1. What is your unit doing to ensure the inclusion of diverse student populations in your organization and programming? Does your organization have a current plan to increase service to diverse students? Please elaborate.

Student Leadership & Involvement

• Engages with the diverse student population through programs and services, and also hires diverse student staff teams. SLI also works to infuse inclusivity and increase cultural proficiency of students and staff through programming, customer service, and on-going training.
• Professional staff completed professional development workshops last year with the Office of Equity and Inclusion, on equity in search and selection of student staff.
• Student staff training includes a focus on increasing knowledge, skills and awareness related to diversity, inclusivity, and social justice.
• The Social Change Leadership Programs Coordinator position was created 1.5 years ago in partnership with the department of Diversity and Cultural Engagement. Focus of the SCLP program is to educate students on topics of inclusivity and social justice.
• Facilitates/hosts the Racial Aikido and Examining White Identity in a Multicultural World social justice retreats with other campus partners. This year two new retreats will be piloted for the first time: Multiracial Aikido and Social Justice Retreat for International Students. However, we do not currently have funding for these two new retreats.

Center for Civic Engagement

• Annual alternative break programs include pre-trip curriculum on social identities and systems of power, oppression, and privilege.
• National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week’s programming includes educational programs and workshops on housing insecurity, food insecurity, and the intersections between housing insecurity and LGBTQ+ identities.
• Began collaborating with Student Sustainability in FY15 to expand Earth Day programming to include examination of the connections between exploitation of people and the planet. 2015 included collaboration with 11 campus partners to deliver a Food Chains film screening and dialogue on farmworkers’ rights and food justice.

Center for Leadership Development

• The theme of last year’s Art of Leadership Conference was “Examining the Intersection of Our Identities.” The keynote speaker and all program sessions focused on increasing knowledge and understanding of identity development and how the diversity of our identities impact the way we lead, as well as how to most effectively work alongside people who identify differently than you do.
• The Emerging Leaders course (AHE 499), and the Student Leadership and Organization Development course (AHE 599) both infuse understanding of how personal identity impacts leadership approaches and needs.

International Students of OSU

• Programming focuses on furthering the knowledge of participants to enhance individuals’ cultural self-awareness and/or cultural worldview framework.  These programs also challenge students to further develop their attitudes towards the global perspectives and lived experiences of others.

Memorial Union Program Council

• Grocery Bingo is an event created to bring awareness to food insecurity issues, and to give back to the community in the form of food by combining education with play.  Organizations collaborating and/or sponsoring:  CCE, Human Services Resource Center, Healthy Campus Initiative, SSI, MURFS, KBVR, OSU’s Cooking Club, KIND Snacks, Food and Culture and Social Justice Program, First Alternative Co-Op, Dave’s Killer Bread and VP for Student Affairs.  50 bags of groceries were given out to bingo winners, and other food items were given out as door prizes and prizes for minute-to-win it games.

Student Events & Activities Center

• Partnered with UHDS to provide students an opportunity to attend a showing of the movie Selma, followed by a panel discussion. The 3 panelists for this event were: Dr. Robert Thompson from OSU Ethnic Studies, Dr. Joseph Orosco from OSU Peace Studies, and Gary Massoni from the Corvallis community. Mr. Massoni is a retired minister and Civil Rights activist who participated in the 1965 “Turn-Around Tuesday” march in Selma.
• Sponsored Joaquin Zihuatanejo, award-winning American slam poet, for a collaborative student training session and a first-year student Connect event last year. Joaquin used slam poetry to support reflection, dialogue, and learning around topics of social justice. A debrief with student participants was conducted leading to each participant reflecting on the experience.
• Sponsored 36 events that were intended to raise awareness of cultural identities, histories, diverse pop cultures, and/or current issues impacting cultural communities.
• Hosted 3 opportunities through the MU Inclusive Community Initiative to come together in a learning community to discuss gender-related violence, understanding gender, and how to improve hiring searches.
• Hosted 2 workshops through the MU Inclusive Community Initiative during MU staff meetings. United Campus Ministry facilitated a workshop on spirituality/interfaith relations on campus; Diversity and Cultural Engagement invited sharing on “learning curves” in diversity work.
• Co-facilitated with the Office of Equity and Inclusion a cultural competence workshop for more than 60 Athletics Guest Services employees who work door control at many events.

Social Change Leadership Programs

• Co-sponsored the event “What does a Socially Just University Look like?” in honor of National Adjunct Walkout Day. This was a community dialogue about the learning and working conditions at OSU and the ways in which we can all work together to ensure that OSU embodies the values of social justice.
• Co-hosted the 3^rd annual “Speaking justice” event, a night of spoken word poetry featuring OSU community members and world-renown guest performers Dominique Christina and Denice Frohman, as Sister Outsider. The event showcased OSU students’ and community members’ work that focuses on art and spoken word as a form of resistance and a vehicle for social change.
• Co-hosted screening of Southern Patriot, a film exploring the extraordinary life and legacy of American civil rights leader, Anne Braden. The event included a discussion on how to be a white ally to social justice struggles.
• Co-sponsored a student luncheon and dialogue with Walidah Imarisha, noted historian, author, poet, activist, and educator. Students had the opportunity to interact in an informal setting with one of Imarisha.

