Welcome new members!

Welcome to the Diversity Network blog, a source of information and resources for the Fleming community on issues of diversity, accessibility, equity and inclusion at Fleming College. Network members listed in the lefthand column are champions of diversity in their school or department and share information with their teams. To receive regular blog updates, become a blog "follower" by entering your email in the right hand box "Follow By Email". Resources can be found by clicking on the gold Diversity logo to the right.



Monday 12 December 2011

Introduction

December 2011

Diversity is a large topic. When I reflected on how to launch this blog , I decided what better place to start than with who we are as a college and a community. We want to create a welcoming environment for immigrant and international students. We want Aboriginal students and members of racialized or sexual minority communities to experience equity and belonging. We want to offer an inclusive education for persons with disabilities. But how do we as employees contribute to the Fleming core promise so that every student has an equal chance to "Learn, Belong, Become"?

Our campus communities are culturally quite homogeneous by Canadian standards, with 67% of Peterborough residents claiming British descent. Recently I had a wonderful conversation with a South African man about my ancestors. Like the majority of local people, I am of British, Scottish, and Irish descent. He said "I love these people so much. They are the most amazing companions, they are loyal, they are great friends and have a great sense of humbleness. If someone ... needs help, they will forget their own ego and help them because that is their nature. (Being rural people, your ancestors) couldn't offer much in the way of financial help but they offered advice, wisdom and philosophy."

I thought this was a very generous comment, coming from a black South African who might have good reason to not feel positive about white people. I decided this would be a good starting place, as so many of us share this Celtic heritage. Of course the other 33% of us come from other cultural backgrounds, but you too are immersed in and changed by your contact with the dominant British-descent values that are so evident here. Awareness of our own values helps us negotiate situations and relationships with those who have different value systems. We stop feeling so incompetent and fearlful of new people and situations, and more confident that we can meet the needs of diverse students.

So as we move forward, we will start by acknowledging who we are, not just sharing information about diverse groups we serve as teachers, support staff and managers. And we will be coming to terms with how "we" are changing to include ever more diverse voices and experiences.

With each biweekly post, Diversity Network members will be able to access a new set of resources. Simply click on the Diverity logo in the upper right corner and it will take you to an interactive wiki. New resources will be highlighted there.

For this first entry, I am posting the cross-cultural communication tools that were shared with Student Services and the Registar's Office in June and in the Fall cultural competency session. This includes a power point on cultural competency, a personal "iceberg" worksheet for mapping your own cultural values, and an inclusive language fact sheet. The educational tools are available to all Fleming employees for academic or service delivery purposes. Please contact me for permission to adapt the print resources before reproducing them.

Stay tuned for the next post, with updates on international students at Fleming.

Deborah Harrison