Galpin Call-In: List of Demands

We, the students of the College of Wooster, have a right, responsibility, and duty to hold our institution accountable for its failure to meet the needs of the student body. Historically, student leaders have advocated on behalf of their communities to the administration on a variety of issues, often times resulting in the same outcome. As a result of administration continuously dismissing students’ concerns, we, the student leaders at the College of Wooster, have united in order to create a set of demands that represent each of our respective groups' interests. This list of demands serves as a visual representation of our solidarity in hopes of no longer being ignored. Beyond the list of demands presented below, the administration must continue to listen to and address concerns brought forth to them by members of The College of Wooster student body.

SECTION I: REALLOCATION OF FUNDS

  1. Funding for Center for Diversity and Inclusion
  1. Over the last four years, funding for CDI has decreased drastically. In order for the college to truly “stand united against hate and contribute to a safe learning environment,” the funding for this office must increase.
  2. New funding should be allocated for:
  1. Greater resources for their everyday office tasks
  2. Mandatory Training for student leaders on campus
  3. Increased access to cultural engagement education and training for groups that request these services
  1. Addressing Discrepancy Between Student Group Funds
  1. At this moment these students carry the heavy burden of educating and encouraging the wider campus to engage with other cultures and perspectives. Due to lack of funding allocated to these particular groups, the work and education they are able to provide is currently limited.
  1. Comparatively, we have noticed that current student organizations who do not engage with the wider campus community pertaining to issues of diversity have received substantially more funding.The evidence below is documented from the 2017-2018 Allocated Charted Group Budgets:
  1. Men’s Ultimate Frisbee received $15,747.78
  2. Men’s Ice Hockey received $31,212. T
  3. Brothers of Diversity received $984
  4. African Student Union received $2,886
  5. ASIA received $524
  6. First-Generation Student Org. received $271
  1. The discrepancy between funding of groups is problematic when we review community-wide initiatives such as, the promotion of diversity and inclusion. The College’s implicit financial favoring of non-essential diversity groups exemplifies the institutions failure to support minority groups.

SECTION II: TITLE VI

  1. Mandatory Cultural Competency Training
  1. Students
  1. All new students of the college shall be required to attend a cultural competency training course. This should occur during orientation week and throughout their First-Year Seminar. The curriculum for the cultural competency training should be determined by CDI and students of the College which must be reviewed on a yearly basis
  1. Faculty & Staff
  1. All new, returning, and tenured faculty are required to attend a cultural competency training course. This will occur right before classes begin and continue on a semesterly basis. The curriculum for the cultural competency training should be determined by CDI, Faculty, Staff and Students of the College which must be reviewed on a yearly basis
  1. Storage Access for International, Global Nomad, and Low-Income Students
  1. The College provides free summer storage for all International and Global Nomad students. Additionally, long-distance and low-income students should be granted the opportunity to apply for free storage access. A committee will be created to review applications.
  1. Reporting Resources
  1. Currently many students on campus are unsure what steps to take when bigoted statements or actions occur. The College has a responsibility to provide an easily accessible list of resources for the student body not limited to:
  1. What to do if your teacher is the perpetrator?
  2. How to handle instances on Beall Avenue?
  3. Where to report our fellow classmates?

SECTION III: TITLE IX

  1. Separating Conflict of Interests
  1. The College separates the role of the Title IX Deputy from the role of the Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities, as it is a conflict of interest, survivors should be able to receive accommodations independent from those who adjudicate and oversee the Judicial Process.
  1. Diverse Hirees
  1. We demand a person of color for both a Title IX Deputy and Director of Student Rights and Responsibility as it is essential to creating a diverse environment for college discussions of sexual violence, and providing survivors with an inclusive environment for the healing and reporting processes.
  1. Minimum Education Sanction for all Guilty Respondents
  1. The Colleg,e must reassess the nature of educational sanctioning for respondents. This minimum will function as a baseline for sanctioning which can be expanded upon in each case, to ensure the College takes an active stance against individuals who commit acts of sexual violence.
  1. Establishing Survivor Hotline and House
  1. College allows the student-establishment of an “on-call” student response group to assist survivors of sexual misconduct. This group will be supported by the administration through being granted a campus program house as a “safe-haven” for survivors of sexual violence, and for those who are seeking safety. Student leaders and house coordinators would oversee the program’s structure and functioning. The program would function as follows:
  1. Trained students who stay in a “live-in” program house dedicated to ending sexual violence on the College of Wooster Campus.
  2. The team of students will be trained to assist survivors of sexual violence. The College is expected to pay said training as it pertains to the activists’ ability to properly serve survivors.
  3. The house will be funded with cell-phones that function as an “on-call” system where: at least 2 functional cell-phones would be active each night of the semester to provide students a hotline before, during, or after an act of sexual violence occurs.
  1. Reorganized Orientation and Student Training
  1. The College makes consent and bystander intervention training required for new and returning students.
  2. The College makes SafeZone training required for new and returning students.
  1. Yearly Campus Climate Surveys
  1. The College conducts and disperses yearly Campus Climate Surveys as a means to better capture community reception to topics of sexual misconduct. Prevention is only effective through consistent and continual addressment, subsequently the disbursement of yearly Campus Climate Surveys are essential to addressing sexual violence on the College of Wooster campus. In particular, yearly surveys should inquire about:
  1. Changing perceptions surrounding sexual violence.
  2. Effectiveness of First-Year and New Student Orientation educational programming.
  3. Students’ willingness and ability to intervene in potentially dangerous situations.
  4. Students’ understanding of College policy and protocol pertaining to consent and sexual misconduct.
  1. Accordance to Federal Provisions and Title IX
  1. Timely and equitable investigations.
  2. Ensuring that non-hostile academic and social environments are fostered:
  1. During investigative stages, no survivor should ever be removed from a classroom setting where their assailant is present.
  2. Survivors should be free from retaliation and harassment from peers or their assailant.
  1. Irrelevant mental health history is not to be included in investigative reports.
  2. Previous instances of sexual violence should not dismiss a survivor’s validity or but increase their credibility, even if the accused was found innocent in a separate hearing.
  3. Accommodations and support to be provided for survivors and witnesses of sexual violence.