Student Sustainability Initiative

• Hired a PROMISE intern to research best practices in higher education for incorporating social and environmental justice into sustainability programming, and to survey campus organizations for collaboration potential. In our FY16 budget submission to SIFC, we created a new Social & Environmental Justice Coordinator position to emphasize these values in our work.
• Collaborated on several justice projects this year, including a screening of Food Chains and the 2nd annual Earth Justice mural.
• Partnered with the Asian Pacific Cultural Center to host a film screening and conversation about a Vietnamese community in New Orleans that was disproportionally impacted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
• Earth Week: Encouraged students to think beyond Earth Day in an effort to link the environmental movement with the labor movement, and partnered with several organizations to create an Earth Justice mural in the MU Quad to raise awareness about the justice issues important to the OSU community.
• Supported student work on food insecurity through the Research Grant program. In May, SSI hired its first Social and Environmental Justice Project Coordinator for FY16.

MU Food & Retail Services

• Student staff training includes a focus on developing awareness of diversity and social justice issues to build a more inclusive community.
• Development of the Global Commons in the Memorial Union with OSU International Programs provides the campus community easy access to the international programs.
• Continued work to provide and promote low cost food options for the student facing food insecurity on campus.
• Continued work to buy locally and to reduce waste impact by increasing composting and recycling efforts.

Memorial Union

• One third of the exhibits in the MU Concourse Gallery are cultural or international based.

MU Building Services

• Continues to support and maintain the cultural and resource centers, even after Diversity Development was separated from the MU 7 years ago.
• Eliminated over 800 accessibility barriers.
• Continued to reduce energy use – this year by adding state of the art environmental controls.

 

2. How is your unit collaborating with other student fee-based organizations? In what areas and in which units will you plan for increased collaboration?

Student Leadership Initiative

• Collaborates with student fee-based organizations, as well as other programs and departments on campus, making good use of resources and helping to provide more inclusive, effective programs and services.

The following are examples of collaborations this past year with mostly student fee-based organizations. (We are able to provide a full list upon request.)

• Racial Aikido and Examining White Identity in a Multicultural World social justice retreats – partners in these retreats are Diversity & Cultural Engagement, Counseling & Psychological Services, and University Housing & Dining Services.
• A professional staff position and program budget that is co-sponsored between two departments: The Social Change Leadership Program Coordinator and the associated program budget is collaboratively shared with SLI and Diversity & Cultural Engagement.
• Working with other campus departments and programs to host student staff fall training sessions, including ASOSU and Diversity and Cultural Engagement, as well as non-student fee-funded departments/programs such as University Housing & Dining Services and the Meyers Grant/Educational Opportunities Program. Not only does this leverage human and fiscal capital well, it also fosters good working relationships among the groups.

Center for Civic Engagement

• Partners with the Human Services Resource Center, Student Sustainability Initiative, Center for Fraternity & Sorority Life, and Pride Center for National Hunger & Homelessness Week. This structure pools the experience, strengths, and funding contributions from all partners to elevate visibility and success of the week of programming.
• Recruits volunteers for many campus events and programs such as PreCollege Program’s Beaver Hangouts, OSU Emergency Food Pantry, Campus Recycling’s Move-Out Donation Drive, Career Fairs, etc. These connections provide service, learning, and leadership development opportunities for students while meeting needs of other campus units.

International Students of OSU

• ISOSU collaborated with Diversity and Cultural Engagement, and other student organizations in hosting the ISOSU Night Market.

Memorial Union Program Council

• MUPC Mondays were collaborations with other student organizations to create a fun event that included information, awareness and involvement opportunities
• Battle of the DJs, BeaverDam Game Watch, Spirit Week events, Children’s Holiday Party, Dads & Family Weekend, Moms & Family Weekend, Western Wind Up, Grocery Bingo, OSU Has Talent, Battle of the Bands and Dam Jam, College Open Houses:  Collaborated with other student organizations, SA units and other campus departments to leverage financial and human resources, to cross promote and increase awareness around issues.

Social Change Leadership Programs

• The majority of the work done last year was collaborative: One highlight is helping to create a course for student employees that are doing peer-education on social justice. This initiative is impactful because it involves student employees across OSU who are tasked with delivering the majority of social justice education to their peers. The programs in the course include the UHDS-CRF program, Meyer-EOP Program, and Cultural Resource Center student staff. This course has challenged 3 departments to negotiate what it means to have similar views on social justice education, and helped closely align social justice peer-education on campus and foster collaborations.
• Co-sponsored many events this year with the following OSU partners: University Housing and Dining Services, Diversity and Cultural Engagement, School of History Philosophy and Religion, School of Language Culture and Society, Anarres Project for Alternative Futures, Ethnic Studies, MECHA, Peace Studies, OSU American Association of University Professors, Allied Students for Another Politics, Center for Latin@ Studies and Engagement, Food in Culture and Social Justice, Social Justice Minor, Women of Color Coalition.

