SCOR General Meeting
4 November 2005
5:15 –Introduction
-Welcome by Sharon Lee, who introduces Jeff Morenoff, Associate Chair of Sociology and Faculty Associate at the Survey Research Center.
-Jeff discusses a range of issues surrounding minority recruitment in Sociology as well as the impact of such efforts on his own research and faculty experience.
-Faculty recruitment and hiring: We have what is called a Race & Ethnicity (R&E) Cluster Hire ongoing in the Sociology Department. This cluster hire, backed (and partially funded) by the Dean of LSA, specifically targets scholars whose research focuses on issues of Racial and Ethnic inequality. The R&E hiring push has most recently added two new faculty of color (Karyn Lacy and Tony Chen) to the department. Of course, not only is it important to find diverse faculty, but also to find faculty who study diverse topics. The combination of both is critical to marketing the department to the broadest range of prospective graduate students. Are we there yet? Certainly not, but the commitment is there, and we are hopeful that next couple years will bring additional progress.
-Student diversity and recruiting: Jeff is willing to put Sociology’s record up against any other Top Tier department in the country, in terms of both the number and quality of our minority students. At present, the average sociology cohort is over 1/3 students of color, one of the highest rates in the nation. Historically, Michigan Sociology has been a dominant department in R&E (one of several areas of specialization in the discipline of Sociology), and our ongoing commitments to a diverse faculty and student body will ensure the continuation of that proud legacy.
-Impact on my own research: As a criminologist, I study a host of issues surrounding the correlates and consequences of crime. Throughout my time at Michigan, the diversity within our department has had a tremendous impact on the quality and scope of my research. When thinking recently about my current student collaborators, I realized that the majority of my students are in fact students of color, and yet this trend has less to do with me than the strengths and commitment of our institution. Our strengths have allowed us to draw some of the best students in the nation to Michigan, particularly in areas of Race and Ethnicity. It happens to be that many of those students of students of color. Of course, more work lies ahead, but we’re taking strong steps to cultivate and expand a culture of diversity here at Michigan. We are easily the strongest among the top 10 departments in this regard, and we will continue to maintain and expand those efforts down the road.
-Saida and Jeff discuss funding issues for students of color, and the need to improve upon/supplement the present RMF structure.
-Brighid asks about discrepancy between student diversity (which seems pretty strong) and faculty diversity (less so). Jeff acknowledges that the department has lost some faculty of color over the years, but the provosts backing the R&E cluster hire has already begun to stem that tide. Michigan (Sociology) has always had a reputation of being a tough place, but there is no reason to believe that it’s overly hostile to faculty of color, and the department would never tolerate an environment in which it was.
5:33 – Official welcome by meeting hosts, Tiffany Joseph and David Flores, co-chairs of S.O.C. (Sociologists of Color).
-Ice Breaker Activity: Split up by region and create a cheer.
-Midwest Dominates! No surprise there…
5:47 – Committee Reports Begin
Devin (Social): Ya’ll missed out on the haunted house (your loss cuz it was fun), but for now we’ve got to vote for tonight’s movie (form going around…Tony’s pleas for Charlie and Chocolate Factory are, as usual, ignored!).
Heather (Prof Dev): Take My Advice panel was last month, and this month we will have a student/faculty mixer (date forthcoming). Would like a list of faculty of color in different departments to maximize participation and representation. This will be a great opportunity to network.
-Hugo (PAC): Invites Mike Bader (VP of GEO) to say a few words. GEO hiring a fulltime organizor position starting this January. Apps are due November 8th. Encourage qualified apps to apply. Also hiring a GSSA to fill the new Equity and Access/Special Conference position (who will, among other duties, collect and monitor data on University hiring practices as they relate to racial/ethnic discrimination and affirmative action).
-Hugo invites Gabe from the School of Ed to say a few words. Gabe informs the general body about the upcoming November 19th visit of “Pastor” Fred Phelps (of www.godhatesfags.com). A coalition of LGBT groups will be holding a protest rally. Student tickets are $9 (see flier going around for details)
6:00 -Media and Pub
Travis informs the membership that the logo contest ongoing, so lets get some submissions!
-resources section up on the website, but we could use some more details about specific stores, restaurants, and sources of goods and services in the AA area.
6:03 – Conference
-Paul tells us things are going well, but we can always use more volunteers. Next meeting is Sunday at 5:30 (home cooked meal will be provided). Still working on additional speakers for the conference. We also need paper submissions from SCOR folks. Only takes a few minutes to come up with a 250 word abstract.
-Brighid reminds us that the SCOR conference was created specifically for SCOR folks whose work may not be appreciated in other venues, so make sure we take full advantage of this excellent opportunity for scholarship and exchange.
6:06 –Community Service
Courtney thanks the membership for their work with Katrina evacuees. It has been a tremendous help. Next up is the tutoring program (due to start next week) and we will also be trying to ramp up service efforts and organization, as an additional 250 evacuees will be arriving soon. Also going to be raising money for Brian King (a SCOR member), whose displaced family has relocated to Ann Arbor.
-Other community service events (largely overshadowed due to the Katrina relief effort) will also be upcoming (stay tuned for more info)
6:09
-Sharon reminds the membership that our differences are often more apparent than commonalities. Yet we always find common ground, coming together when we need each other most. Last month we came together around the hate crime, but today we’re going to talk about the formation of the upcoming Rackham Task Force. More on that later, for now let’s eat!
6:37
–Paul Burns presentation on the upcoming Rackham Task Force.
-Justification
-Plan
-Time Frame.
Suggestions for the RTF?
-Lloyd argues for department-level breakdowns, so that interdepartmental variation is not glossed over by aggregate statistics (i.e., we don’t want a few departments skewing the results for entire colleges)
-Maria Johnson inquires about HBCU recruitment/reachout
-Staton advises the membership to see the newsletter for info about Diane Thompson.
-Maria also suggests that departments consider making some of the money typically used for white students available to students of color, rather than holding out for a shrinking number of RMFs.
-SCOR member discusses cultural capital disadvantages that minorities often face when reaching out to prominent (often white) faculty members w/i their departments.
-Zakiya insists that whatever format the upcoming student-survey takes, that Rackham run point, and front the money!
-Shaton urges that non-Ph.D (prof and masters) students not be exluded from these conversations. They may spend less time here, but they share many needs with Ph.D students (support, advising, etc).
-Paul encourages all interested in the task force to follow up with Shaz, Brighid, and himself.
6:54 – Caucus Reports
-Menna leads in a Moment of Silence in honor of Rosa Parks
-AABC update
-APIA update
-Latino/a update
-LGBT update
-Native Caucus update
-Mixed Posse update
7:00 – Close