November 7, 2018 Meeting
Elon Commemoration Committee Meeting Minutes
November 7, 2018 3:30-5:00 p.m., Alamance 101
I. Approval of Minutes
II. Web Presence
III. President’s Student Leadership Advisory Committee
IV. Best Practices / Guiding Principles
V. Commemoration Committee and Universities Studying Slavery
VI. Brainstorming Mechanisms of Community Feedback
VII. Progress toward Fall Goals
I. Approval of Minutes from October 24
Approved, with minor edits.
II. Web Presence
A. Keren Rivas presented a draft version of the website
B. We discussed possible changes to the site (additional contact buttons, information on committee members, etc.), and Keren agreed to give all committee members access to a revised version for their final review before making the site live
III. President’s Student Leadership Advisory Committee
A. Cameron Shirley summarized student comments from a meeting of the PSLAC on Monday, October 29
B. PSLAC members were most interested in strategies for engaging their fellow students and suggested a number of approaches (e.g. encourage/equip student groups to research their own histories; put material regarding Elon history in study rooms, with QR codes for further research; additional listening sessions; etc.).
C. We warmly commended these ideas (and others recorded in the full notes on the session) to a future working group surrounding engagement
IV. Best Practices / Guiding Principles
A. We discussed the challenge of articulating best practices / values governing memory work, not the least of which is determining exactly what we would be publishing and for whom:
1. Values: How are our values not functionally the same as Elon’s values? Does not our charge say we will proceed in a way “consistent with Elon’s values? Should we frame the entire effort as an outworking of Elon’s existing, stated values?
2. Goals: Are we really seeking to amplify the language in the charge by indicating something of the direction we hope to take? If so, shouldn’t we frame the list as one of broad goals?
3. Guidelines for Discourse (Values and Goals): This hybrid approach would keep the emphasis on process and serve as a reference from us and the people with whom we engage—though it would be harder with this approach to get distance from the existing language from the charge.
B. With so many disparate approaches, we agreed to solicit competing drafts reflecting the above approaches before the next meeting.
V. Commemoration Committee and Universities Studying Slavery
A. We discussed the mechanism and timing of setting up a Universities Studying Slavery group at Elon
B. Ultimately, we determined that the precise timing would depend upon the will of the president and that we needed her feedback before continuing. The chair agreed to request a meeting immediately.
C. We remain interested in the mechanism of selection and want to guarantee that it is as open and transparent as possible.
VI. Brainstorming Mechanisms of Community Feedback
A. We discussed several possible mechanisms for community feedback, including
1. Participating in listening sessions for the strategic plan
2. Visiting departments and organizations
3. Setting up Instagram surveys for students
4. Campus conversations
5. Listening sessions
6. Etc.
B. In order better to understand the relationship between all of the ideas above and, critically, to help identify constituencies for which we need to think of more creative options for feedback, we agreed to populate a Google Doc regarding strategies.
VII. Progress toward Goals
A. We affirmed the five probable parts of a winter (Dec.-Feb., depending on feedback from President Book) announcement.
1. Plan to join USS
2. Best practices. / Guiding principles
3. Tentative plans for feedback
4. Announcement of working groups
5. Name change?
B. We discussed also the desirability of reaching out to George Troxler and to bring him up to speed/solicit his advice on the process.
C. We also raised the possibility of a working retreat, depending on the workflow after we break into working groups in the spring.
Calendar:
• November 28 – Next Meeting (Tentatively Consideration of Specific Tasks; Education re: Restorative Justice)
• December 5 – Final meeting of semester (Sort into working groups; finalize statement)
• March 15-16, 2019 – Universities Studying Slavery semi-annual conference (Host: William and Mary’s Lemon Project)