Tonight I returned from Denver and watched SNL and spooky stories with the family. We then watched the ASMCUE 2022 Microbrew: “Cultivating Conversations: Talking about racial justice & inclusion with faculty and students.” Amy Siegesmund from the Department of Biology at Pacific Lutheran University started by asking the audience to share in the chat their experiences discussing racial justice with other faculty and students. The third question was: “have you talked with students about micro- and/or micro aggressions that occurred in your classroom or institution? Siegesmund noted that several participants had similar responses. Siegesmund was tasked with developing the department seminar series around the SABER “Striving for racial justice in academic biology” series. The seminars were recorded and could be watched for 2-3 weeks. The sessions had breakout room discussions about scenarios that happened on their campus. Participants discussed how they would respond. The seminars had between 15-45 participants every session. A survey of the participant experience revealed considerable interest in the topics and discussions. Siegesmund emphasized that these conversations are difficult and uncomfortable AND necessary. They want to have student-identified topics and discussions in the future. What a great seminar series at the department level! I wonder if we could do this? One question asked was about the demographic composition of students and faculty joining these discussions. Siegesmund did mention learning about better ways to support participants of color. The situations were provided by the PLU dean of inclusion! The rules for discourse were shared and grounded by the campus community engagement policies. This session provided several ideas and inspiration. I wish we could do something like this!