SECTION IV: TRANSPARENCY

  1. Student-Led Board
  1. The College creates a student-led Administrative Transparency Board whose role is to review the financial dealings of the college, reports on drug and alcohol violations of the students, reports of sexual misconduct, and reports of racial harassment.
  1. The Board shall have 6 members, each from registered student groups on campus, and will rotate members every semester.
  2. Every time a monetary transaction takes place between the college and an outside party, the Board shall receive complete information pertaining to the dollar amount of the transaction, the other parties involved in the transaction, and any other information regarding the terms of the transaction.
  3. Every time a student is charged by the school with underage alcohol possession or illicit alcohol possession, the administration shall immediately send anonymized information about the circumstances under which the violation occurred.
  4. Every time a student reports sexual assault or racially-motivated harassment to the school, the administration shall immediately send anonymized information about the circumstances under which the violation occurred.
  5. The Board shall receive a space on the College of Wooster website where it will be free to post any and all information shared with it by the administration. Everyone including the public should have access to these records.
  1. The Role of Security and Wooster PD
  1. The College specifies the exact relationship between security and Wooster PD
  2. Provides specific guidelines as to when security calls the police and when they don't.
  1. This report should also include students throughout the process of writing security-police relationship guidelines.
  2. Importance that the college incorporate information about student's rights (including civil and criminal) during freshman orientation.
  1. The College of Wooster release the following information immediately:
  1. Information on the salaries and bonuses of all individuals on the college's payroll that receive more than $50,000 per year in total compensation.
  2. Salary data for administrative positions included in the list from 18.1 since the 2007/2008 school year.
  3. A comprehensive list of all assets owned by the College.
  4. All budget data for the College from the last 10 years.
  5. Anonymized list of all students who have been caught by the college security officers with illicit drugs.
  6. All reports of racial harassments with the reporting parties removed since 1989.
  7. The information shall be submitted to the College of Wooster website for everyone to see.
  1. Clarity amongst student groups
  1. The college should indicate a clear account of appropriate advertising between student groups. The standards for upholding the Scot’s Key should be equal across student activist groups.
  1. E.g: Wooster Right-Winger’s vs. k(no)w:
  1. In the 2016/2017 school year the Wooster Right-Wingers advertised their campus group through posters with a WWII fascist eagle. Comparatively, k(no)w has been the victim of being censored by the college many times for 'inappropriate images.' The Neo-Nazi symbols remained posted, but images of female genitalia and student artwork was removed. Additionally, k(no)w was sanctioned with prohibitive use of the Art Wall. Not only do student activist have the right to equal purview of treatment and respect, but when mistreatment occurs, student groups should have the right to know why, and be granted opportunity to appeal based on prior precedence.

SECTION V: Representation

  1. Spaces for Multicultural Student Groups
  1. All groups representing people of color should have a provided space for their own private use for the purpose of better serving their targeted community.
  1. Accessibility of the Wooster website
  1. The College of Wooster website must immediately becomes language-friendly in every possible language for the equal access among our diverse campus community and their families across the globe.

SECTION VI: Accountability

  1. Drake Schwenke
  1. The immediate expulsion of Drake Schwenke and further investigation of his original charter: the Wooster Right-Wingers. The College claims that an investigation must take place out of respect for the, “judicial process, and rights of the accused.” However, Drake had already been identified as racist and anti-semitic before his social media posts were made public. Drake and the Wooster Right-Winger’s previous behavior should have prompted investigative proceedings. The College’s failure to do so is a blatant disregard to every person of color, and individual who received a quick judgment by the College in the past:
  1. e.g: firing of Dameca Neal
  1. The college failed to take into account the racial biases that affected this decision. When this concern was brought to the attention of the administration, they made it clear that nothing further would be done and the decision was final.
  1. Faculty and Staff
  1. There are multiple Faculty and Staff members such as Nathan Fein, Robin Shreck, Diane Uber etc. that continue to perpetuate anti-blackness, stereotyping of minority groups and simply hate speech.
  1. We expect the college administration to hold faculty and staff to the same standards as students when it comes to racists, sexist, bigoted, misinformed, and stereotypical comments. These individuals are also members of our campus community and must be held accountable - thus, students should be able to press judicial charges against faculty and staff who violate our community standards.
  1. Job Roles
  1. A person within the College administration should not hold more than two roles that are critical to an institution’s success or present themselves as inherent conflicts of interests.

SECTION VII: Galpin

  1. Negotiations
  1. All relevant administrators must sit down to negotiate with the student coalition and come to agreement and plan of action for the administration to take.
  1. Amnesty
  1. The College will not penalize, prosecute, or punish any student involved in the protest and the taking over of Galpin Hall on January 24, 2018:
  1. Students currently on academic probation will not be unfairly targeted for missing a class.
  2. Students who missed a project, quiz or test should be allowed to retake or make the assignment up.
  3. Students who missed work will not be dismissed or removed from their position.
  1. As stated in the Scot’s Key, student have an obligation to “stand united against hate by creating and contributing to safe learning environments”, through the participation in this protest students are showing their commitment to make The College of Wooster a place for all, no matter their race, sexuality, or gender.