Student Events & Activities Center

• Partnered with UHDS and Recreational Sports to host 8 After Dark events
• Partnered with Athletics, Dean of Students, Recreational Sports, UHDS on hosting the #beBEAVERBOLD Block Party.
• Facilitated the Student Organization Alignment Group (SOAG), which includes representation from the Center of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Recreational Sports, University Housing and Dining Services, Student Conduct, Associated Students of OSU, Auxiliaries and Activities Business Center (AABC), Office of OSU Legal Counsel, and Risk Management in support of student organizations.

Student Sustainability Initiative

• Developed several important partnerships in FY15, including working with UHDS on a new Sustainable Food Committee; as well as with HSRC, CCE, MUPC, Greek Life, DCE, Rec Sports, Campus Recycling, and the Sustainability Office on a regular basis. These partnerships allow SSI to bring more students to their events and offer student employees experience working with multiple agendas to create successful programs.
  • A highlight of these efforts is the Wage Grant program, offering funds to other campus departments to hire student staff in positions dedicated to sustainability. In FY15 there were Wage Grant employees at the Energy Center Sustainability Office, UHDS, Organic Growers Club, Rec Sports, and the Spring Creek Project.

MU Building Services

• Support and maintenance of 10 facilities that are not part of the MU, but are student fee-funded.

Memorial Union

• The Craft Center co-sponsors free programs Mandala Mondays and Watercolor Wellness Wednesdays with CAPS and Child + Family Services.
• MU marketing and graphic student staff provides support to ASOSU, UHDS and SLI programs.

MURFS, Craft Center, Marketing and Guest Services have several on-going collaborations with the Career Development Center.

• The MU Basement provides support to the First Year Experience program.

 

3. Looking to the future, what other areas on campus might be helpful to partner with on campus in order to maximize both resources and student success?

Center for Civic Engagement

• CCE has begun but has much opportunity to deepen partnership with Outreach & Engagement/Extension Services to promote community engagement and civic learning for OSU students, while meeting needs of and utilizing the community connections and knowledge of the Extension Offices.

Service Learning & Community Engagement Strategy

• The Service-Learning & Community Engagement Strategy will bring together professionals from Outreach & Engagement, Center for Teaching and Learning/Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs/SLI-CCE. This group has significant potential to impact OSU’s landscape around community engagement through working to align goals, directions, and processes across these three divisions.

Center for Leadership Development

• CLD would like to strengthen its partnerships with the College of Agricultural Sciences Leadership Minor, College of Engineering Leadership Academy, College of Public Health and Human Sciences student councils, University Honors College, Outreach and Extension, and the department of Diversity and Cultural Engagement. CLD would also like to develop partnerships with the School of Language, Culture and Society, and University Housing and Dining Services.

Social Change Leadership Programs

• SCLP plans to partner more closely with the following programs on campus:  Social Justice Minor, Adventure Leadership Institute, College of Liberal Arts, University Housing and Dining Services, International Programs, Diversity and Cultural Engagement, and Center for Civic Engagement.

Student Events & Activities Center

• SEAC would like to explore more partnerships with the OSU Theatre Department, College of Language, Culture and Society, Anthropology Department, OSU Food Group, Dept. of Food and Nutrition Management, Orange Media Network, OSU Media Services, and OSU Advancement.

Student Sustainability Initiative

• SSI would like to explore more partnership opportunities with academic departments, particularly through the Sustainability Double Degree program, as well as strengthen and expand collaborations with UHDS and DCE.

Memorial Union

• Craft Center is in discussions with other Student Affairs partners for collaboration to enhance student access.
• Work to keep the campus community informed of services and events in more sustainable/digital ways and reducing the use of paper posters.
• Provide increased support to the First-Year Experience program.
• Provide support to Student Affair fundraising efforts with collaborating marketing resources.

 

4. If there were any major changes in your programming or budget spending in the FY 16, after the budget was recommended by the SIFC, please explain and justify them?

                  The MU Org experienced no major changes in the FY 16 budget year.

 

5. Please explain and justify any major increase(s) and/or change(s) in your FY 17 Budget.

                  All changes in funding requests are either mandatory changes, or adjustments due to fluctuations in revenue, (example: We have far less money in our surplus cash, so our interest earnings have dropped significantly) The MU’s FY 17 budget has no decision packages or significant improvements to programs and services.   It is definitely maintenance of current operations budget” only.

 

6. What measures is your unit taking to be financially efficient?

The MU Organization is consistently the Student Fee funded department with the highest percentage of income vs. student fee.   While it is no longer visible to you, the MU Retail Food Service is a department of the Memorial Union, as well.   When you put the entire MU Org into a budget (which we do after the Fee approval process), you would see that we fund almost 48% of our organization with revenue, versus being dependent upon Student Fees.   This ratio has been approximately the same for the past ten years.

We also track our student fee allocation history against the “net present value” of our historical fee levels to see if we are above, below or directly in-line with the inflationary impacts.   Our current analysis shows that we remain below the “net present value” of our former fee level, which is a measure of the organization being efficient.   We consistently train our managers to look for the best decision that comes at the best value.