MU Diversity News
Christine Martinez, Columbia Missourian
Columbia's second annual Earth Hour ended Saturday night as members of Columbia's faith organizations gathered shoulder to shoulder in the cold, the rain and the semi-dark outside Missouri United Methodist Church on Ninth Street.
This course will examine the sociological implications of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign platform, his historic election as the 44th President of the United States, and the policy initiatives of his administration. For more information contact Veronica Medina at vemm93@mizzou.edu
This seminar examines the global dimensions of the color-line. Looking beyond the rise of the racialized system of the United States many scholars, including Dubois, Winant, Gilroy and others have pointed to the need to understand the global context of the entire racialized modern world system.
Laureen Kattan, Columbia Missourian
Looking to build on its Campus Climate study, MU is asking students to complete another survey this week to gauge their attitudes toward diversity on campus. The original study was completed in five phases from 2001 to 2005 and involved students, faculty, staff and administrators. The results led to the creation of several initiatives.
Andrew Orozco, Columbia Missourian
Clenice Ortigara, a pianist studying at the MU School of Music, describes music as “part of being alive.” She says music pervades every aspect of her life – in conversation with her clarinetist husband, Jairo Sousa, their voices rise and fall in pitch, rolling with melodic emphasis as they speak, their Brazilian roots explicit.
Jeffrey Beeson, MU News Bureau
Although the Society for Human Resource Management reports that 97 percent of U.S. companies have a written sexual harassment policy, a recent University of Missouri study indicates that those policies might not be effective in preventing workplace harassment. Researchers in the MU College of Arts and Science examined the way individuals define and explain their understanding of flirting and sexual harassment in an organizational setting. The researchers found that individuals' perceptions and their understanding are not always a perfect match.
Erin Horth, Columbia Missourian
Include Me MU is a campus-wide campaign run by a task force of student activists working to include “gender identity and expression” to the university’s non-discrimination policy
I am offering an intersession course for Maymester worth 1-credit hour called "The Sociological Significance of Barack Obama." It is Soc. 2103, Sec. 1 (#92596) and meets May 18-29th, 9:00-10:15am. The course flyer is attached. Students of all political backgrounds are encouraged to enroll. For information, please contact me: vemm93@mizzou.edu
Taha Hameduddin, The Maneater
The Islamic League of the Midwest, the brainchild of a group of local students, was finally launched last weekend.
Trevor Eischen, The Maneater
Female artists get a special opportunity to exhibit their art in the 16th annual Women in the Arts gallery show during Women's History Month at MU.
Angela Case, The Maneater
A ceremony was held Thursday to honor six of MU's most outstanding women. The Tribute to MU Women ceremony was presented by the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women and the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative.
Eva Dou, The Maneater
The Missouri Students Association Senate and Triangle Coalition have launched a grassroots campaign to try to get transgender protection added to the university non-discrimination policy.
Angela Case, The Maneater
Students and staff members of the women's and gender studies department are working on a proposal to make it a separate major from interdisciplinary studies.
As a part of the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative, the university is conducting a Campus Climate Study. This study is a follow-up of a similar national study that was conducted by Pennsylvania State researcher Sue Renkin about five years ago. This spurred the creation of the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative at the University of Missouri.
The Legion of Black Collegians is focusing on the structure of its organization and increasing the number of minority faculty members and students as it continue to work on its List of Demands.
Claire Hanan, Columbia Missourian
Two films that premiered at previous Sundance film festivals will be shown free to the public as part of MU’s upcoming Native American film series.
Eva Dou, The Maneater
Monica Wolff held out an empty cup and pointed to her cardboard sign: "Will Work 4 Equality." Wolff was one of the students panhandling on Lowry Mall on Thursday to raise awareness about homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.
Katie Tepper has a love for numbers. The 20-year-old University of Missouri-Columbia junior is studying industrial engineering and looks forward to a job in the manufacturing field. But the statistics aren’t in her favor when it comes to her major. Only 17.2 percent of engineering majors are women, according to the Engineering Workforce Commission (EWC). And yet, Tepper says that number empowers her.
