Office of the President

Meetings: 2003 (3.17) | The President’s Commission for LGBT Issues

Meeting Minutes for Monday, March 17, 2003

Attending: Paul Dillon, Vicky Foxworth, Deb Grander, Elizabeth Hagovsky, Luke Jensen,Karen Kimmel, Marilee Lindemann, Nichole Maiman, Raul Medina, name undisclosed, Linda Valli, Mark Brimhall Vargas, Nancy Yeroshefsky

Guests: Wallace Eddy, André Nottingham

  1. Approval of Minutes
    The Commission approved the minutes from the February 2003 meeting.
  2. LGBT Climate Study - Invited Consultants

    Vicky gave a general overview of the study, which will assess workplace comfort level for UMD LGBT faculty and staff, and introduced two of the project consultants from the Office for Organizational Effectiveness, Wallace Eddy and André Nottingham. Wallace described what the consulting team had discussed during their initial meeting, and distributed a handout proposing data sources to be used and a proposed timeline for the project. Wallace also stated that the consulting team would like to identify potential study participants from lists supplied by members of the Commission.

    Various members of the Commission then raised questions regarding the definition of the project's "climate" and scope, the type of study (qualitative vs. quantitative), as well as the demographic make-up and sample sizes of the focus groups/interviews. Vicky reminded the Commission that the consulting team was comprised of volunteers, and that if the parameters of the project became too grand in scale, the consulting team may have to change or the Commission might need to contract with CAWG instead of OOE.

  3. III. Updates
    • The University Senate unanimously passed the proposal to include "gender identity or gender expression" in the Human Relations Code on 3/6/03.
    • The Guidelines have been completed and will be distributed, along with a memo from Vicky, by Campus mail to the 3Ds.
    • Vicky met with the chairs of the other three President's Commissions and summarized their latest efforts:
      • Disability Issues - Attempting to have an elevator installed in the Main Administration Building
      • Ethnic Minority Issues - Researching possible patterns of Asian-American faculty and staff not getting tenured and promoted
      • Women's Issues - Reviewing Title IX
    • Vicky met with Dr. Mote and discussed the Commission's objectives and accomplishments. Dr. Mote expressed his support for the Guidelines project and the inclusion of "gender identity or gender expression" in the Human Relations Code.
    • There are still two remaining speakers in the LGBT Studies Lecture series. The next presenter is Chai R. Feldblum ("Rectifying the Tilt: Equality Lessons from Religion, Disability, Sexual Orientation, and Transgender") on Monday, April 7, 4:00pm, in 2154 Tawes.
    • Elizabeth distributed information to the Commission detailing Pride Days (March 31-April 28, 2003) activities. Fliers and posters will me mailed to 350 campus locations and the information will also be posted on the Web.
    • Other:
      • The Campus Police recently closed an investigation of a non-violent, LGBT-related hate crime in one of the residence halls. Luke also met with Delegates MacIntosh and Madaleno, members of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus in Annapolis, to discuss hate crimes.
      • There is $13,000 in the AIDS Response Fund, but no one to administer the resources. The Commission suggested that the Health Center or the Office of Disability Services may be interested.
  4. Conclusion

    The next Commission meeting will take place on Monday, April 14, 3:00-4:30pm, in 0120 Nyumburu.