3 years but each year people are surprised when issues occur

RA’s are for sure with you

Walk the Talk

Turnover is an issue

Decided lack of tangible change in conjunction with turnover create immense difficulties

Not to take anyone off the hook but to acknowledge

Hate and bias and sexual conduct policies have been affected by the student body/government and in recent history —> everyone needs to be accountable

Hate and bias clause was instituted

In a situation belonging to an individual student they said: ‘The support of the faculty was there but was non existent on the campus safety level’

1st response needs to be looked at

I need people to look like me to be my advocates

Faculty diversity is crucial

Just because we are a school in pdx doesn’t mean we have to mirror their demographics

Student body needs to unite

While I’d love faculty members, I need to receive solace from my peers

Community “is really awesome”

Doing their best to create a safe space

*After going over the pio log*

Didn’t mention that 11 cops surrounded him

Didn’t mention that he was begging for water

I don’t feel safe in this country

It effectively says “You don’t matter”

8 cops on campus just last night and students felt extremely unsafe and were disconcerted

People keep forgetting that this is happening but at this very second people are being abused

Speaking about the email sent

Primary objective was to inform

Not trying to shirk the responsibilities or make excuses

Everything heard was disparate and inconclusive

Reed Student body reached out multiple times to allow the proliferation of knowledge

“We did fuck up” in not mentioning the issues of race

Title IX

In the report from Reed, race was not mentioned… Cabinet wasn’t aware of the race until later

It’s hard to hold people accountable without acknowledging the issues

There are large issues with the counseling center- a supposed ‘outlet’

Unions are passionate but are consistently leaned on more than they should

Don’t bring your “shitty bro’s” to parties

We need to take the onus on ourselves to destroy a culture of racism and rape

People of color lack privilege of support

Lack of trust within some minority populations towards the higher echelons

I care about every single one of you

I will personally make a stronger effort to reach out

People walking around with a smile but burdens on their heart

Meetings are coming, but please go to Daniela so she can represent YOU better

Want to turn this conversation into beautiful action