Inter Faculty Organization (IFO)
Faculty Association (FA)
At Metropolitan State University – a MinnState institution
Metropolitan State Faculty Association Equity and Inclusion Action Plan, FY 21-FY 25*
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Introduction
Charged by the Faculty Association Council, the Equity and Diversity committee hosted a planning meeting on February 26, 2020 with the following goals:
Thirty-five resident and community faculty, IFO President, Brent Jeffers, Equity 2030 Chancellor Fellow, Ajay Panicker and IFO Equity and Inclusion coordinator, Kim Park Nelson attended the meeting.
The timeline of the process and responses from equity caucus and community faculty caucus to the action plan are below:
Process/timeline:
The proposed action plan has three focuses, education and training on systemic oppression; policy, procedures and organizational structure; and organizing equity and inclusion work. Action plans for each focus are prioritized in the following:
*The plan was approved by Faculty Council in April 2020.
Focus 1: Education and Training on Systemic Oppression
Priority 1: Address the issue of cultural taxation in explicit terms. (FY21)
1a. Train new faculty at the new faculty orientation about the anti-racist mission of the University.
1b. Train all faculty to strengthen their awareness of equity and inclusion and the role of FA in implementing E&I.
1c. Include E&I training in new faculty orientation.
Priority 2: Anti-racism pedagogy (FY22)
2a. Provide concrete takeaways and training on anti-racism pedagogy in the classroom.
2b. Develop intervention strategies for moments/scenarios of “microaggressions.”
Priority 3: Elevate students’ consciousness regarding equity and inclusion (FY23)
3a. Provide training to students to empower them to be agents of social change.
3b. Create alternative strategies for students to report and discuss systemic oppression.
Focus 2: Policies, procedures and organizational structure
Priority 1: Diversify FA leadership (FY21)
1a. Support Equity Caucus Committee resolution #15 at DA: “IFO and the campus leadership demonstrate their commitment to diversifying leadership by recruiting faculty of color, LGBTQ+, and marginalized faculty to leadership roles at campus and statewide governing bodies. Recognizing the lack of representation of faculty of color, LGBTQ+, and marginalized groups in Faculty Association executive leadership, each campus shall make its best effort to recruit, nominate and elect members who are faculty of color, LGBTQ+, and from marginalized groups to serve. In compliance, the FA leadership shall develop strategies to accomplish this effort and report these strategies regularly to the membership (through the local governing body).”
1b. Support Equity Caucus Committee resolution #13 at DA: “In being consistent with the IFO Meet and Confer membership structure and its E&I plan, each campus Faculty Association Meet and Confer structure shall include a representative from each campus equity caucus.”
1c. Audit and reform the mission and membership of all FA committees to bring in diverse perspectives and to promote an equity lens in each committee’s work.
1d. Urgent matters: Separate the roles of compliance and E&I advocacy within the administration and provide necessary funding to insure it.
Priority 2: Clarifying the policies and procedures regarding equity and inclusion in the current organizational structure (FY22)
2a. Map and explain the various committees and processes that relate to equity work in the FA, the statewide IFO, between the FA and the administration, between the FA and other unions at Metro, etc.
2b. Clarify roles, relationships, how to be involved, what issues to bring to what body, etc.
2c. Embed E&I evaluations in NOVs and hiring
Priority 3: Reform hiring and retention policies to better promote equity and diversity. (FY23)
3a. Apply equity lens in search committees.
3b. Reform CF hiring and retention to reflect E&I principles
3c. Support CF resolutions at the DA
3d. Develop plans for cluster hiring to improve retention of faculty from historically marginalized communities.
Focus 3: Organizing Equity & Inclusion work
Priority 1: Organizing People (FY21)
1a. Involve more groups and people at the table, remembering that advocating for ourselves are the same tools we use to organize/reach students, CF, and our campus as a whole
Priority 2: Communication (FY22)
2a. Speaking up at our college IFO meetings to let people know what we’re doing, how we’re accomplishing it, and bringing them in; advocating and agitating when our college IFO meetings do not follow E&I principles
2b. Reaching out in our departments, colleges and colleagues to encourage conversation, volunteerism, and for people to vote in IFO elections and become members. Anyone’s issues are OUR issues – backing people is important and that starts with communication/conversation
2c. Power analysis of faculty – that stems from 1-to-1 meetings with faculty; Power analysis consists of determining who people are; what their intersectionalities are and how they can support one another.
2d. IFO faculty council have 1-1 with new faculty – provide time/space/opportunity to get this done
2e. IFO Union contacts candidates early during job searches, NOT after, and provide a statement of commitment to E&I
Priority 3: Addressing Resistance (FY23)
3a. FA sends a letter to new and current faculty about the E&I work.
Priority 4: Researching other higher education unions (FY24)
4a. Research how other education unions approach E&I.
4b. Build relationships with other non-IFO unions on campus and in other settings
4c. Apply best practices
Priority 5: Organizing FA Budget and Resources (FY25)
5a. Equity and Inclusion Audit
5b. Identification of university resources committed to the work of E&I.
5c. We request that each university administration division identifies resources that they are allocating to the cause of E&I, and anti-racism efforts.
The committee thanks all participants for their collaborative work in creating the plan. We appreciate the leadership of small group conveners, Scott Cooper, Travis Sands, Robyn Gulley, Ailesha Ringer, Margaret Vaughan, Ellen Holmgren and Derrick Crim, and laborious work of the editing committee, Margaret Vaughan, Quan Zhou, Derrick Crim and Nantawan Lewis. Many thanks also for the support of Faculty Association executive committee, August Hoffman, Michelle Filkins, Rebecca Church, Barbara Beltrand, Nadine Haley and Alec Sonsteby. Lastly, we are grateful for funding from the IFO Equity and Inclusion budget through Faculty of Color caucus co-sponsorship.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nantawan Lewis, on behalf of Equity and Diversity Committee.