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Minutes for UAWE Fall General Meeting, October 9, 2009

Meeting started at 3:10 p.m.

1.      Introductions (all present), including Amanda Sesker, the UAWE’s new student worker.

2.      Acknowledgements and Announcements

a.       Positive responses to information pamphlets on relationship violence placed in all women’s restrooms, now also available in men’s restrooms, thanks to male commuter student interns.  Next step is to track which pamphlets are being used the most and at what times.

b.      Thanks to UAWE for information about lactation rooms.  Recently the “students who are parents” group asked where this information could be found, and at least one graduate student on the Minneapolis campus received incorrect information saying there was no place for nursing mothers.  Possible ways to have this information permanently available: brochures in all restrooms, listed in the “A to Z” web links for the whole university, the “students who are parents” website.  New student center will have a designated nursing room.  South campus has none at this time.  Vanessa Cornett-Murtada will look into finding space for one.

3.      Announcements:

a.       Opus Award finalist Mrs. Aicha Ech-Channa honored on November 4, 2009 at Orchestra Hall.  Tickets are free.

b.      Plenty of room available for those who would like to participate in a noon discussion on November 9, 2009 with Rachel Laurin, organist and composer for the Sacred Arts Festival, at the LDCW.

4.      Nominations for the Coordinating Committee of the UAWE: the following nominees were accepted by unanimous voice vote: Liz Dussol, Margie Siegel, Ea Porter, Paddy Satzer, Tara LaFerla, Susan Myers, Ann Johnson, Mary Ann Ryan, Amanda Sesker.  Corrine Carvalho is an ex officio member.  Cara Anthony will serve in place of Susan Myers during Fall 2009 (sabbatical).

5.      Paddy Satzer gave a budget report: there is an additional $1000 in this year’s budget to cover costs for UAWE’s student worker.  Pat Alexander will consult with Paddy regarding budget documents and systems this coming year.

6.      Discussion of concerns and plans for this academic year.

a.       Expand spring meeting/reception to include recognition of the achievements and awards given to women at UST.

b.      Corrine Carvalho: Female faculty retreat was very successful.  Another will be planned soon, either an annual or biannual basis.

c.       Paddy Satzer: Appreciation for opportunities opened by representing the UAWE on the Dummer Center’s Advisory Board: speakers, grant applications, contact with women in the community.

d.      Corrine Carvalho: issue of mentorship for women staff and, especially by a mentor outside their own department.  Human Resources and the Office for Institutional Diversity have a staff mentoring program, but there may be room for a mentoring program that focuses on gender issues.  Tara LaFerla will try to find out if gender concerns are considered when pairing staff with a mentor. Faculty mentoring is currently handled by each academic department.

e.       Student Concerns: Women in undergraduate Law and Business programs have particular concerns about issues women face in these professions.  Currently there are no courses or mentoring programs for undergraduate women in these areas.  Should this be addressed as part of accreditation?  As an initial step, it’s possible to connect undergraduate women with the graduate student women’s associations in these fields.  UAWE can help students organize a petition or letter to the deans of the COB and Law School to request courses such as “Gender and Law.”  It would also be good to identify faculty in these areas who might be resources for women.  Justice & Peace Studies also has relatively little focus on gender justice.

f.        Pay Equity: Difficult to get statistics on pay by gender, or how many female employees leave voluntarily before reaching retirement.  UAWE can formally request these statistics.  There are also questions about staff  job performance evaluations and discrepancies between ratings for exempt and non-exempt staff.  Human Resources is currently revising the evaluation system, and looking at different evaluation instruments.  There was a request to HR to include focus groups of employees in this revision and examining of different instruments.

g.       Affirmative Action Committee would be open to receiving concrete plans from UAWE for improving the campus climate for women.  A number of clear action plans should be formed and then given to other, better-funded bodies on campus to execute.  Not all of them will be adopted, but some certainly will.

h.       Faculty/student concerns about campus climate: noted in the sciences, male peers can act inappropriately, dominating projects and belittling female classmates.  Faculty in a variety of disciplines also engage in inappropriate comments or behavior.  Is it possible to offer training to students to be alert to such behavior and how to respond?  As a start, students need to be better informed about who they can talk to about inappropriate speech or behavior.  Each dean’s office should have a point person.  There could be a Bulletin article addressing student issues with sexual harassment.  Consult with Sr. Sharon Howell, assistant dean of students and university ombudsperson.

7.      Plans for next meeting of Coordinating Committee- Cara Anthony and Paddy Satzer will consult to arrange next meeting, to be held on Minneapolis campus.

8.      Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

9.      After meeting ended, Amy Kritzer volunteered to fill the faculty vacancy on the UAWE Coordinating Committee.

Respectfully submitted,

Cara Anthony

10/12/09