Eva Dou, The Maneater
A student-led effort to add a gender identity clause to the UM system's non-discrimination policy is gaining momentum after several student groups met Wednesday to draft a proposal.
Two MU researchers are asking students to share their thoughts about campus diversity in an online survey. The survey covers topics such as harassment, campus friendliness or hostility and level of satisfaction with campus diversity. Higher education professor Jeni Hart, one of the study's authors, said she hopes to discover changes in perceptions since the last campus climate study in 2002.
Only 57 percent of Mexican-American students graduate from high school, and 11 percent receive college degrees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In a new study, a University of Missouri researcher found that perceived educational barriers significantly predicted Mexican-American students' educational aspirations more than the influences of gender, generation level and parents' education level.
The Maneater
Following her first year in the show, Toler was motivated to work with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at The Shelter. As an advocate for the victims, her job is to talk to the women and advise them on their options. The show has a new monologue this year, which highlights sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 300,000 women and girls have been raped in the country's civil war.
Rachel Schallom, Columbia Missourian
"I feel very confident that I can succeed in a male-dominated field. I’ve never felt underqualified or not included,” Tepper said. “I think it’s because I’ve always been in SWE and had that support system. We work together to get through it. It builds our confidence.
Off-Campus Diversity News
Matthew Reinig, Columbia Missourian
Nirvana, bliss or ethereal consciousness can be reached by many means. Some Buddhists achieve it by meditating in Vairochana's posture, some Hindus through hatha yoga, and for the members of the Eckankar religion who gathered at the Interfaith Center in Columbia to practice the HU exercise souls travel in waves of inner light and sound.
Jordan Gilmer has a degenerative condition that eventually will leave him completely blind. But as a child, his teachers did not emphasize Braille, the system of reading in which a series of raised dots signify letters of the alphabet.
John Hope Franklin, a revered Duke University historian and scholar of life in the South and the African-American experience in the United States, died Wednesday. He was 94.
In the summer, David Huddlestonsmith, 64, found out he would have to undergo risky major surgery. In addition to concerns about his health, he feared that if something were to go wrong during the operation or afterward, his partner of six years wouldn’t be allowed to see him.
Jesse Washington (AP) Columbia Missourian
Hispanics and other minorities have historically been undercounted in the once-a-decade survey. Advocacy groups are now launching their traditional efforts to ensure an accurate count, but a variety of factors have created new problems for the painting of America's official portrait.
Nancy Harter, a Columbia resident, has put together this website. It provides biographies of all the women in Obama's top administrative levels, and is following the new White House initiative on girls and women.
Ryan Schmitz, The Maneater
The council also had the first reading of a bill that would allow two individuals to jointly declare, for a $25 fee, a domestic partnership by certifying they have lived together for at least six months, are 18 years of age or older, are not married to anyone other then their partners and have no other partners.
David Rosman, Columbia Missourian
Much like Mikhail Gorbachev’s “glasnost,” a new door has opened between China and the United States, at least on a small scale.
Inside Higher Ed
Earlier this month, a study suggested that the worry of potentially confirming the “dumb jock” stereotype might be to blame for the performance gap between male athletes and non-athletes at selective liberal arts institutions. Now, another study suggests that this phenomenon – known as “stereotype threat” – could also be to blame for some of the underperformance of minority and female students on standardized tests and in the college classroom.
Temia Griffin, Columbia Missourian
The high school youth group at Congregation Beth Shalom held a Purim carnival for children to prepare for the most festive holiday on the Jewish calendar. The synagogue was transformed into a game arena, where children received prizes for playing.
Mary Juhl, Megan Ogar, Columbia Missourian
About 17 third-graders at Lee Elementary School sat at their tables in art class Thursday with white blindfolds over their eyes. The children had empty pages in front of them as well as four cups of paint — in red, yellow, blue and white. Each color had a different texture, so the students could feel the difference as they painted.
Jonathon Braden, Columbia Tribune
Jefferson Junior High School ninth-grader Shana McClain said the student group MAC Scholars serves as a support system for her. But last week, she and nine other members had an auditorium full of supporters as Jeff Junior ninth-graders and staff gathered to celebrate Black History Month.
