SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INCLUSION (SJI)
Exemplary Competency Assessment
As described by ACPA/NASPA (2016), Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI) is “a process and a goal which includes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to create learning environments that foster equitable participation of all groups while seeking to address and acknowledge issues of oppression, privilege, and power. Similar to other competencies, SJI seeks for student affairs professionals to have a sense of agency, and encourages student affairs professionals to recognize their social responsibility within their work, communities, and beyond (ACPA & NASPA, 2016). Knowledge and skills within areas such as understanding self and systems of power, ability to conduct critical assessments and practice directed learning, engaging in socially-just practices, advocating within organizational systems, and more contribute to the competency development of SJI. According to ACPA/NASPA (2015, 2016), development and experiential outcomes within SJI include:
“Integrate knowledge of social justice, inclusion, oppression, privilege, and power into one’s practice” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016).
“Connect and build meaningful relationships with others while recognizing their multiple, intersecting identities, perspectives, and developmental differences” ACPA & NASPA, 2016).
“Understand how one is affected by and participates in maintaining systems of oppression, privilege, and power” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016).
“Assess institutional effectiveness in removing barriers to addressing issues of social justice and inclusion” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016).
“Foster and promote an institutional culture that supports the free and
open expression of ideas, identities, and beliefs, and where individuals have the capacity to negotiate different standpoints” (ACPA & NASPA, 2016).
Activities and artifacts to fulfill my exemplary development within SJI include:
BGSU HESA Social Justice Retreat (Spring 2020-Fall 2021) Planning and Coordination
Serving as the Vice President of Equity and Inclusion for BGSU’s HESA (Higher Education and Student Affairs) Department Student Development Association (SDA), I held the responsibility of coordinating the annual Social Justice Retreat (SJR). Along with HESA’s Assistant to the Chair, Alexis Lankford, I planned a daylong retreat for HESA graduate students and faculty/staff to engage in. For SJR, Alexis focused on the logistical aspect of the retreat and I focused on the content of the retreat. Planning this event, Alexis and I wanted to focus on creating and providing content that would encourage participants to recognize their identity within their work and how it may connect with their students. Happening during the Fall of 2020, SJR sessions drew from current events happening in society such as the impact from the racially motivated protests (George Floyd’s killing), the Coronavirus and the pandemic, and the presidential election. Also, popular at the time, program members selected to read the book White Fragility, to discuss, connect, and critique regarding our personal ideas, as well as profession. From this experience, I believe I developed my SJI competency as I was required to assess my own multicultural competency and SJI knowledge, awareness, and skills compared to my peers. For example, while planning for the retreat, the selection of the retreat book reading was a challenge. For some, including myself, White Fragility was not a book of interest as it seemed to be surface level in its content, as well as captured the perspective of a White author, therefore potentially not addressing the desired issues for the retreat. However, considering this retreat included students new to the program, sessions that would allow deep conversation, and audience demographic, and more, the book White Fragility was the final selection. From this, checking my own understandings and biases was necessary and allowed me to consider the competency levels of others, and coordinate a retreat that balanced sessions to meet the needs of different SJI competency levels, while providing a balance. Responsible for the content, or facilitation aspect of the retreat, I created retreat program outline for the session facilitators to guide them in leading the sessions and sharing retreat content.
Charged with providing recommendations towards policies, programs, practices, and environments that promote diversity, equity, and belonging, the Student Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion (SACODI) is a student advisory committee connected to the Division of Diversity and Belonging, as well as Undergraduate Student Government (USG). This committee is made up of student leaders from other organizations, who come together to provide these recommendations. Following events on BGSU campus and the Bowling Green community, during the Fall of 2020, SACODI hosted a Student Town Hall to allow students to debrief regarding recent events. SACODI believed this event was necessary as recent events impacted student, community members from LGBTQ+, Black and African-American, and traditionally Black, Greek-life populations. Understanding some of the events impacted the sense of belonging and feelings of safety for some community members, SACODI understood this Town Hall could contain sensitive topics and vary in responses. To best prepare, I created a script, to help guide myself and SACODI co-chairs in facilitating this town hall. In the script, event guidelines were mentioned, and the co-chairs and myself discussed and practiced the need to reflect on personal thoughts and opinions, as well as validate the expression of others. The result of this event was considerably great as we had at least 30 participants, engaged in different perspectives, and respectfully agreed or disagreed on topics.
Not In Our Town: United Against Hate Week (Social Media Campaign)
As the Graduate Assistant in the Division of Diversity and Belonging, I assisted with maintaining the partnership between BGSU and community organization, Not In Our Town. During the Fall 2020 semester, I coordinated a social media campaign celebrating United Against Hate Week. United Against Hate Week is a call for local civic action within the community to stop the hate and implicit biases that are a dangerous threat to the safety and civility of our neighborhoods, towns and cities.